ix@cosmo.UUCP (Redaktion c't/ix) (03/17/89)
I'm interested in Hypertext/-media systems running on UNIX. If someone knows anything about this topic or knows someone who knows something, please answer to: Juergen Seeger iX-Redaktion ++49 511 547 47 23 FAX: ++49 511 53 52 129 ix@cosmo.UUCP
lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) (03/22/89)
E-mail did not go through..
lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) (03/22/89)
These hypertext products are currently available for UNIX:
--KMS (Knowledge Management Systems), a complex and extensive system
originally developed at Carnegie-Mellon University. See:
"KMS: A DISTRIBUTED HYPERMEDIA SYSTEM FOR MANAGING KNOWLEDGE
IN ORGANIZATIONS," by Akscyn, McCracken & Yoder. In "Communications
of the ACM," Vol.31, No.7, July 1988.
or write
Knowledge Systems
4758 Old William Penn Highway
Murraysville, PA 15668 U.S.A.
--GUIDE, the precursor of the Guide now available on the Mac and IBM-PC.
UNIX Guide was developed and is available through the University of Kent
at Canterbury. I have tried this one and it has a good interface,
button mechanisms, etc.
Contact: Mark Wheadon
Computing Laboratory
The University, Canterbury
Kent CT2 7NF, Great Britain (mcw@ukc.ac.uk)
* * * * *
Both of these need computers with mice and windowing systems such as
X-Windows or SunView. We needed a system that could be accessed by a
large variety of terminals & computers on our campus network, many
without mice or windows. The alternative we are using is working out
well: EMACS INFO (somewhat customized).
EMACS INFO allows the use of menus within text, cross-referencing, etc.,
and is extremely fast and easy to get around in (uses single keystroke
commands). We set up keys to take users directly to central locations
such as Index, TOC, Instructions, and INFO has keys to take users
up and down the hierarchies, to previously visited nodes, etc.
These are the main products available commercially. Brown University also
has an experimental system called INTERMEDIA that reportedly allows up to
40 windows open at once, supports not only text and graphics but also
3-D object viewing and soon video. (At the Institute for Research in
Information and Scholarship, IRIS.)
If anyone knows of others, please post.wsj3@apple.com (Will S. Johnston) (03/23/89)
Currently for the Macintosh there is a product named Architext available which is a hypertext authoring tool. Sorry I cannot remember who makes it, but I've heard good things about it so far. I do not speak for Apple Computer
fischer@iesd.dk (Lars P. Fischer) (04/01/89)
In article <179@opus.NMSU.EDU> lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) writes: >These hypertext products are currently available for UNIX: >--KMS... >--GUIDE... >EMACS INFO... Both GUIDE and Emacs Info are based on browsing static collections of text. An author creates a hypertext document (e.g. a manual), using some form of document language to set up links, create document structure, etc. A reader can then browse the document using the links. You cannot add links dynamically, based on your own ideas of information relations, say. Neither can you use these systems to create database-like systems, the way you do in HyperCard. I would really like to see a dynamic hypertext system for unix, possibly based on a network server... INFO is very nice for browsing documentation, by the way. Much better than standard unix manual-pages. /Lars -- Lars Fischer, fischer@iesd.dk, {...}!mcvax!iesd!fischer Dept. of Math. and Comp. Sci., University of Aalborg Strandvejen 19, DK-9000 Aalborg, DENMARK Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke
lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) (04/04/89)
In article <1629@iesd.dk>, fischer@iesd.dk (Lars P. Fischer) writes: > > > Both GUIDE and Emacs Info are based on browsing static collections of > text. An author creates a hypertext document (e.g. a manual), using > some form of document language to set up links, create document > structure, etc. A reader can then browse the document using the links. > > You cannot add links dynamically, based on your own ideas of > information relations, say. Neither can you use these systems to > create database-like systems, the way you do in HyperCard. > > I would really like to see a dynamic hypertext system for unix, > possibly based on a network server... > The experimental system being developed at Brown University might interest you. According to "Dispatch," the University of Alberta at Edmonton computing newsletter, with Brown's INTERMEDIA system "unlike most hypermedia systems, multiple users can follow and create links simultaneously." The "Dispatch" article is very current (March 1989),but I have still not heard anything about widespread or commercial availability of INTERMEDIA. Has anyone else? Linda (Raz) Rasmussen NMSU Computer Center
fischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) (04/04/89)
Guide on UNIX is the original version from U of Edinborough (sp), which is different from the Mac version. The Mac one does allow you to create links dynamically. NoteCards is availible under UNIX (from ENVOS Corp.) and also allows completely dynamic link creation either by the user or under program control (if you're not Lisp paranoid). I posit that the reason the folks on comp.sys.hypercard spend all of their time talking about programming problems is their limited language, HyperTalk. (ron)
uevans@mcnc.org (Elizabeth A. Evans) (04/04/89)
>In article <179@opus.NMSU.EDU> lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) writes: >>These hypertext products are currently available for UNIX: >>--KMS... >>--GUIDE... >>EMACS INFO... Does anybody know if the KMS system can run at least minimally from ASCII terminals? I requested info on it for Suns and from the literature it looks like it requires a console. Most of our users log into Suns from microcomputers and don't have consoles. If they could still access the info in KMS (without windows, etc), it could be useful to us. Thanks in advance. -- Elizabeth A. Evans internet: uevans@med.unc.edu Office of Information Systems usenet: ...!mcnc!uncmed!uevans UNC-CH Chapel Hill, NC
newman@ut-emx.UUCP (Dave Newman) (04/04/89)
To my knowledge, INTERMEDIA is not currently being distributed
comercially. It is being used at Brown to teach classes as part
of their research project. If you are really serious about getting
more information about Intermedia, I suggest you contact Nicole
Yankelovich at Brown. I have old information that suggests she
can be reached at the following address:
Brown University
IRIS, Box 1946
Providence RI.
02912
>>Davefischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) (04/04/89)
In article <669@arisia.Xerox.COM>, fischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) writes: > NoteCards is availible under UNIX (from ENVOS Corp.) and also allows > completely dynamic link creation either by the user or under program > control (if you're not Lisp paranoid). HyperCard took a few good ideas and (partially) its name from NoteCards, but HyperCard never got beyond those few ideas. The NoteCards software was originally developed by the clever folks at Xerox PARC and is now being marketed by ENVOS Corp. If anyone is interested in seeing the many ideas that Apple *didn't* use you can contact: Scott Reid ENVOS Corp. 1157 San Antonio Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043 415-966-6237 (ron)
fischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) (04/04/89)
Apple Computer is one of the larger sponsors of the InterMedia project at Brown University. I suppose that at some point they're likely to release it out on their higher end workstations. There's an interesting story behind this which goes something like this: Brown ported MacApp or some portion of the Mac toolbox calls onto UNIX to support their development of IM. Intermedia now depends heavily on this code. Apple is one of a consortium of sponsors for IM. The sponsors have varying rights to the resulting code. For Apple this is a drag because they don't have exclusive proprietary rights (unless this has changed). I wonder if Apple has required the other sponsors to separately license from them the user interface technology used in Intermedia? That could give Apple a strong position. Apple's problem will be integrating embedded editors with its existing toolbox in a compatible way, in addition to allowing compound documents, although the latter could be acheived by substructuring text forks. Systems like InterMedia (or ENVOS NoteCards) are to HyperCard as Microsoft Write is to Microsoft Word, or Assembly language is to Modula-3. Unfortunately these kind of relations make it hard to provide upward compatibility, since one tends to hook deeply into low level systems like HyperCard to accomplish the things that are missing. Perhaps we'll have a division of the Hypertext market into entry level and professional tools. Remember that in a few years Apple's next generation OS and tools like Intermedia will make the current toolbox and HyperCard look like the Apple // tools seem to us today. (ron) Ron Fischer ENVOS Corp. 1157 San Antonio Rd. Mountain View, CA 94043 415-966-6206
lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) (04/05/89)
In article <1137@speedy.mcnc.org>, uevans@mcnc.org (Elizabeth A. Evans) writes: > > Does anybody know if the KMS system can run at least minimally from > ASCII terminals? I requested info on it for Suns and from the > literature it looks like it requires a console. Most of our users log > into Suns from microcomputers and don't have consoles. If they could > still access the info in KMS (without windows, etc), it could be useful > to us. I contacted Joe Marenzel at Scribe Systems, the distributor for KMS, about two months ago. I asked essentially the same question and was told that KMS did need windows as well as a three-button mouse. If you have other questions here is their address: Scribe Systems Suite 240 Commerce Court 4 Station Square Pittsburgh, PA 15219 (412) 281-5959 Linda Rasmussen (Raz) .. NMSU Computer Center .. (lrasmuss@nmsu.edu) Las Cruces, New Mexico ..
fischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) (04/05/89)
I called IRIS regarding Intermedia last year. They indicated that if I wanted to find out more I would have to join IRIS and pay about $10,000. That is for state of the art info, there were several papers published on Intermedia a while ago. You'd probably have better luck in a library actually. (ron) PS- MacWeek contains the rumor that Apple and Brown will announce a co-marketing agreement for Intermedia at a Dallas show next month. The software will be provided without any customer support and only under A/UX. If its true this is an interesting dip of toe in the water.
mcw@ukc.ac.uk (Mark Wheadon) (04/05/89)
In article <669@arisia.Xerox.COM> fischer@arisia.Xerox.COM (Ronald A. Fischer) writes: >Guide on UNIX is the original version from U of Edinborough (sp), >which is different from the Mac version. The Mac one does allow you >to create links dynamically. No. The Mac and PC versions of guide are marketed by OWL, who are based in Edinburgh. The UNIX version of guide was developed here at the University of Kent at Canterbury by Prof. Peter Brown and is available, for a modest sum, for the Sun3 (SunView or X11) and VAXstations (Ultrix+X11). For more details contact Judith Farmer, The Computing Laboratory, The University, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, ENGLAND, or e-mail me. Mark Wheadon (mcw@ukc.ac.uk)