[Threedsia-dev] <sigh> FAQ

SourceForge Headquarters 225 Broadway Suite 1600 San Diego, CA 92101 +1 (858) 454-5900

Hi folks,
        no one seems to care, every question seems to be answered, and all =

of you know everything about our project. Fine. So there's actually no=20
need for it, but I've combined the FAQ with an older mini-FAQ... for the=20
unlikely case that anyone has a question that is not in this FAQ please=20
mail me... but I don't think this will happen <frustration !>
        Marc    <--- who'd be happy to actually get some HELP from someone =

!

PS: Fuck Lotus Notes ! Sorry, attaching didn't work, I had to import it in =

this mail :-(

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<H1 ALIGN=3DCENTER><A NAME=3D"1.The3DsiaProject|outline"></A><A=20
HREF=3D"http://threedsia.sourceforge.net/">The
3Dsia Project</A></H1>
<H2 ALIGN=3DCENTER><A=20
NAME=3D"1.1.FrequentlyAskedQuestions|outline"></A>Frequently
Asked Questions</H2>
<DIV ID=3D"Inhaltsverzeichnis1">
        <DIV ID=3D"Inhaltsverzeichnis1=5FHead">
                <P STYLE=3D"margin-top: 0.17in; page-break-after:=20
avoid"><FONT FACE=3D"helvetica, sans-serif"><FONT SIZE=3D4 STYLE=3D"font-si=
ze:=20
16pt"><B>Content</B></FONT></FONT></P>
        </DIV>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.The3DsiaProject|outline">The
        3Dsia Project</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.1.FrequentlyAskedQuestions|outline">Frequently
        Asked Questions</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.1.1.Introduction:|outline">Introduction:</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.1.2.Joiningtheproject:|outline">Joining
        the project:</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.1.3.Joiningthemailing-list:|outline">Joining
        the mailing-list:</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.1.4.Accessingoursource:|outline">Accessing
        our source:</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.2in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.2.GeneralProjectQuestions|outline">General
        Project Questions</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.2.1.Q:Areyougoingtowriteawindow-managerlike3Dwm?|outline">Q:
        Are you going to write a window-manager like 3Dwm ?</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.2.2.Q:Onwhichplatformswill3Dsiarun?|outline">Q:
        On which platforms will 3Dsia run ?</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.2.3.Q:WillIbeabletouseinsertyoufavoriteappherewith3Dsia?|outline=
">Q:
        Will I be able to use &lt;insert you favorite app here&gt; with
        3Dsia ?</A></P>
        <P STYLE=3D"margin-left: 0.39in; margin-bottom: 0in"><A=20
HREF=3D"#1.2.4.Q:Whyareyoudoingthis?|outline">Q:
        Why are you doing this ?</A></P>
</DIV>
<P STYLE=3D"margin-bottom: 0in"><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.1.1.Introduction:|outline"></A><SPAN=20
STYLE=3D"text-decoration: none">Introduction:</SPAN></H3>
<P>     This document is meant as a guide for new project members. It
does not discuss our project goals or the likes, but only technical
problems. For further informations about us and our goals visit <A=20
HREF=3D"http://threedsia.sourceforge.net/">our
homepage</A>.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.1.2.Joiningtheproject:|outline"></A>Joining the
project:</H3>
<P>     If you want to join us, then you have to create an account on
<A HREF=3D"http://sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</A>. After that, please
write a mail to either <A HREF=3D"mailto:xa...@bl...">Xandi</A>
or <A HREF=3D"mailto:ax...@cu...">Marc</A>. The next step is then to
sign up on our mailing-list.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.1.3.Joiningthemailing-list:|outline"></A>Joining the
mailing-list:</H3>
<P>     The <A=20
HREF=3D"mailto:thr...@li...">mailing-list</A>
is our main communication organ. To join it, you have to visit <A=20
HREF=3D"http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/threedsia-dev">this
page</A> and enter your e-mail adress and choose a password (for
unsubscribing). If you <A=20
HREF=3D"mailto:thr...@li...">write
a mail to the list</A>, then it will be forwarded to everyone who has
subscribed to the list.</P>
<P>     Sometimes traffic can be up to 20 mails per day or more,
sometimes several days pass by without a single mail. I highly
recommend you to add a directory to you mail program if it
understands such things and add a filter, so all your incoming 3Dsia
list mails are in one place.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.1.4.Accessingoursource:|outline"></A>Accessing our
source:</H3>
<P>     Our source code is managed by a versioning tool called CVS, which
is the standard versioning tool in the Internet (Windows users may
know Visual SourceSafe, which is the Microsoft way of doing
versioning). There are two ways to access our CVS repository:
anonymous (read-only) and developer (read-write) access. If you like
to contribute code/patches/documentations, you're likely to need
write access. If so, write a mail to either <A=20
HREF=3D"mailto:xa...@bl...">Xandi</A>
or <A HREF=3D"mailto:ax...@cu...">Marc</A> asking for developer
access (don't forget to mention you SourceForge account name, we need
this one to give you write-access).</P>
<P>     No matter what platform you are using, you will need a CVS
client. On most Linux computers there is already one installed. If
you find a good CVS client for your platform, please <A=20
HREF=3D"mailto:ax...@cu...">let
me know</A> so I can add it to this FAQ.</P>
<P>     To get detailed informations about how to access our CVS, <A=20
HREF=3D"http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group=5Fid=3D586">see
this page</A>. Our current module is named 'base', so you would do
<B><I>cvs co base</I></B> if your CVS is set up correctly. For all
Linux users, there is <A=20
HREF=3D"http://user.cu-muc.de/axl/get3DsiaAnonymously">a
script</A> that gets the source anonymously.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H2 ALIGN=3DCENTER><A NAME=3D"1.2.GeneralProjectQuestions|outline"></A>Gene=
ral
Project Questions</H2>
<P ALIGN=3DCENTER>a.k.a What the heck are you doing ?</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A=20
NAME=3D"1.2.1.Q:Areyougoingtowriteawindow-managerlike3Dwm?|outline"></A>
Q: Are you going to write a window-manager like 3Dwm ?</H3>
<P>A: No. Window-managers are for flat windowing systems. &lt;beef&gt;
(Flat) windows are EVIL &lt;/beef&gt; Instead we like to create a
whole universe where everything is possible. If you like to=20
&quot;port&quot;
a flat window to 3Dsia, you may do so, but it is not our design goal.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.2.2.Q:Onwhichplatformswill3Dsiarun?|outline"></A>Q: On
which platforms will 3Dsia run ?</H3>
<P>A: We hope to make it work on any platform. Because we are using
C++ as programming language, virtually every OS can be supported.
However, it depends on the developers and their knowledge about
writing programs under certains OS's... plans are to support
UNIX-systems like Linux, M$-Windows and maybe even BeOS and MacOS
(MacOS X has a unix kernel, so this shouldn't be too hard)</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A=20
NAME=3D"1.2.3.Q:WillIbeabletouseinsertyoufavoriteappherewith3Dsia?|outline"=
></A>
Q: Will I be able to use &lt;insert you favorite app here&gt; with
3Dsia ?</H3>
<P>A: If you're using X-Window, chances may be good. We plan to
implement a X-Window server to run legacy apps in 3Dsia. But to do
so, 3Dsia itself must be created first. But don't forget: this would
be a hack, not a solution ! The solution would be to write a
3Dsia-app for the task you app is doing.</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
<H3><A NAME=3D"1.2.4.Q:Whyareyoudoingthis?|outline"></A>Q: Why are you
doing this ?</H3>
<P>A: Because noone else does ;-) We think it is time to move on from
the 2-dimensional user-interfaces to 3-dimensional, as many
applications would become more usable and easier to understand in
3-dimensional representation. Just imagine: instead of L*tus N*tes or
Outl**k it would be much easier for a newbie to handle if you had a
desk with some letters on it, which you can just grab and read like
youke in the films <I>The Lawnmover Man</I> or <I>Johnny
Mnemonic</I> (twisting an object around in a special way instead of
typing in a password).</P>
<P><BR><BR>
</P>
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---
Marc Haisenko
Development

JANET GmbH
-the 3D business company-
Garmischer Str.19/21
81377 M=FCnchen

Phone: +49 (89) / 54 26 21 - 0
Fax:     +49 (89) / 54 26 21 - 15
mailto:  mha...@ja...

http://www.janet.de