[ REQ 5200]: 'geomview' for Linux / Sun

[rudolph at pangea.ee.up.ac.za]

	(Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #5)  
	id m0rUZgo-00099jC; Wed, 18 Jan 95 14:40 GMT+0200
Message-Id: <m0rUZgo-00099jC at pangea.ee.up.ac.za>
To: software@geom
Subject: 'geomview' for Linux / Sun
X-Mailer: exmh version 1.4.1 7/21/94
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 14:40:38 +0200
From: Rudolph Pienaar <rudolph at pangea.ee.up.ac.za>


Dear Geometry Center, 

Before I start, let me apologize to Stuart Levy for cc'ing this letter to his 
account. I have a software problem with 'geomview', and I understand that the 
'software@geom.umn.edu' is the appropriate forum for such discussions. 
However, when I fingered 'software@geom.umn.edu' I discovered that 
'Computational Geometry Software Conference (cgsw) is not presently logged in. 
Last seen at jordan on Fri Aug 12 15:26:23 1994'. I wasn't certain that my 
question would be answered, hence the cc to Stuart. Furthermore, fingering 
'register' and 'geomview-users' both returned with 'There is no user named...' 
messages.

That having been said, my problem/question is quite straightforward. I do not 
have the 'OOGL lisp library' with my 'geomview' distribution. 

As background, I am using a Linux 486 machine and am completing my Master's in 
Electrical and Electronic Engineering. My thesis, briefly, deals with 
'cognitive' processing aspects related to machine vision (the thesis stradles 
the areas of biosystems, AI, and control systems). Anyway, 'geomview' seems 
*ideal* for my purposes - not only as a stand-alone graphical display, but 
also as a source for bi-directional communication with external modules. I 
intend using 'geomview' to create in the first place a 'block-world' inwhich 
to conduct experiments, and secondly to supply information about this world to 
external modules (freeing them from worrying about exact details of 
world-representation as viewing aspect and postion in this world changes).

While going through the manual's examples (specifically 'Example 3'), I found 
that I don't have the OOGL library needed for aspects of the bi-directional 
communication. As a matter of fact, I don't have the lib/ directory structure 
at all. Although the manual also mentions that a version of FORMS is 
distributed with 'geomview', I don't have it. This is not a major problem as I 
intend using 'tk' as a user interface. However, the lack of OOGL is quite 
limiting.

Is the lib/ tree limited to sgi machines? Is it possible to obtain the OOGL 
library and compile it for a Linux 486?

I also downloaded the 'sun4' binaries, but these too did not have a lib/ tree 
structure. Furthermore, our Sun Sparc server is running SunOS 5.3 (aka Solaris 
2.3) and the Sun 4.xx binaries are not compatible. Is there a new Sun release 
in the wings?

Finally, congratualtions with 'geomview'. It is a very impressive and useful 
software tool/graphics viewer, etc. 

Thanking you for your attention to my problem, I remain

Yours Faithfully,

Rudolph Pienaar
_________________________________________
e-mail:       rudolph at pangea.ee.up.ac.za
In Real Life: Rudolph Pienaar
Organization: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
              University of Pretoria      
              South Africa                
_________________________________________