Re: Visual navigation possibilities with GopherVR for Macintosh and Unix

[Steve Foster <[e-mail]>]

On Apr 3,  2:52am, Jill Foster wrote:
} Subject: Visual navigation possibilities with GopherVR for Macintosh and U
} From [e-mail] Sun Apr  2 19:47:22 1995
} Subject: Visual navigation possibilities with GopherVR for Macintosh and Unix
} X-List: [e-mail]
} 
} I know many of you have moved to WWW - but gopher and WWW keep
} leap-frogging each other. This announcement of GopherVR for Macintosh and
} Unix *enables* possibilities for visual navigation through the information
} space. There was a guy from BT at last year's user support workshop that
} talked about the BT (British Telecom for the non-UK members) research
} dept's work on visual navigation as an alternative method of displaying
} relationships between information.
} 
} Sorry for the cross-posting - just trying to get some discussion going
} here. Anyone on these (quiet :-( ) lists working in this sort of area?
} Would be good to see some examples of what is possible.
} 
} -- Jill

Jill et al -  I have been working on a first version of "veronica for
GopherVR" this weekend.  First alpha-minus demo may be running by end
of the week.  

- Steven Foster

} 
} >Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 18:11:12 -0600
} >From: The Gopher Team <[e-mail]>
} >To: [e-mail]
} >Subject: GopherVR for Macintosh and Unix
} >
} >Announcing alpha-test releases
} >of Internet GopherVR for Macintosh and Unix
} >
} >
} >Announcing GopherVR
} >-------------------
} >At GopherCON '94 we talked about using 3D scenes as a user
} >interface metaphor for navigating the Internet and visualizing
} >relationships and clustering of documents. Early (alpha test)
} >releases of Macintosh and Unix Gopher clients that display 3D
} >scenes are now available via gopher and anonymous ftp from
} >boombox.micro.umn.edu.
} >
} >Although not yet complete, in this release you can browse gopher
} >directories by driving around Gopherspace, navigate between gopher
} >servers by driving through a series of 3D scenes, open items by
} >clicking on them, get overviews of the neighborhood you are in,
} >and view meta-information about items.
} >
} >Because this is an alpha-test release, we are still working on
} >the software and will be doing frequent bugfix releases. Use it
} >at your own risk, and please send us bug reports and comments.
} >We are doing an early release of this software because we have
} >found this to be the best way of quickly shaking out bugs and
} >feature sets.
} >
} >To keep up to date on the bugfix releases of GopherVR, subscribe
} >to gopher-news by e-mailing a subscribe request to:
} >     [e-mail]
} >Major new releases are announced on gopher-announce. Subscribe
} >by sending e-mail to:
} >     [e-mail]
} >
} >
} >Why a 3D user interface to Gopher?
} >----------------------------------
} >Gopher has an explicit organization and structure which is
} >external to the content of the documents, so it is straightforward
} >to map a 3D virtual world interface onto the existing gopher
} >servers. Since the Gopher+ protocol also has provisions for open
} >ended extensions and meta-information that resides external to the
} >content of documents, it is also easy for servers to give 3D-savvy
} >clients the 3D spatial coordinates and orientation of objects in a
} >gopher directory. This means that we can both synthesize 3D scenes
} >from existing non-3D-savvy Gopher servers, and take advanatge of
} >new 3D-savvy servers without reworking the contents of the
} >documents published in Gopher.
} >
} >Virtual world interfaces give us a powerful data visualization
} >tool. GopherVR makes it possible to display clustering of documents
} >which is not feasible on either a menu or a flat page. Combining
} >GopherVR with servers that catagorize and cluster collections of
} >documents will make it possible to visualize complex retationships
} >within collections. To be effective, moving about the 3D scene must
} >be fast and fluid, and GopherVR has been optimized for quick
} >navigationn within the scene without hardware Z-buffer.
} >
} >
} >What comes after this release?
} >------------------------------
} >With later versions of this software you will be able to define
} >3D icons for objects in Gopherspace, and server administrators
} >will be able to specify placement of objects in 3D scenes.
} >In addition, there will be more user navigation features for
} >browsing within the 3D scenes.
} >
} >
} >Macintosh
} >---------
} >TurboGopherVR 2.1a1 is a sneak-preview (alpha-test) release
} >of an Internet Gopher client that combines a point and click
} >browser interface to the Internet with a 3D virtual-world
} >interface. Essentially, this is a superset of the current
} >release version of TurboGopher (version 2.0) with 3D
} >extensions.
} >
} >TurboGopherVR 2.1a1 requires a PowerPC Macintosh running
} >System 7 or better. System 7.5.1 is reccommended since this
} >version of the system software includes a much improved
} >floating point math library. A version for 68K Macs is also
} >under construction but is not yet available.
} >
} >To get the software, gopher to boombox.micro.umn.edu and follow
} >the path /gopher/Macintosh-TurboGopher/TurboGopherVR. This
} >brings you to the directory holding the current version of the
} >software.
} >
} >You can also use these URLs to get to the same directory:
} >    <URL:GOPHER://boombox.micro.umn.edu/11/gopher/Macintosh-
} >    TurboGopher/TurboGopherVR>
} >
} >    <URL:FTP://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher/Macintosh-
} >    TurboGopher/TurboGopherVR/>
} >
} >
} >Unix
} >---------
} >GopherVR 0.1 is an alpha-test release of an X-window Gopher client.
} >GopherVR for Unix is curently available for SUN Sparc, SGI, and
} >IBM AIX RS-6000 platforms. At this time, only binaries are available
} >since we expect frequent changes to the source. To run the software,
} >you will need a color monitor. We have tested the software on
} >
} >SUN    SunOS 4.1.3 with MIT X11R5 distribution
} >SGI    IRIX 5.3 with SGI's X-windows distribution
} >IBM    AIX 3.2.5 with IBM's X-windows distribution
} >
} >To get the software, gopher to boombox.micro.umn.edu and follow
} >the path /gopher/Unix/GopherVR. This brings you to the directory
} >holding the current version of the software.
} >
} >You can also use these URLs to get to the same directory:
} >    <URL:GOPHER://boombox.micro.umn.edu/11/gopher/Unix/GopherVR>
} >
} >    <URL:FTP://boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/gopher/Unix/GopherVR/>
} >
} >GopherVR binaries will be available for HP-UX and DEC OSF soon.
} >
} >
} >NOTE
} >----
} >This is an alpha test release. We wouldn't reccomend
} >distributing this to every user in your organization yet, since
} >
} >  1.) There are a lot more features that will be added in
} >      the near future
} >
} >  2.) There are certainly going to be bugs.
} >
} >If you find a bug, please report it to us by sending an e-mail
} >decribing your computer, the version of the operating system and
} >how you caused the bug to occur. If you have ideas for features we'd
} >love to hear about it. Send your bug reports and comments to:
} >
} >     <[e-mail]>.
} >
} >
} >        Internet Gopher Team / mongoose & iguana squad
} >        TurboGopherVR 2.1.a1
} >        Unix GopherVR 0.1
} >        March 30, 1995
} >
} >        See you at GopherCON '95 !
} >        For information on GopherCON '95 see:
} >        <URL:GOPHER://boombox.micro.umn.edu:70/11/gopher/Gopher_Conference_95>
} >
} >
} >
} >
} >
} >
} >.
} 
} 
} 
}-- End of excerpt from Jill Foster