Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.


This site has been in operation continuously since December 1994. This is the fifth generation Economic and Game Theory Server. The original server was a Dell XPS90 with a 90MH Pentium processor, 32MB RAM and 1G of hard disk space running Windows NT Workstation 3.5. The second was a Dell Optiplex GX Pro with two 200MH Pentium Pro processors, 128MB RAM and 13G of hard disk space on a SCSI Bus. It ran Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 and the Xitami webserver. For most of 2001 the server was a Dell Precision Workstation 420 with two 1GH Pentium III processors, 1G RAM and 140G of hard disk space on a SCSI bus. The site was gradually switched to Red Hat Linux 7.2 beginning in October 2001. Since the Precision failed in late 2001, the site no longer runs only on my office computer, but is mirrored on a number of machines. The www.dklevine.com address floats between these sites.

Beginning in 2009 these systems have been gradually transitioned from Fedora to Ubuntu. In early 2011 the main webserver moved from a physical machine located at WUSTL to a virtual machine running in the Amazon Cloud.

The list below is obsolete and is retained for historical purposes

  • lev0309.dklevine.com In service September 2003. A Dell Optiplex GX270, 3.0GH Pentium 4, 1G RAM, 120G drive. Memory and motherboard replaced April 2005.
  • lev0304.dklevine.com In service February 2002. Originally lev0202. Dell replaced the Precision Workstation: dual 1GH Pentium III, 1G RAM, two 70G drives, SCSI Bus. After 412 days without any down time one of the hard drives failed (again) following a power outage on March 25, 2003. Dell provided a replacement drive, and the system was placed back in service with a new name April 15, 2003. Fan replaced April 2005.
  • cassel.dklevine.com This is the Dell Optiplex upgraded to 42G of hard disk space: dual 200MH Pentium Pro, 128MB RAM, SCSI Bus.
  • dimxps.dklevine.com A Dell Dimension XPS, 80M RAM, 40G drive; last of the 586 machines I own; the rest are all 686. Retired January 2005.
  • lev0111.dklevine.com In service November 2001. A Dell Optiplex GX240, 1.8GH Pentium 4, 1G RAM, two 40G drives.
  • lev0412.dklevine.com, lev0502.dklevine.com In service January 2005. Dell Optiplex 170Ls,  3.2GH Pentium 4, 1G RAM, 160G drive. Both needed a replacement drive within a months of going into service.

With the exception of lev0111, these servers are connected to the internet through a 100MBS ethernet connection through switching hubs connected via router and fiber optic to the UCLA backbone. This connection is maintained by the Social Science Computing Network. The campus backbone is connected to the internet by a T3 connection. Lev0111.dklevine.com is on an ADSL connection maintained by Pacbell.

On the primary servers the software is Fedora Linux 3 running the Apache webserver 2.0. The databases are in mysql; scripts are written using the open source scripting language PHP. The html is maintained using NVU. 


This site receives 6000-10000 hits per day, which translates into roughly 700 different visitors. The server has available about 76 Megabytes of material in roughly 900 html, pdf and PHP files.

[update March 29, 2006] Current traffic is about 21,000 hits per day or over 1500 different visitors. There is now about 900 Megabytes of material in 1800 html, pdf, php, as well as mp2 and avi files.

The hardware, software and research are sponsored in part by National Science Foundation grants SBR-93-20695, SBR-96-17899, SES-99-86170, SES-03-14713, and SES-08-51315. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

An Editorial

The original web design was done using Microsoft Front Page; at that time the webserver was the built-in webserver that came with Windows NT 4.0, and the scripts were written in Microsoft ASP. Those were discarded in favor of cross-platform, and where available, open source products. When I originally chose DOS over the Macintosh 20 years ago, I did so because DOS gave me control over my computer and Apple did not. Now some 20 years later, Microsoft, for similar marketing reaons, has headed down the same closed properietary route that led Apple to initially high profits, followed by utter collapse. This led me to a long term project of replacing Microsoft software whenever possible.

The project began when I received complaints about the NT Workstation limitation of 10 connections on the web server. Unfortunately, despite purchasing a copy of NT server, there was no sensible upgrade path from the workstation to the server. Recognizing another Lotus in the making, I began the project of replacing Microsoft products with other products wherever practical. To be clear, I think that Microsoft makes very good software. However, as the advantages are outweighed by the proprietary formats, licensing restrictions and copy protection schemes, I bid farewell to Microsoft.