Ian & Stuart's Australian Mac: Not for Sale/Another.not.for.sale (Australia).iso/hold me in your arms/Nexus/nexus.software/ecafe.fep

Internet Message Format | 1994-05-22 | 7KB

From: [e-mail] (Sparky)
Subject: Front ends (fwd)
To: [e-mail] (Nexus Gaia)
Date: Thu, 5 May 1994 02:24:49 +0100 (BST)

This is from Mikael Cardell, I'm currently chatting to the guy to see if his
system is fesiable for use in the Cafe, Ill post a summary when we sort
something out.

-Mark

Mikael Cardell said...
> From: closet![e-mail] (Mikael Cardell)
>
> No, I don't mind you mailing me at all. I like to babble on for hours
> about connecting people to the net, access for all and that sort of
> thing. Just keep those replies coming and you willl keep me happy.
>
> I'm not actually working on a "front end" like you seem to be. It's
> more like a complete publishing system. I'll tell you about it. I've
> got a server, sitting on a database, accepting connections from client
> programs. I use BSD sockets in the server code, but that doesn't mean
> the client connection *has* to come from the TCP/IP speaking world. I
> mean, it shouldn't be that hard to write a small program relaying
> everything directly from a serial port.
>
> Back to business. The client and the server speaks a common protocol
> that can be spoken across any eight bit two-way channel. It *can* be a
> TCP stream, but it doesn't have to be. The protocol is heavily based
> on the Forth programming language and the server, and the client mind
> you, can be seen upon as Forth machines, evaluating the protocol words
> as they come in.
>
> Data stored in the server database can be of any kind. You just
> reserve a type identifier for the type of data you want to store, and
> in it goes. Of course, the client has to have the ability to handle
> the data it requests from the server, but if it can't handle it, I bet
> the client user will be able to figure out what is necessary to view
> the data.
>
> Everything in the server database is stored as generic information
> nodes, connected to each other in a network of a sort. These nodes are
> not the data, but a way of retrieving it. All users of a server are
> also represented as a node, so people can attach new data to that
> node, and hence give the user a piece of data.
>
> In more specific terms, I'd say that the user node is acting as the
> mailbox, file area and presentation of the user at once. In the same
> way another node can be said to represent the uppermost level of a
> Usenet newsgroup. Nodes connected to that uppermost level can be said
> to represent subject threads within a newsgroup and nodes connected to
> *these* nodes can be said to be individual posting, possibly connected
> further to any nodes that acts as replies.
>
> The server, written from scratch in C and utilizing BSD sockets under
> SunOS, is largely done. It's working, or rather excepting client
> connections and answering queries. There are some small things that
> has to be done to make it handle the linking of nodes, but it is
> largely finished.
>
> I'm also hacking on a TTY client for Unix, but it's a long way from
> being finished. It does allow me to login to the server and this does
> accept some commands and can handle the evaluation of incoming
> protocol words, but it hangs a lot.
>
> Other clients for the system include a Windoze client and a plain-DOS
> client, but neither of those are ready either. I don't even know if
> work has started on the Windoze thing. I don't think so.
>
> My own TTY client will be very inspired by a very old conferencing
> system called KOM that originally ran on a pdp-10 at QZ here in
> Sweden. The interface in my client will be taken from that system just
> because I like it a lot. Here's an example:
>
> What is your name: mi c
>
> Mikael Cardell, Lysator
>
> Password:
>
> You have 1 unread letter.
> You have 2 unread entries in forum.
> You have 6 marked entries.
>
> There are 22 other people present.
>
> Go (to your) mailbox - <CR>
>
> Mikael Cardell, Lysator - 1 unread.
>
> (Read the) next letter - <CR>
>
> Text 4711, 1993-01-17 2341, from Helena Cardell
> Recipient: Mikael Cardell, Lysator
> Subject: Babies
>
> You are now the father of a sweet little boy!
>
> (End of text 4711)
>
> (Go to the) next conference - <CR>
>
> Forum - 2 unread.
>
> (Read the) next entry - <CR>
>
> Text 114711, 1993-01-16 1452, from Lars Aronsson
> A reply to text 17 by Lars Willfor.
> Recipient: Forum
> Recipient: The nonsense conference
> Subject: Nothing in particular
>
> Just writing along...
>
> (End of text 114711)
> Reply by Lars Willfor in 26262.
>
> (Read the) next reply - <CR>
>
> * * *
>
> I guess you get the picture -- the program always suggest a command,
> and all you have to do is to press return to execute that command. If
> you want to give another command, you just type it in and press
> return. There's of course completion on everything, commands and
> parameters alike.
>
> KOM was written in the 1970's, but I have yet to see another
> conferencing system that good. It was the first system with subject
> threading and the way it did things made me love it at first sight.
> There's no menus what so ever, and all commands are available at the
> same time. You only have to type out things so they are unique in the
> context et cetera et cetera...
>
> A lot of hackers loved KOM and wanted on their own small microcomputer
> bulletin boards. Of course, the original KOM couldn't run on a micro
> computer, so people hacked a new version, called MicroKOM that ran
> under CP/M back in the old days. This started a whole family of KOM
> systems, but I don't know if they're known outside of Sweden.
>
> There are KOM systems for PC under MS-DOS (TCL, HKOM, new MicroKOM and
> some more) and Amiga (NT Pro and NiKOM). There are a few KOM systems
> for Unix too, PortaCOM and LysKOM. The latter is crafted at the
> Lysator academic computer society, where I'm also a member. However,
> it has some major drawbacks that is shared with almost all the other
> systems -- it can't import or export messages from ordinary e-mail,
> news or anything like that.
>
> This is the major reason I started hacking on my own system -- I
> wanted a nice system to read and write my mail in. I also wanted it to
> treat mailing lists and newsgroups like any other KOM conference. Of
> course, my system has grown a bit since then, so now there shouldn't
> be that much problem connecting a special client to the system
> speaking HTTP one way and my own protocol the other way, letting
> people on the WWW visit the system. Of course, I could also write any
> sort of import or export clients that adds newsgroup or mailing list
> postings as new entries in the KOM.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Oh, btw, don't get hung up about the KOM interface I'm going to use in
> my Unix TTY client. I guess the Windoze version will be full of
> buttons and drop-down menu for all mouse-loving people out there. In
> fact, you can write any client you want, any way you want, and still
> communicate with the same database I'm using with my KOM interface
> client...
>
>     Mikael Cardell <closet![e-mail]>
> SPUNK PRESS @NARCHIST AND UNDERGROUND LITERATURE
>           Write me for information!
>


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