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What to do after installing Cobalt?

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askoh

What to do after installing Cobalt?

Administrator

Hi:

I have installed Cobalt and started it. The mostly black screen leaves me
lost. What can I do next?

I have used Croquet before and tried the Old Demos in Cobalt. But they
hang with an exception in 'mouseEnter:' method. So what is new in Cobalt
besides the looks?

All the best,
Aik-Siong Koh

RichWhite

Re: What to do after installing Cobalt?

Just given my very limited experience with it Cobalt does lay out a nice scaffolding for the developers .... dangling pointers that will really (in the end) create a great virtual world browser.... but to jump in and start using it you will find if very much like the Simple Demo .. So its really a development effort at this point in its pre-alpha state.

=====

On Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Aik-Siong Koh <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi:

I have installed Cobalt and started it. The mostly black screen leaves me
lost. What can I do next?

I have used Croquet before and tried the Old Demos in Cobalt. But they
hang with an exception in 'mouseEnter:' method. So what is new in Cobalt
besides the looks?

All the best,
Aik-Siong Koh

Darius Clarke

Re: What to do after installing Cobalt?

Hi Aik-Siong,

The Old Demos seem to hang due to network communication issues.

Drag out the blue Croquet ball for the default world Cobalt developers
can start to use and enhance.
(Hover over it to see the message.)

As Rich points out, this a pre-alpha for developers to start creating
the application itself. This isn't the finished application yet for
adding our own applications.

In addition to porting Free CAD, what are your visions and
expectations for Cobalt? Do you have a "next step" or need help
figuring out your next step?

I'm working on a team "plan of attack" for highlighting the most
urgent features of Cobalt to attend to first. I've started an OOBE
page to discuss how to address issues such as your "What do I do
next?" type questions. Google Groups Cobalt members can edit and add
to this OOBE page (free to join).
http://groups.google.com/group/cobaltcroquet/web/oobe-experience---a-scratch-page?hl=en

If you need help porting Free CAD ... how can we help you?

Cheers,
Darius

askoh

Re: What to do after installing Cobalt?

Administrator

Darius:

Thanks you very much for your warm email. I feel good that help is
available. Having adequate instructions to start using a software is
always useful.

Since the VisualWorks GUI is no good inside Croquet, I am looking to
Cobalt to borrow as much GUI for the freeCAD port as possible. My students
and I are looking for treeview controls and animation controls. Are there
good ones in Cobalt/Croquet?

My vision is to do Computer Aided Design, Simulation and Manufacturing
(CADSM) using Smalltalk. And Croquet seems a good fit for that. If freeCAD
can become a popular authoring tool inside Croquet, so much the better.

I am supervising three students in Malaysia doing the freeCAD port to
Croquet for their final year project. I am encouraged by their progress.
http://askoh.net/mmu/KhaiFong/Videos/PolygonCreationWMV/PolygonCreationWMV.html
I am look for funding to support two of them after they graduate in May.
It will cost less than $1000/mo/person.

All the best,
Aik-Siong

> Hi Aik-Siong,
>
> The Old Demos seem to hang due to network communication issues.
>
> Drag out the blue Croquet ball for the default world Cobalt developers
> can start to use and enhance.
> (Hover over it to see the message.)
>
> As Rich points out, this a pre-alpha for developers to start creating
> the application itself. This isn't the finished application yet for
> adding our own applications.
>
> In addition to porting Free CAD, what are your visions and
> expectations for Cobalt? Do you have a "next step" or need help
> figuring out your next step?
>
> I'm working on a team "plan of attack" for highlighting the most
> urgent features of Cobalt to attend to first. I've started an OOBE
> page to discuss how to address issues such as your "What do I do
> next?" type questions. Google Groups Cobalt members can edit and add
> to this OOBE page (free to join).
> http://groups.google.com/group/cobaltcroquet/web/oobe-experience---a-scratch-page?hl=en
>
> If you need help porting Free CAD ... how can we help you?
>
> Cheers,
> Darius
>

Darius Clarke

Re: What to do after installing Cobalt?

Hi Aik-Siong,

Thanks for your help again. The animation controls are shown in the
freeCAD video:
http://askoh.net/assemblies2/parallel_arm/parallel_arm.html

I've watched the video and am delighted at how freeCAD works. Are you only interested in importing the interface exactly as it is to minimize the difficulty or, if Croquet's widgets differ enough from VW's widgets to require a significant rewrite, would you and your team consider a different UI concept that might be simpler in some ways? I'm thinking of something like a spreadsheet that is also a grid of accordion rows, and is a translucent HUD over the drawing area (3D world).

As you can see, the students have done pretty well recreating the freeCAD
GUI in Croquet in three months at half time and starting with no knowledge
of Smalltalk or Croquet.

Your students have done amazingly well, I must agree. What do they find limiting in the current Tweak tree?

Cheers,
Darius