danapple@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Daniel I. Applebaum) (04/06/90)
Archive-name: galatea/06-Apr-90 Original-posting-by: danapple@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Daniel I. Applebaum) Original-subject: Galatea information Archive-site: flotsam.mit.edu [18.85.0.36] Archive-directory: galatea Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) Since it was mentioned on this newsgroup last week, I have received a bunch of requests for documentation and information. I thought it would be best just to post the information. Here is a summary of what Galatea is, and how to get the documentation and distribution. --------------------- The Galatea Network Video Device Control System is a package for controlling and managing video resources in a distributed workstation environment. The system handles the control of video devices, such as analog video disc player/recorders and analog video routing switches. Galatea runs on 4.3BSD and System V UNIX on 32 bit workstations. A Mac II client library is in the works, so a UNIX server will be able to serve a cluster of Mac's. Galatea is available for the public under the same copyright restrictions as the X Window System. Any person may copy and use Galatea for any purpose, as long as the M.I.T. copyright is maintained on all copies of the distributed software. To obtain a copy of Galatea, anonymous ftp can be used to flotsam.mit.edu (Internet 18.85.0.36). The Galatea distribution, in cpio(1) and tar(1) formats, as well as PostScript and line printer copies of the documentation are available in the subdirectory 'galatea' The documentation is present in the distribution, so there is no need to grab both. If you cannot form an ftp(1) connection to flotsam.mit.edu, I would be happy to send mail containing uuencoded versions of either the documentation or the distribution. If you don't specify whether you want the PostScript or lineprinter version of the documentation, I will send the lineprinter version. I don't have the time or energy to send any of this information via US mail. I can send the documentation non-uuencoded, if that is better. There is no official support for Galatea, although I try to keep things going and I respond to complaints about bugs. If you wish to use the system, feel free, but the responsibility is in your hands. I want to hear about real bugs in the system, and take efforts to correct them. As I will graduate in two months, the future of Galatea development is uncertain. As the Media Laboratory is not a product development or support organization, Galatea is only being offered unofficially by me, not by the lab. Currently, Galatea supports Sony and Digital Equipment Corporation video disc players and the Panasonic write-once units, Akai Digital Patch Panels and many switches produced by Presentation Environments. Work is being done at MIT Project Athena to add support for the Pioneer video disk player. I welcome any device driver software that other users develop and would be more than happy it to add to the distribution. The system runs on 4.3BSD, Ultrix, Interactive 386/ix, HP-UX and Sun OS. The client library is device independent, so the clients never need to be aware of the type of device under control. In addition, the physical location of a device is hidden from a client, so in a distributed environment, a video disc player may be anywhere. Galatea servers can communicate to each other to share resources. There need not be a single server, but a hierarchy can be created, allowing the use of "office-wide", "department-wide", and "building-wide" resources by the same user without the client software or the user being aware of the distinction. Some applications of Galatea have included the recording of computer generated animations onto write-once video discs (CALTECH CCSF), image archive retrieval (Image Concepts, MIT VLW), educational applications (MIT Project Athena) and off-line video editing prototypes (MIT Interactive Cinema). Mailing lists: To be added to the galatea-users or galatea-bugs list or to request documentation or distributions: galatea-request@athena.mit.edu To send mail to other users of Galatea: galatea-users@athena.mit.edu To report a Galatea bug: galatea-bugs@athena.mit.edu Daniel I. Applebaum Interactive Cinema M.I.T. Media Laboratory danapple@athena.mit.edu danapple@media-lab.mit.edu