Links

Written: 1999-02-17
Last Revised: 2006-11-09

This page contains numerous links to Star Wars and Star Trek sites on the Web, but it is hardly comprehensive. More links may be added in future.

Star Wars Sites

Star Wars Technical Commentaries, running on IIS/Winblows
The most prestigious discussion of general Star Wars technological issues on the Internet. Easily superior to any of the "official" tech literature books, which are often poorly-researched and in poor agreement with the canon films. This site was created by Curtis Saxton, who holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Sydney, Australia. If you have not taken the time to examine this site, then you are frankly missing out on much of the richness of the Star Wars universe. My own site was very heavily inspired by the SWTC.
Star Wars Official Site, running on Apache/Solaris
The official Star Wars site from LucasFilms.
Domus Publica
A very thoroughly researched examination of Star Wars, particularly the Galactic Empire. Unfortunately the site is currently down, but I have spoken with the author and he does intend to restore it.
TheForce.Net, running on IIS/Winblows
The most massive Star Wars website on the Internet. It is home to countless items of interest to loyal Star Wars fans, such as graphic images, fan fiction, sound effects, other multimedia bits. Some of the other links on this page are actually hosted by this site.
The 501st Legion, running on IIS/Winblows
They bill themselves as "The Web's Definitive Imperial Costuming Club" and they certainly seem to live up to their own billing, as they have a large membership and fantastic costumes. They used to use some kind of horrible authoring software like FrontPage which made godawful HTML code, but their website now checks in as W3C-compliant.
Porkins, running on Apache/FreeBSD
Cornucopia site of assorted Star Wars stuff, focusing on Porkins, the rotund Rebel pilot who met an untimely end in ANH.
The Imperial Order, running on Apache/Linux
An Imperial gaming site. Really cool images- obviously, some of the guys associated with this site are handy with 3D graphics.
The Galactic Empire Data Bank, running on Apache/FreeBSD
An information site about our glorious Empire.
Blast 'Em!, running on Apache/Linux
Tony Barnett's sci-fi costuming and props page, with an emphasis on Star Wars paraphernalia.

Star Wars vs Star Trek Sites

Ultimate Star Wars vs Star Trek FAQ, running on Apache/FreeBSD
Wayne Poe's original "vs" website, which contains countless quotes from the newsgroup conversations which have raged for years over this subject. Wayne's site, and his positive feedback, inspired me to create my site.
Sci-Fi Debris, running on Apache/Linux
An excellent collection of various sci-fi articles, fan fiction, arguments, and other miscellany. Of particular note is the Opinionated Voyager Episode Guide.
Startrek.vs.Starwars Fanfiction Archive, running on Apache/Linux
A different kind of fanfiction site. This one specializes exclusively in crossover stories, and provides links to such stories wherever they can be found on the Web.
Space Battles, running on Apache/Linux
Exactly as the name implies. Specializes in movies, stories, and pictures of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Babylon 5 ships duking it out. Note: there is a history between me and this site's forums, although it's somewhat old news.
Daystrom Institute Technical Library, running on Apache/Linux
Graham Kennedy's site. Some Trekkies think this site is their equivalent of Curtis Saxton's SWTC, but any resemblances are purely superficial. I list it in the "vs" section because he is a former ASVS regular, and despite his dishonest claims to the contrary, he does care about the "vs" debate, and he has tailored his site conclusions thusly. The site relies heavily on pseudoscience and speculation, but its aesthetics are excellent.
RSA's (aka Darkstar's) site
To be honest, I think a direct link would be more attention than he warrants. He is obsessed with attacking my website and attacking me on a personal level (he even wrote a whole essay once called "The Morality of Wong", if you can believe it). Lowtax of somethingawful.com once wrote "Mr. Star decided to email me regarding my choice to profile him for today's ALoD, mostly based off the fact that he's loony. However, just to be up front and honest, I think this site is equally insane and most of you people are nutso as well. However, you don't seem to suffer the extreme paranoia and schizophrenia that Mr. Star seems to be inflicted with." Obviously, Lowtax is not into Star Wars vs Star Trek ;). However, anyone who takes a serious look at RSA's website can see his paranoia in action; it's not pretty. If you want to see his website anyway, you can see the address and more on the RSA page.

Star Trek Sites

Star Trek Official Site, running on Apache/Linux
The official Star Trek site from Paramount.
Star Trek: WWW, running on Apache/FreeBSD
A huge collection of Star Trek links and website information, which serves as a convenient gateway to a wide variety of Star Trek information on the Web.
The Great Link, running on IIS/Winblows
I hate to overuse superlatives, but this is the best damned Star Trek fan site I've seen yet. Instead of cheesy advertising for Paramount or laughable pseudoscience, this site simply reports the events seen on the show, often in the form of extremely comprehensive episode synopses.
The Fascist Ideology of Star Trek: Militarism, Collectivism, and Atheism, running on IIS/Winblows
Exactly what the name suggests. Thanks to "Cyborg Stan" for bringing this one to my attention. You may also want to check out the author's review of TPM.
Politics of Star Trek: The Federation as the Ultimate Communist State, running on Apache/FreeBSD
Another commentary on communism in Star Trek.

Other Sci-fi Series

Babylon 5 Official Site, running on Netscape/Solaris
The official Warner Brothers Babylon 5 website.
Babtech on the Net, running on Apache/Linux
The Babylon 5 technology website of Brian Young, original author of the Turbolaser Commentaries.
Babylon 5 Tech Manual, running on IIS/Winblows
TigerClaws' Babylon 5 technology website. Graphically excellent (very professional looking). It also has lots of discussion boards.
Battlestar Galactica Tech Manual, running on IIS/Winblows
Yes, it's a Galactica tech site! I suppose I'm dating myself by admitting that I watched Galactica when it first came out ...

Military Information

Global Security, running on Apache/Solaris
A very useful inventory of military vehicles and equipment, in addition to political news relating to armed conflicts and the possibility thereof. Generally more current than the Federation of American Scientists website, which performs a similar function.
Tips on Writing Military Sci-Fi, running on Apache/FreeBSD
A superb discussion of the fallacies common to sci-fi combat tactics. This is a very large, detailed site that was written by a former US Marine squad leader. His obvious irritation at military stupidities in popular fiction mirrors my irritation at scientific and engineering stupidities in popular fiction.
Netbook of Modern Firearms, running on Apache/FreeBSD
Contains pictures of every type of firearm I can think of (including Jesse Ventura's ultra-cool minigun from "The Predator"). His Netbook also contains a brief discussion of real-life hit ratios which vary from 5 to 10 rounds per kill (law enforcement estimates) to hundreds of thousands of bullets per kill (Vietnam). That's not surprising, but it's useful information when dealing with moron fanboys who think that anything higher than 1 shot per kill is "poor marksmanship".

Humour

BB Spot, running on Apache/Linux
A good on-line humour page for the computer geek in you.
Satire Wire, running on Apache/Linux
A good on-line humour page for the general public.
Daryl Cagle's Cartoonist page, running on IIS/Winblows
A cartoonists' page with some TPM-related cartoons on it. Some of them are pretty funny!
Doctor Evil's Computer Site, running on IIS/Winblows
Easily the Web's most prolific source of comical fake stories about computer software and operating systems.

You may have noticed an unusual bit of information next to each link: the web server and operating system. I threw this in just for fun; I think it's interesting that Windows has been unable to dominate the web server market the way it has dominated the desktop market, perhaps because Microsoft has been unable (so far) to corrupt Internet protocols into proprietary standards. Not for lack of trying, though; their "ActiveX Controls" simply never caught on.

Interesting trivia, current as of November 9, 2006:

Web servers normally return their identification readily. If you don't want to query them manually, you can use the query engine at Netcraft. Note: for a while back in 2000, some Microsoft websites were declaring themselves as Windows servers but they were actually running UNIX (it is easy to hack Apache to make it declare itself as something else). They slipped up and MSN returned Apache 404 error messages for about a week that year (I verified this myself) before suddenly reverting back to "IIS" again. That was a long time ago and Windows operating systems have come a long way since then, so they've probably purged any Apache web servers from their system by now. But it's still somewhat amusing.

In case you're curious, my own site is hosted with Pair Networks, running Apache/FreeBSD. Note that HP-UX, Solaris, FreeBSD, Linux, IRIX, and AIX are all UNIX variants.