[Coco] Your stock CoCo is DriveWire-ready out-of-the-box (was: DriveWire for dummies?)

[Joel Ewy]

Aaron Wolfe wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 2:17 PM, William Schaub <wschaub at steubentech.com> wrote:
>   
>>> Speaking of DriveWire Java Server, I'm running the Java server on my eMac
>>> and it is performing quite nicely.  If Jim is successful in developing a
>>> web-based front-end that works on all three major platforms (Win, Mac,
>>> Linux) then I think it will be time to abandon the platform specific servers
>>> and focus efforts on the Java version.
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> Just my 2 cents but I really don't like web interfaces at all. why not just
>> use the java swing library and be done with it? I know it will look
>> different on each platform due to how java works but as long as the GUI is
>> usable who really cares? I dislike very much having to load a heavy weight
>> browser just to use a utility like the drivewire server.
>>
>>     
>
>   
Depending on what your objection to the heavyweight browser is, 
something like Prism ( https://wiki.mozilla.org/Prism ) might or might 
not make it more palatable.

JCE
> I'm doing the "backend" portion of the server, Jim is doing the web
> GUI.  One thing I've ensured is that the Java DriveWire server is
> usable without any gui at all.  The backend portion provides hooks for
> a GUI to manage it, but these same hooks can be called in other ways.
>
> For example, there is a new utility that runs on your CoCo which lets
> you switch disks, configure ports, or view DriveWire status right from
> the NitrOS-9 command line.  With this tool, you can manage all your DW
> settings from the Coco itself.
>
> It would be possible, maybe even easy, to add a Swing or SWT GUI.   I
> initially planned to do so and packaged the .jar with an SWT GUI, but
> the GUI part seemed to be a hindrance to portability.  Right now, the
> server code in .jar form can run on Mac, Windows, Linux, even a
> Linksys NAS device.  If I add GUI components, it seems I must build a
> different .jar for each target platform, and with everyone being split
> between 32 and 64 bit right now means two .jars for Mac, Win, and Lin.
>  6 different files just to support our main targets :(  not to mention
> that each one's GUI looks entirely different.
>
> By using Jim's web interface based on the Google Web Toolkit, not only
> do we get a consistent look and feel across platforms, but we still
> can give out a single .jar that runs on all targets.  A web interface
> also means the interface is accessible from a remote host.  This is
> more important now that the DriveWire server also has the ability to
> let you access the Coco from a remote host.  The web interface may
> even include OS-9 terminals at some point.
>
> The final benefit (that I can think of) from the web interface comes
> to light when you consider running the DriveWire server on a tiny
> device like the Linksys NSLU2 or even some of the tiny x86 boards
> being discussed on the list lately.  They don't (or may not) have any
> video output capabilites, yet using a web interface they can still be
> a very nice (and tiny) DriveWire server.
>
> By using a web interface, basically any device that runs Java and has
> ethernet or wireless ethernet becomes a potential target for running
> DriveWire server.  I think this opens up some really interesting
> stuff.
>
>   
>> But then again I'm not on the development team or anything so my opinion is
>> not likely worth much more than two cents anyway. :)
>>     
>
> It is valuable to know there are other opinions, but I think at this
> point we'll continue with the current direction unless a major problem
> arises.  You are more than welcome to add a Swing GUI at any point,
> the code is in the DriveWire sourceforge CVS and I'm happy to answer
> any questions you have or offer help where I can.
>
>   
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>>
>>     
>
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