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Started by Ravinder Chandhok
Tue, 07 Apr 1992 19:03
Announcing PREP 1.0a7
Author: Ravinder Chandhok
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 1992 19:03
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 1992 19:03
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The PREP Editor project is proud to announce the release of version 1.0a7 of our collaborative writing environment on the Mac. What follows is the general release message. Fill in "a7" whereever it talks about a version. We welcome comments via email to prep-project@andrew.cmu.edu, or public discussion via comp.groupware. -Rob Chandhok, Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University * File /usr/chandhok/public/prep/readme ************************************ This is an archive of the PREP Editor, a collaborative writing environment. PREP is a Macintosh application, compatible with System 6.0 and higher, including System 7. The PREP project is funded by the National Science Foundation and Apple Computer (ATG/ER). Our goal is to develop a system that encourages and facilitates collaboration in writing, without imposing requirements on connectivity and concurrency. Therefore, PREP requires no central server, and is not a synchronous "shared-screen" word processor. PREP provides a column based interface where related information is linked across columns. To some degree, PREP provides an unlimited amount of "virtual margins" to take notes in. The latest versions of PREP use the Claris XTND technology (not provided) to make it easy to import documents for annotation in PREP (and export them afterwards with the annoations stored as footnotes). PREP is available via anonymous ftp on the internet (those instructions follow). If you cannot use ftp, please send mail to <prep-project@andrew.cmu.edu> and we will forward instructions on how you can get a physical copy in the mail (for a small fee to cover our expenses). Please try PREP, and let us know what you think! * Anonymous ftp instructions *********************************************** The archives are stored as a "binhex'd self-extracting archive". It is available for anonymous ftp via gnome.cs.cmu.edu, and the EXACT instructions for getting the release package follows: 1) open an anonymous ftp connection to gnome.cs.cmu.edu (128.2.254.185) That is, do a "ftp gnome.cs.cmu.edu", and login as "anonymous", a password of your userid. 2) As your first ftp command after the login, issue the following: cd /usr/chandhok/public/prep !!! IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW STEP 2 EXACTLY, YOU WILL GET AN ERROR !!! 3) Next, issue the following command (in ascii mode, BTW), and substitute the version number for the ?? get prepv??.sea.hqx 4) On your macintosh, use binhex or Stuffit to un-binhex the file. You will end up with an application, which, when double clicked, will unpack itself as (at least) two files: * The Prep Application * The documentation in PREP format The unpacking may result in a release folder containing all the files, depending on what version you are retrieving. Please send bugs and comments to prep-project+@andrew.cmu.edu We will only allow for anonymous ftp access to this application if we get feedback from people, otherwise it is not worth it to us. See the About Box of the application for more info. The PREP Editor is Copyright (c) 1990 by the PREP Editor Group of Carnegie Mellon University. All rights reserved. Do not distribute without permission. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. -- Ravinder (Rob) Chandhok Internet : chandhok+@cs.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon University AppleLink: A14
Re: Announcing PREP 1.0a7
Author: Ravinder Chandhok
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 14:47
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 14:47
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I just wrote a response about PREP that I thought I would share, since it explains a little about PREP, and contrasts it with Instant Update from On Technologies. Also, a couple of people ahve asked about the speed of PREP. PREP uses a fairly unspectacular word processing building block. Large files (over 10-20 pages) can make PREP do some things slowly (like opening the files, and switching between windows). But once the files are read in, editing and all the rest should proceed fairly rapidly. We like PREP enough to use instead of MS Word until the last stages of our writing. Your mileage may vary. We expect to upgrade the PREP WP building block in the near future. -Rob ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >can you give me some usage tips for PREP??? I don't follow the >documentation on how to use it. If it's running on one person's >machine, how do others comment and work on the document? What are >some actual uses that you've seen in testing and development?? Are >there any examples or sample files that can be shared?? I think the misconception that you have is that PREP is like Instant Update. It isn't. There is no facility in PREP to support *real-time* or *same-time* editing of the same document. PREP, at this point, ignores document sharing issue. A typical scenerio is to put out a document for comments, say it is called "paper". Two people add annoations, and drop the files back in as "paper+1" and "paper+2". You can then merge the two sets of comments back via cut and paste of the new columns(the links should stay properly aligned). Then, you revise, perhaps respond to comments with a column of your own, and put out the new version again. I also have used PREP to conduct multiple issue discussions, where each issue is a chunk, and each person's comments are in a column, and the left to right relationship of the columns reflects the time at which the columns/comments were made. PREP's main goal is to make communication between co-authors explicit. So when I hand out a paper for review in PREP, it usually has (at least) two columns: the actual content, and my own comments/designs for the paper. It works well for me - I co-author papers via email this way with people across the country. >I was a beta tester for IU and have used it a great deal. I'm looking >for something like it to work with in other situations. If we get our next grant, we will be working on psuedo-synchronous editing (that is, editing where the change propgation is close enough to be considered synchronous, yet degrades gracefully based on your desired degree of "coupling"). Then you will be able to do some "IU-like" things with PREP. >PS-You can edit IU documents NOT connected to the server (ie, on the >road on a PowerBook) and when you reconnect, you can update. Right. I just don't think the conflict resolution works very well in this case. IU assumes you update *often*. At least as far as I can tell. -- Ravinder (Rob) Chandhok Internet : chandhok+@cs.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon University AppleLink: A14
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