9 Jun
2006
9 Jun
'06
1:13 a.m.
I've been alluding to some things in the works for the ClassicCMP.org
website and ClassicCMP.org as a whole, mailing list included.
I wanted to give a heads up that I will be posting a long list of all the
things I've been considering and/or actively planned in a few minutes. Most
of the items on this list have been planned for over a year. Quite some time
ago I asked for listmembers to volunteer to help with development on the
classiccmp website. One member spearheaded the new look, but then had a
variety of work issues, sabbatical, paying projects, etc. come up. He's
getting back to the project, so he has the same list that I'm going to post
here momentarily. Based on the size of the work on the list, I'm sure he'd
be willing to accept volunteers to help in the coding.
The goal is to move more towards ClassicCMP.org being a tier1 resource for
vintage computer collectors and hobbyists - a full fledged resource and not
just a mailing list - a launching board to other sites as well. I'm not
trying to hurt anyone elses website or resources. I just want ClassicCMP.org
to be more of a branded entity, and provide a large de-facto starting spot
for collectors and hobbyists. Not just a mailing list.
Bear in mind that many of the things on the "to-do" list are still ideas
being formed. Some may prove not to be practical after further thought. But,
I wanted to at least show people where I planned to head. If you have words
of encouragement or further suggestions I'd LOVE to hear them. I'd love to
hear reasons why some of the ideas are bad (but that doesn't necessarily
mean I won't do them anyway).
The new look is at http://dev.classiccmp.org
Best regards,
Jay West
9 Jun
9 Jun
2:18 p.m.
Jay West wrote:
The goal is to move more towards ClassicCMP.org being
a tier1 resource
for vintage computer collectors and hobbyists - a full fledged resource
and not just a mailing list - a launching board to other sites as well.
I'm not trying to hurt anyone elses website or resources. I just want
ClassicCMP.org to be more of a branded entity, and provide a large
de-facto starting spot for collectors and hobbyists. Not just a mailing
list.
OK, back-burner idea that keeps resurfacing is that it'd be great if the
"which site has what" or "which site does what" could be somehow
automated and
shared between websites with a classic computer theme.
Think of the way that manx pulls together classic documents available on other
sites - but in this case any participating site would have a manx-like
interface via a stock bit of PHP (say - or something else) code. An owner of
one participating site would put some new content online and then 'publish'
it; the fact that it was available would then (somehow) propagate to other
websites participating in the scheme (which would all display somewhere a
"classic computing search" box).
Heck, the content could even be published with a flag saying "yes, other sites
can grab and host their own copy of this if they want", allowing site owners
to duplicate content if the original publisher allows it; that's got to be a
Good Thing.
Rationale: It bugs me as a user when I know that some document (or whatever)
that I'm after might be on one website, just not one that I've happened to
stumble across - and I don't necessarily have time to look at *every* DEC (or
whatever) website out there! With a sharing of "who has what", users benefit
by not missing out on stuff, and site owners benefit by getting publicity for
their own site (via searches carried out on a different site).
It seems like a nice concept - I just don't know if it's workable :-) I'm not
sure if a massive centralised database would be best, or if it's possible to
do some DNS-like distributed database somehow so all the load's not on one
system (and single point of failure).
Presumably items in the system would be defined in plain-text, but possibly
categorised (ROM image, software image, magazine ad, photo, manual scan etc.).
There'd probably need to be some suggested guidelines too (such as scans
saying what resolution / colour depth they are, software images saying what
format they're in etc.)
Maybe it's a stupid idea :) I just know that it's frustrating when looking for
something knowing that it's likely out there *somewhere*, but search sites
like Google aren't specific enough to let me find it. If a central database is
the best approach though, it could well be a good candidate for classiccmp.org
hosting...
cheers
Jules
10 Jun
10 Jun
1:31 a.m.
Jules wrote....
OK, back-burner idea that keeps resurfacing is that
it'd be great if the
"which site has what" or "which site does what" could be somehow
automated
and shared between websites with a classic computer theme.
Interesting. I will definitely give this some thought. I've cut & pasted
your description to the to-do-list WIP.
Jay
12 Jun
12 Jun
8:12 p.m.
Jay West wrote:
Jules wrote....
Great :) It's an idea anyway - it's natural for people to want their own
little corner of the web (rather than one site trying to do everything [1]),
so anything that allows that but still allows a sharing of information has to
be a Good Thing.
[1] I know that's not your aim for classicmp.org!
cheers
J.
OK, back-burner idea that keeps resurfacing is
that it'd be great if
the "which site has what" or "which site does what" could be somehow
automated and shared between websites with a classic computer theme.
Interesting. I will definitely give this some thought. I've cut & pasted
your description to the to-do-list WIP.
6783
days inactive
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3 comments
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julesrichardsonuk＠yahoo.co.uk -
jwest＠classiccmp.org