Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!mcsun!ukc!yorkohm!nigelm From: nigelm@ohm.york.ac.uk (Nigel Metheringham) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: GUI User Information (was Re: Another ... Suggestion for NeXT, Inc.) Message-ID: <1991May1.075442.2705@ohm.york.ac.uk> Date: 1 May 91 07:54:42 GMT References: <1991Apr30.032854.11649@nntp-server.caltech.edu> Organization: Electronics Department, University of York, UK Lines: 40 In <1991Apr30.032854.11649@nntp-server.caltech.edu> carlos@roo (Carlos M. Salinas) writes: >The finger could be a visual finger showing a map of your organization, who is >using what machine (or is this too Big Brother?). A finger of each user should >have pictures, sounds, text, whatever. Sounds like a database is necessary to >do a good job. (3.0 DBKit?) And while we're at it how being able to drop files >and so forth onto the users spec sheet or machine to transfer files to that >person or machine? Program should also have the functionality to initiate talks >and other things you usually do after confirming that someone is logged on. There is a finger program in the Gnu project stuff. I had a quick look at it before we got our NeXTs, and couldn't make it fly.... [from memory - hope my biological simms are in straight] The Gnu finger uses a finger server system, where one machine keeps current user information for a complete network. It also keeps a set of faces (like NeXTmail ?) in one of a number of different picture formats, for sending to the fingerer (the pictures are sent in a network/format independant bitmap protocol). To be made to work on the NeXt you'd need to make the face display code work on a NeXT - should be very easy. I expect you'd then wrap a GUI interface round it. In normal operation you just type finger and get a list of users on all the machines on your network. Fingering a particular person gives information on them including plan, face etc. Anyone interested in getting this going....? [Original Gnu finger code is on prep.ai.mit.edu - the version on there is marked as a beta, and looks like it is still in beta - haven't heard anything on a real release] Nigel. -- # Nigel Metheringham # EMail: nigelm@ohm.york.ac.uk # # System Administrator # Phone: +44 904 432374 # # Department of Electronics # Fax: +44 904 432335 # # University of York, Heslington, York, UK, YO1 5DD #