Fix BarnOwl capitalization

[wiki.git] / projects / ideas.mdwn

diff --git a/projects/ideas.mdwn b/projects/ideas.mdwn
index e479b385a004443039184b460406283b29738828..2433d3a25f316484f78036d62f3c77312902a343 100644 (file)
--- a/projects/ideas.mdwn
+++ b/projects/ideas.mdwn
@@ -27,8 +27,11 @@ Kerberos / Moira) for the website, and write a script to set that keytab
 as the list's "membership ACL" and a webapp to use that capability to
 add or remove people from the list.
 
 as the list's "membership ACL" and a webapp to use that capability to
 add or remove people from the list.
 

+[adehnert notes 2013-02-24: More recently, WebMoira has been redone, and might more conveniently support this. It might be possible to directly integrate with WebMoira, or you might conclude that WebMoira is already good enough.]
+

 _Contact: geofft_
 
 _Contact: geofft_
 

+

 ## debdiffs of Debathena packages
 
 We have [a webpage](http://debathena.mit.edu/package-list/proposed) to
 ## debdiffs of Debathena packages
 
 We have [a webpage](http://debathena.mit.edu/package-list/proposed) to


@@ -129,7 +132,7 @@ Debathena bug tracker listing what should be a better implementation.
 
 _Contact: broder, debathena_
 
 
 _Contact: broder, debathena_
 

-## Checking scripts.mit.edu servers for consistency
+## [Checking scripts.mit.edu servers for consistency](http://scripts.mit.edu/trac/ticket/84)

 
 Now that we have five or six web servers (I've lost count), it's
 become entirely too easy to change something on one or some but not
 
 Now that we have five or six web servers (I've lost count), it's
 become entirely too easy to change something on one or some but not


@@ -145,20 +148,18 @@ configuration mangement framework is the Right Answer here. We looked at
 Puppet and a bunch of others last summer and concluded none fit our
 workflow well, but we could re-evaluate that.
 
 Puppet and a bunch of others last summer and concluded none fit our
 workflow well, but we could re-evaluate that.
 

-_Contact: geofft, scripts-team_
+*Note:* mitchb has begun working on this. Coordinate with him if you'd like to
+work on this project.

 
 

-We'd like a cron job to automatically tell us if
-there are RPM packages installed on some but not all of the servers,
-or if there are changes in /etc, other than hostname and such, that we
-haven't committed to the scripts Subversion repository.
+_Contact: geofft, scripts-team_

 
 ## SIPB Library
 
 SIPB has a bunch of books in its library. It'd be nice if a list of
 the library books also existed online in some sort of sane, searchable
 
 ## SIPB Library
 
 SIPB has a bunch of books in its library. It'd be nice if a list of
 the library books also existed online in some sort of sane, searchable

-database. One possible platform is the [Exhibit](http://simile-widgets.org/exhibit/) project (which originates from a collaboration between the Haystack group in CSAIL and the MIT Libraries). This would require mostly just making a spreadsheet of the information.
+database. One possible platform is the [Exhibit](http://simile-widgets.org/exhibit/) project (which originates from a collaboration between the Haystack group in CSAIL and the MIT Libraries). This would require mostly just making a spreadsheet of the information. Check out <http://sipb.mit.edu/library/> for the current state of the catalog.

 
 

-_Contact: pbaranay, fawkes_
+_Contact: zhangc, fawkes_

 
 ## Improve the Setup and UI for new users of Zephyr
 
 
 ## Improve the Setup and UI for new users of Zephyr
 


@@ -166,16 +167,10 @@ Currently, it is a pain to get someone else set up using zephyr
 within screen on Linerva with automatically-renewing tickets.
 We should write scripts to set them up so that that all they
 have to do is enter a command or click an icon, type their kerberos
 within screen on Linerva with automatically-renewing tickets.
 We should write scripts to set them up so that that all they
 have to do is enter a command or click an icon, type their kerberos

-password, and then know how to use Barnowl.
+password, and then know how to use BarnOwl.

 
 _Contact: afarrell_
 
 
 _Contact: afarrell_
 

-## MITeX
-
-Not a fully formed thought, yet, but the basic idea is to have a web app that lets users create a document, and then it texs the document nicely for them, based on some template that they've selected, and gives them a PDF.  They should have the ability to edit the source or just use the WYSIWYG editor.
-
-_Contact: jhamrick_
-

 ## Build a web client providing full control to the user
 
 Create a web browser extension (or possibly a stand-alone browser) that is "web-developer antagonistic".  It essentially takes full advantage of the
 ## Build a web client providing full control to the user
 
 Create a web browser extension (or possibly a stand-alone browser) that is "web-developer antagonistic".  It essentially takes full advantage of the


@@ -203,24 +198,12 @@ See [the project TODO file](http://web.mit.edu/pony/TODO) for more ideas.
 
 _Contact: xavid_
 
 
 _Contact: xavid_
 

-## Bazki
-
-[Bazki](http://bazki.mit.edu/) is a wiki written in Python designed around several principles: structured data with object-oriented inheritance; using a wiki language with powerful macros that can be compiled into either HTML or PDF (via LaTeX); and making the content editable offline using a VCS.  Bazki works enough to to be useful, but it has lots of room for improvement and probably would benefit from some design changes.  It could also definitely use documentation.
-
-_Contact: xavid_
-

 ## A zephyr log viewer
 
 ## A zephyr log viewer
 

-Many SIPB-affiliated people use the [Zephyr](http://zephyr.1ts.org/) messaging system, and the [Barnowl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) client for it in particular. Barnowl has a number of very nice features that make it easy to follow large amounts of zephyr traffic: search, color coding, auto-narrowing, etc. Barnowl can also store logs of zephyrs sent and received for future reference, but the logs are saved separated by class in a way that's quite annoying to navigate sometimes. A Barnowl-like interface (perhaps implemented as a Barnowl plugin) for viewing zephyr logs would be a great thing to have.
+Many SIPB-affiliated people use the [Zephyr](http://zephyr.1ts.org/) messaging system, and the [BarnOwl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) client for it in particular. BarnOwl has a number of very nice features that make it easy to follow large amounts of zephyr traffic: search, color coding, auto-narrowing, etc. BarnOwl can also store logs of zephyrs sent and received for future reference, but the logs are saved separated by class in a way that's quite annoying to navigate sometimes. A BarnOwl-like interface (perhaps implemented as a BarnOwl plugin) for viewing zephyr logs would be a great thing to have.

 
 _Contact: oremanj_
 
 
 _Contact: oremanj_
 

-## Migrate Gutenbach from lprng to CUPS
-
-lprng is the past, and CUPS is the future!  Our music player, Gutenbach, is currently running on lprng.  With the rest of campus switching to CUPS, it's really time we did so as well.  The filter needs to be rewritten for CUPS (and preferably in Python, this time), and the package needs to be redesigned to handle the way CUPS does things.
-
-_Contact: jhamrick_
-

 ## Multiple views in BarnOwl
 
 [BarnOwl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) nominally has views support. However, it consists of verifying that the view name is "main" and returning an error otherwise. It would be nice to maintain multiple sets of view state at once. This would involve figuring out semantics, moving some data structures around, adding the new functionality, designing some interface, and probably much testing for subtle bugs.
 ## Multiple views in BarnOwl
 
 [BarnOwl](http://barnowl.mit.edu/) nominally has views support. However, it consists of verifying that the view name is "main" and returning an error otherwise. It would be nice to maintain multiple sets of view state at once. This would involve figuring out semantics, moving some data structures around, adding the new functionality, designing some interface, and probably much testing for subtle bugs.


@@ -231,6 +214,9 @@ _Contact: davidben_
 
 [Etherpad](http://etherpad.com/) is an awesome tool for online collaborative text editing. It's recently been open-sourced; set up a Java servlet container on XVM, make it work, and then start adding cool MIT features like, oh, the ability to edit daemon.etherpad-writable files in AFS, login with certs and see all your files, and print to Athena printers. Or add cool non-MIT features such as an Emacs client (possibly proxying [Infinote](http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/wiki/Infinote/Protocol), which appears to have some F/OSS implementations already), or integration with [codepad](http://codepad.org/) or [gists](http://gist.github.com/).
 
 
 [Etherpad](http://etherpad.com/) is an awesome tool for online collaborative text editing. It's recently been open-sourced; set up a Java servlet container on XVM, make it work, and then start adding cool MIT features like, oh, the ability to edit daemon.etherpad-writable files in AFS, login with certs and see all your files, and print to Athena printers. Or add cool non-MIT features such as an Emacs client (possibly proxying [Infinote](http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/wiki/Infinote/Protocol), which appears to have some F/OSS implementations already), or integration with [codepad](http://codepad.org/) or [gists](http://gist.github.com/).
 

+*Note:* tvald has set up [etherpad.mit.edu](http://etherpad.mit.edu/).
+Coordinate with him if you'd like to get features into etherpad.mit.edu.
+

 _Contact: geofft_
 
 ## RFC pretty-printing
 _Contact: geofft_
 
 ## RFC pretty-printing


@@ -260,6 +246,47 @@ _Contact: geofft, broder_
 
 _Contact: mostly geofft_
 
 
 _Contact: mostly geofft_
 

+## Binary compatibility between OSes
+
+Help the cause of OS ecumenism! FreeBSD provides [binary
+compatibility](http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/linuxemu.html) with
+Linux operating systems: an add-on module to the kernel knows how to
+interpret Linux-"personality" programs, just like the base kernel can
+interpret FreeBSD-"personality" ones, and a standard component in the
+FreeBSD ports system will install a number of libraries from Fedora 10
+in /compat/linux.
+
+However, the number of people who use FreeBSD as their own OS is limited
+compared to those who use Linux or Mac OS X. Possible projects here
+include BSD binary compatibility on Linux, or porting FreeBSD's Linux
+binary compatibility to Mac OS X (which has a bunch of BSD-like parts,
+but whose core kernel is actually Mach). The latter would allow running
+Linux locker software on [MacAthena](http://macathena.mit.edu).
+
+_Contact: geofft, kaduk_
+
+## Consolidate and Update Athena documentation
+
+Athena documentation these days seems somewhat lacking and/or hard-to-find, which should not be the case. Athena is already foreign enough to incoming students, who are more likely to use their laptops than an Athena machine. Help make it easier by consolidating and updating available Athena documentation so that people know here how to use their Public folder, their Private folder, their dotfiles, and so on.
+
+_Contact: zhangc, kasittig_
+
+## Zephyr Client Hints
+
+Some time ago I wrote [a spec for zephyr client hints](http://geofft.mit.edu/p/zephyr-client-hints.txt), optional extensions that zephyr clients can easily implement to add nifty stuff like typing indicators and [preventing zwgc from starting more than once per user](http://debathena.mit.edu/trac/ticket/206) and such. I got lazy before actually implementing these specs, but I believe they'd be relatively easy extensions to both zwgc and BarnOwl (in their respective extension languages, even &mdash; no changes needed to core).
+
+_Contact: geofft_
+
+
+## Project Waverly
+
+[Project Waverly](http://waver.ly/) is attempting to rethink collaborative text editing. We are starting a project to do collaborative text (and other
+stuff) editing right -- clean protocol, reasonable algorithms, good web
+client, good plugins for desktop text editors, nice API, version control
+integration, etc. etc.
+
+_Contact: lizdenys, geofft, maria89_
+

 ## Your Project Here
 
 SIPB can help you out in terms of both computing resources and
 ## Your Project Here
 
 SIPB can help you out in terms of both computing resources and