On Thu, 22 Jun 2000 22:50:56 -0500, Mark Gordon wrote:
>
>1) Under what operating systems do you use POV-Ray? Please be specific
>as to e.g. Linux distributions, versions, and so forth.  Multiple
>answers are fine.


Linux RH 6.2 

>
>2) Do you want POV-Ray for Unix to have an official GUI front-end for
>your platform? Please indicate which one(s) if you list several
>platforms.

No not a gui but a straightforward editor a la EDIT.EXE in dos (where 
SHIFT+ARROWKEY marks text and SHIFT+INSERT copies it etc). Something
that can be run in more than one xterm at once. 

>3) Would you want such a front-end to have a built-in editor?
>
>4) Any preference on languages/GUI libraries on such a front end, pro or
>con? (Tcl/Tk, Perl/Tk, Python Tkinter, Java AWT, gtk+, Gnome, KDE,
>Motif/Lesstif)

I use Gnome. 

>5) What editor do you use for editing .pov files?

Pico. (with manus and line wraps turned off). 

>6) What format(s) do you prefer for documentation? (HTML, ASCII, PDF,
>ps, man, info, Word document, etc.)

ASCII and if images are included then HTML or PDF. 

>
>7) What sort of package management do you prefer for precompiled
>binaries? 

Just tar.gz is fine. 

>8) What unofficial version(s) of POV-Ray (e.g. MegaPov, PVMPOV) do you
>use on a regular basis?

MegaPov. 

>What I plan to get from this:
>1) Insight into the platforms for which official binaries perhaps ought
>to exist, used with 2, 3, and 4 to determine the operating systems(s)
>for which there is the strongest demand for a GUI, which in turn will
>help determine the language/toolkit used.
>2) Related to the second part of 1.  Given the eventuality of an
>official GUI for Unix, this lets me know what platforms it needs to run
>on, which again affects the choice of language/toolkit.  In any event,
>the core renderer will remain available from the command line.
>3) While the last thing Unix needs is another text editor, I may be
>included to include one given
>sufficient interest.  Or I might do it on a lark, for which I'd hope
>you'd forgive me. ;-) 

Yes Yes Yes, see my answer above. 


>4) Related to 2.  This is one of the big questions from a practical
>standpoint.  The fact that it's still a question gives you some idea of
>where development is on an official front-end at this point (put on the
>back burner until 3.5 is further along).  This also lets me know whether
>anyone hates any of the options (Tk is ugly, Motif is ugly, Gnome/KDE is
>the subject of a religious war, Gnome and KDE aren't necessarily that
>portable to some of the commercial Unices)
>5) Related to 3.  This gives me some idea of what users might want from
>an editor, if one gets included.  I'm also just curious.
>6) Lets me know what documentation format Unix users want shipped with
>POV-Ray.  There are tradeoffs involved (ascii: universally supported,
>trivially searched, available on a console; HTML: widely supported,
>supports images, reasonably searchable, available over a network; PDF:
>fairly widely supported, supports images, most visually attractive). 
>Word documents aren't a serious suggestion, but they're one of the
>formats we have for 3.1, so I'm laying it on the table for folks to hiss
>at. ;-)
>7) Lets me know what package formats I might want to add.  Tarballs will
>always remain available, but I'm looking into adding other options, and
>I'm wondering how much interest there is.
>8) Lets me know what folks are using.  Mostly to satisfy my curiosity.
>
>Some of the things that were asked about in my last survey have happily
>been rendered (no pun intended) moot.  Specifically, the demand for a
>configure/make/make install has been addressed, and there's now just one
>binary that uses whatever form of display makes the most sense in the
>context.  I have a version of MegaPov with these changes that I'd like
>to see tested widely before I decide to put them into 3.5.  It's a
>little rough at this point, and I'm sure I've made lots of beginner's
>mistakes, but it seems to beat the living daylights out of the current
>system, and it's going to make my life a whole lot easier from here on
>out.  Once I'm done with documentation, it will be made available.  Look
>for it
>in a few days.
>
>-Mark Gordon


-- 
Cheers
Steve              email mailto:sjl### [at] ndirectcouk

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