This was announced last week and, not wishing to be smug, but I submitted almost exactly this story the day it was released. Rejected VERY quickly.
Oh well...
For anyone who hasn't used this, do. It's fantastic and would be a real asset to the GNU community. Even if it means downloading UAE and using that just to try it out. This program could convince almost anyone to move away from CLIs for file management and was Amiga Format's highest rated product until Lightwave 3.5 came along - 97%.
Please, can someone port it?
Greg
--
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant) Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Before anybody starts to port it, why not have a look at Worker at freshmeat. It's described there as follows:
Worker is a file-manager exclusive for X based on the famous filemanager "DirectoryOpus" on the AmigaOS. It is configurable on the fly without restarting Worker. Any extern program can be easily integrated in the GUI, including a button and a hotkey. Worker uses real file-recognition on file-content AND/OR file-ending, where each file-type can get an own action.
-- MartinG.
-- --
MartinG
To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz.@adgimnoprstu
How is this news? I don't get why Slashdot keeps on posting stories about Amiga. Sure, Amigas may have been cool at the time, but they haven't been made for years, and with all the advances in computing technology since then, I don't understand why everyone keeps fawning over them, much less why they're still relevant to any of us.
Just because they're not made anymore doesn't mean they are dead. The life of a system is based on it's userbase, not how many corporations throw money behind it. To use another classic computer as an example - the C64. You may say it is dead, and it is commercially in my eyes. However, if you tell me that the 64 is dead based on the sheer number of users it still has, then I will laugh in your face, sir.
I can sort of understand why the story about the PET was posted -- that was a true original revolution in personal computing
And the Amiga wasn't? It was 15 years ahead of it's time (the Amiga still has bragging rights on certain capabilities that haven't happened anywhere else), the only problem it had was Commodore.
But the Amiga is a dead platform, yet Slashdot has a whole category for Amiga posts.
That's because many geeks were brought up on the Amiga, such as myself. The Amiga platform is still fairly popular if you consider how long ago Commodore filed for bankruptcy, and also the fact that when a PC is obsoleted, many people just trash them and upgrade. I can give you a list of things that the Amiga is capable of out of the box that PC manufacturers just haven't figure out how to do yet.
Doesn't anyone else here get tired of constantly hearing about Amiga?
No, I used an Amiga ever since AmigaDOS 1.2, and I was amazed at the speed and stability of the system, so amazed that even after I had sold all my Amigas (yes, I did:) and bought a PC, I still yearned for more. So now I have an A3000 sitting in my home, that does things running at 25MHz and with only 4MB of RAM that my 333MHz K6-2 can't with 128MB of RAM. So yes, I do still own an Amiga, and yes, I enjoy hearing news about it, at least it still gets some press coverage.
Rob & Co., I appreciate all the effort you put into Slashdot, but I think all of us would like stories that cover what we're interested in today.
If you're not interested in the Amiga, then pass by the article instead of trying to raise a stink. Some people actually still like the Amiga, you know. _______ Scott Jones Newscast Director / ABC19 WKPT Game Show Fan / C64 Coder
-- FC Closer
DOpus can't be judged by screen shots... GET UAE!
by
Macfox
·
· Score: 4
While I agree this might not a as news worthy as a lot of other stories, there is a large portion of/. readers who are x-amiga fans and like to see this kind of news now an then...
Three major things that Dopus was to the amiga...
1) The only file manager with a decent GUI. Back when I first met John Potter and he was coding the first version there was no API short cuts to coding a nice consistent interface. Only the horrible 1.3 WB interface existed. Hardly worth using and only if you had access to the ridiculously priced amiga developers books. Johns own GUI set the standard and I had my suspecisions that many of the WB 2 widgets appeared very similar.:)
2) Many have commented that they had a 50k file manager that did the same... Hardly... DOpus's GUI was not only most easiest and clear to use GUI, it was also very intuitive and could be customized very easily... A very rare thing to find in an program back then. These are the best points and they can't be demonstrated by screen shots!
3) Behind the GUI layed a very smart file recognition system that didn't rely on dumb file extentions, a text and hex editor, media players, and a host of WB tools that allowed the creation and modification of icons for files and folders.
Overall DOpus filled a big gap. Only after it was so successful was there a host of clones that never matched DOpus for what it was.
Something like DOpus could make X far more useable for the would be linux crowd who want to try it out, but cant figure out stuff like ls, cd, rm, cp, more...;)
I agree with the point that a complete GUI desktop environment is going to make Linux more accessible to the new or casual user. The reason is extremely simple. It is easier to recognize even infrequently used controls when they are visible in front of you than it is to remember how to access them when they are not visible. That is the entire secret to the real need for GUIs.
Let's be honest with ourselves. My average computer use has probably been around 10 hours/day for several years (down somewhat from the days when I didn't have kids and home-repair projects). I am probably around the 50th percentile among Slashdot readers. (Future poll topic?) And I am probably at least 1.5 to 2 sigmas out on the bell curve for the general population. Remembering an infrequently used command is not a problem for me. I know where and how to find the information.
The importance of a CLI however is often underrated. CLI tools lend themselves very well to scripting. That means that I can make frequently executed tasks even easier than a GUI makes them for my mother. I can reduce something that she clicks through menus to do into a shell script. I type a few characters and dozens of separate steps involving a variety of tools happen automatically, with the infinite patience and unparalleled repeatability that a computer brings to the task. I won't give up that power for all the windows, icons, menus and pointers in the world. GUIs don't speed up my interaction or make it easier a significant part of the time.
-- The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.
Slashdot Mirror
This was announced last week and, not wishing to be smug, but I submitted almost exactly this story the day it was released. Rejected VERY quickly.
Oh well...
For anyone who hasn't used this, do. It's fantastic and would be a real asset to the GNU community. Even if it means downloading UAE and using that just to try it out. This program could convince almost anyone to move away from CLIs for file management and was Amiga Format's highest rated product until Lightwave 3.5 came along - 97%.
Please, can someone port it?
Greg
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
How is this news? I don't get why Slashdot keeps on posting stories about Amiga. Sure, Amigas may have been cool at the time, but they haven't been made for years, and with all the advances in computing technology since then, I don't understand why everyone keeps fawning over them, much less why they're still relevant to any of us.
:) and bought a PC, I still yearned for more. So now I have an A3000 sitting in my home, that does things running at 25MHz and with only 4MB of RAM that my 333MHz K6-2 can't with 128MB of RAM. So yes, I do still own an Amiga, and yes, I enjoy hearing news about it, at least it still gets some press coverage.
Just because they're not made anymore doesn't mean they are dead. The life of a system is based on it's userbase, not how many corporations throw money behind it. To use another classic computer as an example - the C64. You may say it is dead, and it is commercially in my eyes. However, if you tell me that the 64 is dead based on the sheer number of users it still has, then I will laugh in your face, sir.
I can sort of understand why the story about the PET was posted -- that was a true original revolution in personal computing
And the Amiga wasn't? It was 15 years ahead of it's time (the Amiga still has bragging rights on certain capabilities that haven't happened anywhere else), the only problem it had was Commodore.
But the Amiga is a dead platform, yet Slashdot has a whole category for Amiga posts.
That's because many geeks were brought up on the Amiga, such as myself. The Amiga platform is still fairly popular if you consider how long ago Commodore filed for bankruptcy, and also the fact that when a PC is obsoleted, many people just trash them and upgrade. I can give you a list of things that the Amiga is capable of out of the box that PC manufacturers just haven't figure out how to do yet.
Doesn't anyone else here get tired of constantly hearing about Amiga?
No, I used an Amiga ever since AmigaDOS 1.2, and I was amazed at the speed and stability of the system, so amazed that even after I had sold all my Amigas (yes, I did
Rob & Co., I appreciate all the effort you put into Slashdot, but I think all of us would like stories that cover what we're interested in today.
If you're not interested in the Amiga, then pass by the article instead of trying to raise a stink. Some people actually still like the Amiga, you know.
_______
Scott Jones
Newscast Director / ABC19 WKPT
Game Show Fan / C64 Coder
FC Closer
While I agree this might not a as news worthy as a lot of other stories, there is a large /. readers who are x-amiga fans and like to see this kind of news now an then...
:)
portion of
Three major things that Dopus was to the amiga...
1) The only file manager with a decent GUI. Back when I first met John Potter and he
was coding the first version there was no API short cuts to coding a nice consistent
interface. Only the horrible 1.3 WB interface existed. Hardly worth using and only if you
had access to the ridiculously priced amiga developers books. Johns own GUI set the
standard and I had my suspecisions that many of the WB 2 widgets appeared very
similar.
2) Many have commented that they had a 50k file manager that did the same... Hardly...
DOpus's GUI was not only most easiest and clear to use GUI, it was also very intuitive
and could be customized very easily... A very rare thing to find in an program back then.
These are the best points and they can't be demonstrated by screen shots!
3) Behind the GUI layed a very smart file recognition system that didn't rely on dumb file
extentions, a text and hex editor, media players, and a host of WB tools that allowed the
creation and modification of icons for files and folders.
Overall DOpus filled a big gap. Only after it was so successful was there a host of clones
that never matched DOpus for what it was.
Anywayz my 0.02c AUS
Rob
Area51 - We are watching...
Something like DOpus could make X far more useable for the would be linux crowd who want to try it out, but cant figure out stuff like ls, cd, rm, cp, more... ;)
I agree with the point that a complete GUI desktop environment is going to make Linux more accessible to the new or casual user. The reason is extremely simple. It is easier to recognize even infrequently used controls when they are visible in front of you than it is to remember how to access them when they are not visible. That is the entire secret to the real need for GUIs.
Let's be honest with ourselves. My average computer use has probably been around 10 hours/day for several years (down somewhat from the days when I didn't have kids and home-repair projects). I am probably around the 50th percentile among Slashdot readers. (Future poll topic?) And I am probably at least 1.5 to 2 sigmas out on the bell curve for the general population. Remembering an infrequently used command is not a problem for me. I know where and how to find the information.
The importance of a CLI however is often underrated. CLI tools lend themselves very well to scripting. That means that I can make frequently executed tasks even easier than a GUI makes them for my mother. I can reduce something that she clicks through menus to do into a shell script. I type a few characters and dozens of separate steps involving a variety of tools happen automatically, with the infinite patience and unparalleled repeatability that a computer brings to the task. I won't give up that power for all the windows, icons, menus and pointers in the world. GUIs don't speed up my interaction or make it easier a significant part of the time.
The net will not be what we demand, but what we make it. Build it well.