From: peter@lulea.trab.se (Peter Cigehn)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: [SUMMARY] PD programs for synchronous CSCW
Keywords: CSCW, PD program, summary
Date: 30 Jul 92 11:45:30 GMT
Organization: Telia Research AB, Aurorum 6, 951 75 Lulea, Sweden
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

About a month ago I posted a request for public domain programs that
could be used in a shared desktop system. A quick remainder for those
of you who missed it:

>I'm about to write a MSc thesis in Computer Science. The subject of
>the thesis is synchronous CSCW and one of the goals with the thesis
>work is to make a prototype of simple shared desktop system.
>
>So far I'm aware of a few programs in the public domain which I've
>found interesting:
>
>  XTV: X Terminal View from Old Dominion University and University of
>       North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
>
>  shX: Shared X from Digital Equipment Corporation.
>
>  XMX: An X Protocol Multiplexor from The Computer Science Department
>       at Brown University.

>I wonder if there are other similar programs in the public domain which
>are available via anonymous ftp. Please email me any hints and directions
>of where I can find such programs and I'll post a summary of the replies.

So far I've received 6 replies, but none of them has given me anything
new. 2 of them pointed out 'wscrawl' and 1 mentioned 'shdr', both of them
are shared drawing programs and I already knew about both these system.

This is what have come to my knowledge so far:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
XTV: X Terminal View

Description:	"XTV, or X Terminal View, is a system by which single-
		user applications using the MIT X11R4 windowing protocol
		may be shared among many users.  It allows users at
		multiple sites to view and manipulate (via a floor-
		passing system) the output from a single X application.
		XTV requires no special hardware and no special coding
		techniques to distribute the use of X applications,
		including those using graphics."

Author:	Hussein M. Abdel-Wahab, Dept of CS, Old Dominion University
e-mail:	wahab@cs.odu.edu

Author:	Kevin Jeffay, Dept of CS, Univ of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
e-mail:	jeffay@cs.unc.edu

ftp:	ftp.cs.odu.edu:		pub/wahab/XTV.r2.tar.Z
				pub/wahab/xtv.r1.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
shX: Shared X

Description:	"Shared X - a modified X library to give dynamic
		multi-display support. It provides "naive" X applications
		with the capability to work with several displays
		simultaneously, dynamically add and remove new displays
		and hand input control from display to display."

Author:	Michael P. Altenhofen, CEC Karlsruhe
e-mail:	Altenhofen@kampus.enet.dec.com

ftp:	gatekeeper.dec.com:	pub/X11/contrib/shX.tar.Z

Modifications to colour mapping and private colour allocation by
Author:	Mark J. Handley, UCL Computer Science
e-mail: M.Handley@cs.ucl.ac.uk

ftp:	cs.ucl.ac.uk:		car/shX.car.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
wscrawl: Window-scrawl 

Description:	"The user may think of wscrawl as a paint program
		shared by any number of people at the same time.
		When wscrawl is run, it opens up a separate window on
		each participant's display. Any individual may exit out
		of the session at any time without affecting the other
		participants."

Author: Brian K. Wilson
e-mail: brianw@apple.com

ftp:	sax.stanford.edu:	wscrawl.shar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
xmx: An X Protocol Multiplexor

Description:	"XMX is an X protocol multiplexor.  It is a standalone
		utility for displaying an X Windows session on multiple
		displays.  XMX takes advantage of the networked nature
		of the X Window System by tapping the communication link
		between an X client and an X server.  In this way, XMX
		works with any X clients and any X servers, without the
		need to modify either."

Author:	John Bazik, Dept of CS, Brown University
e-mail:	jsb@cs.brown.edu
	
ftp:	wilma.cs.brown.edu:	pub/xmx.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
shdr: Shared Drawing Tool

Description: 	"Shdr implements a simple shared whiteboard, with
		scribble-style drawing and text only. It features
		continuous telepointing to both sides, so there's no
		mode switch between marking, pointing and entering text.
		There's no chalk-passing mechanism; both sides can make/
		erase marks at once. The drawing object is replicated on
		both sides, so that the network traffic is reduced."

Author:	Paul Dourish, Rank Xerox EuroPARC, Cambridge, UK
e-mail:	dourish@europarc.xerox.com

ftp:	parcftp.xerox.com:	pub/europarc/shdr.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
GroupSketch:

Description:	"Groupsketch is a design tool where multiple users, each
		on their own Sun workstation, can draw simultaneously on
		the screen. All users see the same resulting image.
		Through the use of multiple cursors, the conference
		participants can all draw, erase, or gesture around the
		work surface. Although Groupsketch should run on any Sun
		workstation, it does not run within the window system."

Author:	Saul Greenberg, Dept of CS, University of Calgary
e-mail:	saul@cpsc.ucalgary.ca

ftp:	cpsc.ucalgary.ca:	pub/GroupSketch.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm still interested in more replies, regarding both general shared
desktop systems and more specialized programs that can be used for
synchronous CSCW, e.g. shared drawings programs and shared editors.

I've also have come across three names of system that I would like to
know more about, and that's Musk, Xmedia and Matrix. Anybody has some
information abouts these system, then please e-mail me, so they
eventually also can be included in the list.

Hopefully I can post a longer summary next time...


Thanks in advance,

Peter Cigehn, Telia Research and Lulea University, Sweden
e-mail: peter@lulea.trab.se