The two I'm getting tired of lately:
What's better Windows 2000 or XP?
How do I stop these Windows Messenger Popups?
I used to avoid OT however the past few months it seems more interesting, perhaps that's just my brain turning to mush
-Spy
What's better Windows 2000 or XP?
How do I stop these Windows Messenger Popups?
I used to avoid OT however the past few months it seems more interesting, perhaps that's just my brain turning to mush
-Spy
Yes- I did, (damn there goes the high and mighty attitude down the drain..). Obviously the point that I was trying to make must have been lost in the misspelling or I was trying to type too quickly....
Thanks for pointing it out Pauli
Panther
Originally posted by: spyordie007
The two I'm getting tired of lately:
What's better Windows 2000 or XP?
How do I stop these Windows Messenger Popups?
I used to avoid OT however the past few months it seems more interesting, perhaps that's just my brain turning to mush
-Spy
Ahhh, so I'm not the only one who is starting to suffer from the symptons of ATOT disorder, a most unfortunate and uncurable bad habit
.Anyways, if you realy want to see a "alternative" GUI, give Ratposion a try. Its a GUI that is minimilist in the extreme, it's based on the same concept as the screen terminal proggy with a each new window openning full into full-screen mode and you use a variation of screen's shortcut keys to navigate from window to window.
Realy akward with apps like Gimp were you have a bazillion windows open, But it is actually wuite nice when having multiple browser windows open full-screen and having my TV card going,too so I can switch back and forth between watching TV and browsing with total of three button presses....
The goal of it was to provide a means to almost completely elimate the need for the mouse in a GUI. hence the name "ratpoison". all you actually need the mouse for is for use with apps that require it... It's a bit unpolished, but it goes to show how there still can be plenty of imagination when it comes to GUI design.
Also there was a few efforts here and their to create a 3-d world for your computer, so you can "fly" around the file system and directories and stuff is represented by galaxies within galaxies, although i can't remember any of them a right now off the top of my head.
Realy akward with apps like Gimp were you have a bazillion windows open, But it is actually wuite nice when having multiple browser windows open full-screen and having my TV card going,too so I can switch back and forth between watching TV and browsing with total of three button presses....
The goal of it was to provide a means to almost completely elimate the need for the mouse in a GUI. hence the name "ratpoison". all you actually need the mouse for is for use with apps that require it... It's a bit unpolished, but it goes to show how there still can be plenty of imagination when it comes to GUI design.
Also there was a few efforts here and their to create a 3-d world for your computer, so you can "fly" around the file system and directories and stuff is represented by galaxies within galaxies, although i can't remember any of them a right now off the top of my head.
A 3D interface will be kind of pointless until we have a decent 3D input device (your mouse wheel could simulate a third dimension, but that would be awkward). I've seen some strange things that are used in CAD and 3D modeling, but they're too expensive (IMHO) for the average user. With the appropriate input devices, I think a 3D interface (or a 2D interface with some 3D elements, and I mean more than just mere shadows and window transition effects such as Mac OS X and the upcoming MS Windows "Longhorn" have), with a good bit of innovation and optimization, could be quite useful and productive. This would be one area where the Unices could go beyond just copying MS Windows, if only we could have a wider base of accelerated 3D support in XFree86 (I suppose if an environment were created, and the demand for it were high enough, the XFree86 developers might be better persuaded to increase and extend their 3D / OpenGL support).Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I remember using one once, kinda neat, but kinda useless.
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I remember using one once, kinda neat, but kinda useless.
Not to mention the fact that it is an unnecessary strain on your hardware, while offering little or no advantages over a well-crafted 2d system. Also, like jliechty said, 3denviroments are pretty difficult to navigate using a mouse. I really haven't seen to many of these anyway though (i.e. only one), but if I ever get a whole lot of free time a 3D filemanager does sound like a pretty cool idea. If only to use it to show off your computer.
On the 3D filemanager idea, here's a bit of useless rambling since I don't have to get up too early tomorrow morning (spring break rocks!). And yes, this should go in a different thread, but since we're all here already, why not...Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Not to mention the fact that it is an unnecessary strain on your hardware, while offering little or no advantages over a well-crafted 2d system. Also, like jliechty said, 3denviroments are pretty difficult to navigate using a mouse. I really haven't seen to many of these anyway though (i.e. only one), but if I ever get a whole lot of free time a 3D filemanager does sound like a pretty cool idea. If only to use it to show off your computer.Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I remember using one once, kinda neat, but kinda useless.
Concept: have a file manager that portrays your file system hierarchy as a series of hallways (one hallway could perhaps be for the root folder, and subhallways could represent some form of "shortcuts" for control panel, home folder, and mount points), and rooms. Each room can have doors to subfolders, and it can have shelves, which could organize files based on type, size, date, or some other user-specified criterion (perhaps they just want to make some shelves and add some tables themselves, and drag the files around the room to various locations that seem best to them).
Basic information about a file could be shown on mouse-over in some sort of alpha-blended preview box that would be situated on the screen in a similar manner to the statistics that are displayed during any 3D FPS game.
File operations could be handled through a right-click menu (a la Windows Explorer), or just by clicking on a file and pressing keys (with or without modifiers, the former a la Photoshop, Maya, et. al.). Three dimensional file icons could add more texture and variety to the interface. Moving through the folders and shelves could be facilitated by using some sort of pie menu (activated by the middle mouse button), or by using the auxiliary mouse buttons available on many of the more advanced mice available today (for that matter, any 3D navigation tool is likely to have extra buttons that are programmable to any custom function that the user desires).
Ah, so for all that rambling, nothing was accomplished. Perhaps I shall have the time to implement this some day (after I learn much more C++, as well as the basics of OpenGL and 3D programming in general).
Thought of another one I'm sick of:Originally posted by: spyordie007
The two I'm getting tired of lately:
What's better Windows 2000 or XP?
How do I stop these Windows Messenger Popups?
I used to avoid OT however the past few months it seems more interesting, perhaps that's just my brain turning to mush
-Spy
"How do I get rid of the Win 2K swapfile"
-Spy
Originally posted by: jliechty
On the 3D filemanager idea, here's a bit of useless rambling since I don't have to get up too early tomorrow morning (spring break rocks!). And yes, this should go in a different thread, but since we're all here already, why not...Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Not to mention the fact that it is an unnecessary strain on your hardware, while offering little or no advantages over a well-crafted 2d system. Also, like jliechty said, 3denviroments are pretty difficult to navigate using a mouse. I really haven't seen to many of these anyway though (i.e. only one), but if I ever get a whole lot of free time a 3D filemanager does sound like a pretty cool idea. If only to use it to show off your computer.Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I remember using one once, kinda neat, but kinda useless.
Concept: have a file manager that portrays your file system hierarchy as a series of hallways (one hallway could perhaps be for the root folder, and subhallways could represent some form of "shortcuts" for control panel, home folder, and mount points), and rooms. Each room can have doors to subfolders, and it can have shelves, which could organize files based on type, size, date, or some other user-specified criterion (perhaps they just want to make some shelves and add some tables themselves, and drag the files around the room to various locations that seem best to them).
Basic information about a file could be shown on mouse-over in some sort of alpha-blended preview box that would be situated on the screen in a similar manner to the statistics that are displayed during any 3D FPS game.
File operations could be handled through a right-click menu (a la Windows Explorer), or just by clicking on a file and pressing keys (with or without modifiers, the former a la Photoshop, Maya, et. al.). Three dimensional file icons could add more texture and variety to the interface. Moving through the folders and shelves could be facilitated by using some sort of pie menu (activated by the middle mouse button), or by using the auxiliary mouse buttons available on many of the more advanced mice available today (for that matter, any 3D navigation tool is likely to have extra buttons that are programmable to any custom function that the user desires).
Ah, so for all that rambling, nothing was accomplished. Perhaps I shall have the time to implement this some day (after I learn much more C++, as well as the basics of OpenGL and 3D programming in general).
Woah, thats quite a lot of theorizing, not quite up to Shockfrost level yet though. Seriously though, I might get started on a project like this as soon as summer comes around. The listing of subdirs, etc. doesn't really seem to be to complicated to me and I can already think of some ways to get that done, but I suppose design is quite a different animal from implementation, and I've never really touched 3d graphics (except for fooling around with PovRay and, back in the day, some fiddling around with VRML). I wonder how hard it would be to get this done using Java, Java3D, and jython. Hmmmm, if I could get this done I would be famous
................... Well maybe not, besides I won't even be able to come close to completing it until summer. Unfortunately my spring break was last week, .Originally posted by: spyordie007
Thought of another one I'm sick of:Originally posted by: spyordie007
The two I'm getting tired of lately:
What's better Windows 2000 or XP?
How do I stop these Windows Messenger Popups?
I used to avoid OT however the past few months it seems more interesting, perhaps that's just my brain turning to mush
-Spy
"How do I get rid of the Win 2K swapfile"
-Spy
Yes I'm rather sick of that thread myself. I mean sheesh like who actually cares!!! Why debate over something like that? Please, somebody summon up the trolls. Obviously people are getting kinda bored argueing about the finer virtues of apt-get vs. rpm, and all other threads die out in a frivolous whirl of newbies who don't know how to use google demanding free tech support
I don't remember what it was, but in the game section in gentoo's portage there was a proggy that did the galaxies in galaxies model of filesystem exploring. You looked at a directory, it had single dots representing files with file names and stuff, you zoom into the dots then they don't get bigger, they just get spread out. The directories are like clusters, at first they appear as dots then you zoom in and they appear as a bunch of dots, then the directory becomes a circle around another bunch of directory "clusters" and file "stars". Every thing is aranged seemingly randomly around you in a complete 3d space, but you can look around yourself up and down left and right, those don't have any meaning, you have complete 360 degrees by 360 degrees of movement, nothing is there check you for up and down, the text revolves it self around your view. At first everything seems random, but it begins to make sense, the arangements are based on the underlining directory structure and the files locations on the harddrive(s). Then you zoom in on another dircetory and another within it and another within that, you continue delving deeper into your directories. At first you felt kinda godlike, sitting at root, seeing your little computer world, but as you go further and futher, you go from universial, to galactic clusters, to galaxies, to solar systems, to planets, to atoms, to subatomic orbits, to past human experiance in your imagination. It's all kinda trippy, but what makes it cool is the symbolic and hard links, which if you follow can take you directly from atom to galaxies, and if your not paying attention you can become disorented quite quickly. Kinda like wormholes or something, but all you are really seing is small dots and yellow and blue lines that are just whizing by. There is not much you can do with that, it seems the author created it as a engine for a file manager, but was hoping someone would pick it up to make it fully functional. I think that with some nice graphics, lines and dots that grow larger as you close in on it and a decent pair of 3d glasses you could get quite immersed in it. Allow better focus, or something like that.
Could you imaging what using a simple text editor could be like? You could be using a command line, say with 3 or four lines of text at the bottom. Say your at root just type in "cd /etc/X11/xinit/".. You slide into into etc galaxy thru X11 and stop at the solar system of xinit. In it you see several planets, you type in "ls -l" and the view whips around to get the best vantage point and then green text materializes into apperiance out of thin air next to the respective. In your chosen theme it tends to puslate a bit and fade out in places like the holograms in Star Wars, but due to the high contrast in of the background it is still easy to read. The green-blue hue of the planet xinitrc.kde indicates that is a text file, and it's faint atmosphere that seems to be sucked to form the planet xinitrc indicates that there is a symbolic link to that file. So you hit "vi xinitrc.kde" and then you zoom into the planet very rapidly the blue/green hue disolves into individual text, once the planet is 3/4 filling up your view it "explodes" from the back of it and the sphere unraps itself into a perfect rectangle to fill up your view as you start to edit it for a simple bash typo. All this happens fast and with seemless smooth movements. This is the background of your desktop and the entire time you have your daytime TV show playing in a box up in the corner.
You could have serveral themes. That could of been the "Star Wars" theme, with computer diagnostics graphs and network indicators running in several gauges around the screen, with the /var/log/messages happily scrolling thru your main display unit. This all gives you the apperiance of being in a TIE fighter cockpit. Or you could have a underwater theme, or a Hell and Damnation themes with the flames that pusate to your Mp3's. Or you could have a forest glenn theme, or a Urban theme, Doom themes, trippy themes, win95(?) themes,Super Mario world with little turltes and umpah shrooms running around with your app's windows on signs while they hop over each other to be infront. whatever.
How about that? You can navigate with the keyboard. Or have you ever played the game "Black and White"? they have a neat solution for the mouse and operating first person in a complete 3-d world...
Could you imaging what using a simple text editor could be like? You could be using a command line, say with 3 or four lines of text at the bottom. Say your at root just type in "cd /etc/X11/xinit/".. You slide into into etc galaxy thru X11 and stop at the solar system of xinit. In it you see several planets, you type in "ls -l" and the view whips around to get the best vantage point and then green text materializes into apperiance out of thin air next to the respective. In your chosen theme it tends to puslate a bit and fade out in places like the holograms in Star Wars, but due to the high contrast in of the background it is still easy to read. The green-blue hue of the planet xinitrc.kde indicates that is a text file, and it's faint atmosphere that seems to be sucked to form the planet xinitrc indicates that there is a symbolic link to that file. So you hit "vi xinitrc.kde" and then you zoom into the planet very rapidly the blue/green hue disolves into individual text, once the planet is 3/4 filling up your view it "explodes" from the back of it and the sphere unraps itself into a perfect rectangle to fill up your view as you start to edit it for a simple bash typo. All this happens fast and with seemless smooth movements. This is the background of your desktop and the entire time you have your daytime TV show playing in a box up in the corner.
You could have serveral themes. That could of been the "Star Wars" theme, with computer diagnostics graphs and network indicators running in several gauges around the screen, with the /var/log/messages happily scrolling thru your main display unit. This all gives you the apperiance of being in a TIE fighter cockpit. Or you could have a underwater theme, or a Hell and Damnation themes with the flames that pusate to your Mp3's. Or you could have a forest glenn theme, or a Urban theme, Doom themes, trippy themes, win95(?) themes,Super Mario world with little turltes and umpah shrooms running around with your app's windows on signs while they hop over each other to be infront. whatever.
How about that? You can navigate with the keyboard. Or have you ever played the game "Black and White"? they have a neat solution for the mouse and operating first person in a complete 3-d world...
Yes, perhaps "Operating Systems" will again be interesting after the release of RH 9, or better yet Windows 2003 server, or betterer yet Longhorn...Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Yes I'm rather sick of that thread myself. I mean sheesh like who actually cares!!! Why debate over something like that? Please, somebody summon up the trolls. Obviously people are getting kinda bored argueing about the finer virtues of apt-get vs. rpm, and all other threads die out in a frivolous whirl of newbies who don't know how to use google demanding free tech support.
-Spy
I was extremely hard pressed to come up with a good way to layout directories, the best I found was to show an expanded tree, but every level deeper, the font gets a little smaller, so to go down, you need to "zoom" to that depth. I was doing it in html so that had even more restrictions. I did away with it a long time ago but I can probably put up a demo or at least get a screenshot...
Here we go. Although it doesn't quite work how it did when I was actually using it, if you click on a directory now, it just shows an apache dir listing. Before I used that as the default index page for any directory, so when you clicked on a directory, that directory became the top level directory, effectively zooming you into that directory. Eh, it was cooler than it sounds (at least I thought). But it was too much of a PITA dealing with huge groups of images (notice the option there to hide/show them), and also large groups of any files in general, I ended up hiding some things in dot-directories, and it was just too messy after a while. The concept was cool though
Here we go. Although it doesn't quite work how it did when I was actually using it, if you click on a directory now, it just shows an apache dir listing. Before I used that as the default index page for any directory, so when you clicked on a directory, that directory became the top level directory, effectively zooming you into that directory. Eh, it was cooler than it sounds (at least I thought
). But it was too much of a PITA dealing with huge groups of images (notice the option there to hide/show them), and also large groups of any files in general, I ended up hiding some things in dot-directories, and it was just too messy after a while. The concept was cool though Sounds interesting (if nothing else) if it's all in HTML it should be pretty easy to setup a "demo" so the rest of us can view it. I would imagine it is one of those things that would be cool to look at and mess around with but impractical for everyday use (remembering back to that 3d webbrowser I played with).
-Spy
You could make so when a person selects a directory, that directory's would expand to full size in the next page to make the new focus, SO like the directory higher up and farther down would create one of those text waterfall effects on either side of the selected directory.
If you do it all java script-like you could create text that as a person scrolls thru it in it's frame the focus will actively change with the size of the text and the colors of the text and the background. Kinda like if the text was writen on a roller that you have to turn in order to read it. It could make a interesting way to put large amounts of info in a rectangular, narrow, frame. A sort of design crutch. It wouldn't be hard to change the font size and color of a line of text based on it's location in the window, and have the background be a fade from dark to light to dark again. You could put the focus (large high-contrast text) closer to the top of a frame and put a floating transparent gif that covers up the smaller/low contrast stuff 2/3 down the page. Something a bit Goth-like... It would make a good front page or introduction to a website.
If you do it all java script-like you could create text that as a person scrolls thru it in it's frame the focus will actively change with the size of the text and the colors of the text and the background. Kinda like if the text was writen on a roller that you have to turn in order to read it. It could make a interesting way to put large amounts of info in a rectangular, narrow, frame. A sort of design crutch. It wouldn't be hard to change the font size and color of a line of text based on it's location in the window, and have the background be a fade from dark to light to dark again. You could put the focus (large high-contrast text) closer to the top of a frame and put a floating transparent gif that covers up the smaller/low contrast stuff 2/3 down the page. Something a bit Goth-like... It would make a good front page or introduction to a website.
You could use the quake engine, and go around shooting folders you want to delete. Then we can argue over which game is more fun, that one or doomkill (or whatever it was called).
Well I was thinking that since it would be a 3D file browser, an editor or something could also be thrown in along with the typical filesystem options (i.e. deleting, renaming, etc.). I was actually thinking of something along the lines of n0cmonkey's idea, but without the Quake engine bit
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Oh crap!! I just killed my home directory......
Game Over
Supposedly, in the doomkill game (basically an interresting gui for the kill command) you could end up killing some important processes, like the game itself, log yourself out, etc.
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Well I was thinking that since it would be a 3D file browser, an editor or something could also be thrown in along with the typical filesystem options (i.e. deleting, renaming, etc.). I was actually thinking of something along the lines of n0cmonkey's idea, but without the Quake engine bit
Come on! You can combine two of the past times on the forums! *nix and gaming!
Maybe a myst type interface would be better...
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Well I was thinking that since it would be a 3D file browser, an editor or something could also be thrown in along with the typical filesystem options (i.e. deleting, renaming, etc.). I was actually thinking of something along the lines of n0cmonkey's idea, but without the Quake engine bit
Come on! You can combine two of the past times on the forums! *nix and gaming!
Maybe a myst type interface would be better...
Whoa, yeah, a myst type interface was actually exactly what I was thinking. Hmmm, all else fails a "master of orion 2" filebrowser would also be kinda neat (MOO3 for windows though)
This thread actually took a turn for the intelligent towards the end (assuming this is the end soon.)
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