[alt.hypertext] References for distributed hypermedia/multimedia systems

G.J.Hill@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Gary Hill) (06/04/91)

I am about to look into developing a distributed version of
a hypermedia research system I am involved in and I am searching for
appropriate references to distributed hypertext/hypermedia/multimedia
systems.  Any pointers will be gratefully received.

E-mail to the address below and if response warrants it I will
summarise to the net.

Thanks in advance,

Gary Hill,
gjh@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET)
gjh@ecs.soton.ac.uk (BITNET)

marti@saturn.ucsc.edu (Marti Atkinson) (06/06/91)

>I am about to look into developing a distributed version of
>a hypermedia research system I am involved in and I am searching for
>appropriate references to distributed hypertext/hypermedia/multimedia
>systems.  Any pointers will be gratefully received.

Hi Gary...

I had trouble replying to you via e-mail, so I'm having to make a public
reply.  We interested in doing a similar project and have been chipping
away at it for at least a year.  Altho I can't really recommend what to
do, I can give you some pointers as to what to avoid.

First, avoid using Hypercard on the Macs.  Hypercard keeps all of it's
pointers in the Home stack which can't be shared making it impossible
to be multi-user or multi-launch over a network.  Claris is supposedly
working on this problem, but it's been some time and I haven't heard of
any solutions.

We have been working with IBMs lately.  Altho some people love them,
we've learned to hate Microchannel machines.  We're making some
headway, but it's been really slow.  What was conceived as a relatively
easy project using all off-the-self software/hardware, has been a royal
pain in the anatomy.  Every time we add or change something in the system,
we've had a domino effect with never to be imagined problems being caused
with other applications/hardware.

Best wishes with your project.  I'd be interested in learning how
you plan to approach the problem and if you find any solutions.

Marti Atkinson
University of Calif. at Santa Cruz  
marti@saturn.ucsc.edu
marti@uccrls.BITNET
..!ucbvax!ucscc!saturn!marti

ruseng@Eng.Sun.COM (Carsten Ruseng Jakobsen) (06/07/91)

Gary,

You might be interested in contacting kock@iesd.auc.dk and ask for a
copy of HyperBase and perhaps his EHTS. During last spring we were 7
people who designed and implemented a networked multiuser
hypertext/hyper-media system with support for locking and events. This
is not a product but a research proto-type written in gnu C++ which has
been interfaced to a number of languages eg. C, emacs-lisp,
small-talk.

The development and work with HyperBase is described in:

[1] U.K. Wiil et al. "Design and Implementation of a HyperBase".
Internal Report IR-90-03, The University of Aalborg sept. 1990.

[2] U.K. Wiil and K. Oesterbye "Experiences with HyperBase - a
multiuser back-end for hypertext applications with emphasis on
collaboration support". Technincal Report R-90-38, The University of
Aalborg Oct. 1990.

Hope this helps
/Carsten, ruseng@sun.com