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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: integrating virtual reality into KDE
From:       Allan Fields <kde () afields ! ca>
Date:       2004-08-13 4:23:42
Message-ID: 20040813042342.GE7838 () afields ! ca
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[ Please split responses to this thread to appropriate lists,
  it's cross-posted.. ]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2004 at 07:58:02AM +0200, Raphael Langerhorst wrote:
> Hi all!
> 
> This relates to this: http://dot.kde.org/1090909286/
> (For more info: http://www.g-system.at)

This has got to be the most bizarre/geeky kio slave suggestion yet!
=) I'm surprised no one has come up with a kio slave for toasters.

> What do you think about having a client interface for this virtual reality in 
> KDE? In particular the question "where to put it" also arises [games,edu, a 
> new science module, or network, ..].

But in all seriousness:

Why do you want it integrated with KDE?  For example: do you think
it's a good match to konqueror in its current state?  If not, do
you know what you would like to see KDE/konqueror support for
navigation of abstract "virtual" spaces?  Will a new kio slave alone
be enough?


> This is what I have in mind:
> 
> The server system will be a losely distributable system. This means that there 
> probably won't be a central server cluster - which we couldn't afford right 
> now anyway. So it's possible to drive the server system by the community, or 
> "users" - those with a little bit of bandwith available. The world itself is 

So in a distributed system you could simply have an irc model with
multiple servers linked together.  But, we all know the issues with
such networks, as they can get out of sync and then suddenly the
world is split.  So synchronization issues are of importance here,
where presumably you can't pause the world to wait for the rest of
it to rejoin, otherwise lacking consistency.  How will you deal
with the disappearance of elements/members from the system?

Wouldn't you want a timestamp/ordering of interactions so that if
some arrive out of order you can create a hick-up in the fabric of
space-time?  Or would lost interactions, simply be dropped?
What are the implications of this taking into account the cascading
effect in system simulations.

P2P suggests a decentralized organization, and may be better suited,
but might require built-in redundancies of magnitude matching the
interlinkage (reference count) on a given particle?  If a very
central element suddenly disappeared the disturbance would be
significant and might even throw the system into disequilibrium.
(Oops, netsplit, the Sun just disappeared.)

> virtual world rather than "classical" online games]
>   * this would also serve as a meeting place for people - a kind of Kopete.

Are humans seeding actors/divine steering forces?  What form do they take
in your space?

How does this compare to automata games?


> Regarding the range of purposes this VR (virtual reality) serves I'm not sure 
> where this would go. The base system (and server system) will stay 

How about just making one client a separate KDE application at
first? If it lends naturally to integration, then consider proposing
how it would fit cleanly into the desktop and other desktop systems
(even ones starting with G ;).

> What do you think?

Interesting, but very abstract.

> What do you think about this integration in general?

Not to be discouraging, but I would think slightly too premature
at this point.

> Regards,
> Raphael

Just my opinions..
-- 
 Allan Fields
 
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