Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!ox.com!msen.com!emv From: danapple@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Daniel I. Applebaum) Newsgroups: comp.archives Subject: [comp.ivideodisc...] Re: Galatea 2.5 Alpha Keywords: galatea videodisc control server Message-ID: <1991Apr4.014557.21702@ox.com> Date: 4 Apr 91 01:45:57 GMT References: <5564@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> <1991Mar31.192850.17304@dsd.es.com> <5595@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> Sender: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) Reply-To: danapple@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Daniel I. Applebaum) Followup-To: comp.ivideodisc,comp.multimedia Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA Lines: 113 Approved: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.ivideodisc,comp.multimedia Archive-name: hardware/video/galatea/1991-04-03 Archive: media-lab.media.mit.edu:/galatea/galatea.2.5a.tar.Z [18.85.0.2] Original-posting-by: danapple@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Daniel I. Applebaum) Original-subject: Re: Galatea 2.5 Alpha Reposted-by: emv@msen.com (Edward Vielmetti, MSEN) In article <1991Mar31.192850.17304@dsd.es.com>, rthomson@mesa.dsd.es.com (Rich Thomson) writes: > For future reference, please include a description of the software > along with the new capabilities of the latest release. For the > benefit of others, I'll include the "galatea.announce" file I found on > the media-lab machine. Thanks, Rich. Just for completeness, I've included the newest Galatea announcement file, as there a slight changes. I wasn't sure what was appropriate as far as reposting info that I had posted some months ago, so I guess I erred on the vague side. This is probably overdoing it, but at least it's not a flame war... Anyway, I'm not trying to force this stuff down anyone's throat, but I do want to make sure that it's existence is known. As always, all comments except "Why didn't you implement dynamic rebinding of virtual outputs?" are perfectly welcome. Also, there is probably a tremendous overlap in readership between comp.multimedia and comp.ivideodisc. As Galatea is really a video device control and management system, not a multimedia package or platform, it probably makes sense to deal with it only on comp.ivideodisc, so this is the last crosspost I'll do. Daniel I. Applebaum [danapple@media-lab.media.mit.edu] ("Excellent!" - Bill S. Preston, Esq.) ======= 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. 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 media-lab.mit.edu (Internet 18.85.0.2). The Galatea distribution, in tar(1) format, 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 media-lab.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 have graduated, 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, Pioneer and Digital Equipment Corporation video disc players, the Panasonic write-once units, the NEC PC-VCR, Akai Digital Patch Panels, and many switches produced by Presentation Environments. 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, SVR4 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). For more information on Galatea and its encompassing project, see the paper "Light Table: Interface to Visual Information Systems" in the MIT Press book "The Electronic Design Studio", published in 1990. The Galatea Network Video Device Control System is not a product of or in any way associated with Sun Microsystems, Inc. It is a project that I am continuing to expand from my previous work at the M.I.T. Media Lab. Mailing lists: To be added to the galatea-users or galatea-bugs list or to request documentation or distributions: galatea-request@athena.mit.edu or galatea-request@media-lab.mit.edu To send mail to other users of Galatea: galatea-users@athena.mit.edu or galatea-users@media-lab.mit.edu To report a Galatea bug: galatea-bugs@athena.mit.edu or galatea-bugs@media-lab.mit.edu Daniel I. Applebaum Interactive Cinema M.I.T. Media Laboratory danapple@athena.mit.edu danapple@media-lab.mit.edu