4 ms·

Saw the name Kim Polese and remembered Marimba and Bongo. I actually liked Bongo a lot - it was great for quickly prototyping an idea. I haven’t had any luck fi

Saw the name Kim Polese and remembered Marimba and Bongo. I actually liked Bongo a lot - it was great for quickly prototyping an idea. I haven’t had any luck finding it. (In case you’re curious: https://archive.org/details/officialmarmba00good https://archive.org/details/officialmarmba00good) P.s. > “Behind and the Green Door” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Green_Door https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Green_Door

codetrotter 4y ago
> I actually liked Bongo a lot - it was great for quickly prototyping an idea. I haven’t had any luck finding it. Not familiar with Bongo, and not sure if this fits what you are looking for. > IBM Developer Connection Release 2 Volume 2 > June 1998 > Discontinued Software > This is a complete list of the The IBM Developer Connection Release 2, Volume 2 content. > […] > Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9) https://archive.org/details/IBMDevConR2V2#ia-carousel https://archive.org/details/IBMDevConR2V2#ia-carousel Might be worth to download CD_09.zip and have a look https://archive.org/download/IBMDevConR2V2 https://archive.org/download/IBMDevConR2V2 You’ll need a way to mount bin and cue files. --- Edit: So I just had a look at the contents of the CD 9. I had to convert the bin and cue file to iso in order to mount it. Did so using a cli tool called "bchunk". When you mount the CD, there is an "index.htm" file that you can open in your web browser. This page is a little confusing because it has no other navigation than a link to the license agreement. On the bottom of the license page, you see: > Enter the Catalog > Select a catalog option below to explore the variety of content available from the Developer Connection. Select the appropriate Java catalog based on the Java level supported by your browser. For Java 1.1, be sure to obtain the latest browser updates. > Java catalog (Java 1.0) > Java catalog (Java 1.1) > Pure HTML catalog Click that link for the Pure HTML catalog. From there, click the link "Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9)" There we find the following description: > Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9) > This product is located on Member Disc 9. > Bongo is a visual interface builder for Java. Bongo includes a wide variety of interface "widgets" to enable rapid development of rich user interfaces. Widgets are pre-written visual controls, ready to immediately insert into Bongo. Simply drag and drop Bongo widgets to create a stunning visual interface, then use Bongo to add intelligence behind the interface via scripts written in Java. > Unlike widgets in most builders, Bongo widgets can be transparent or opaque, offering developers a great deal of flexibility and ease of use. Features such as these make Bongo an extremely powerful development tool. Bongo can produce visual interfaces for stand-alone Java applications as well as applets. > Best of all, Bongo's output can be directly published as a Marimba Castanet channel, and the presentation is then automatically distributed and maintained by Castanet within a company or across the Internet. Bongo is not required for developing Castanet channels, but if you're looking for a great tool that makes it easy to create Castanet channels, Bongo is for you. > Castanet automatically distributes and maintains software applications and content within a company or across the Internet. The Castanet Transmitter (server) and Castanet Tuner (client) work together to keep software and content always up-to-date. Create a "channel" and place it on a Castanet Transmitter. Castanet automatically distributes, installs, maintains, and updates the channel, all via the internet. Castanet can support any type of channel: internal corporate applications, multimedia consumer channels, and more. And the install instructions: > Installation Instructions: > To install from the CD: > 1. Change to the \marimba\bongo directory on the CD and type bongo1_0. > 2. Change to the \marimba\tuner directory on the CD and type tuner1_0. > 3. Change to the \marimba\transmit directory on the CD and type trans1_0. These files are all Windows exe files. I tried to run bongo1_0.exe in Wine, but nothing happened. I don't usually use Windows anymore, not since many years. But I do have a laptop that I recently installed an old copy of Windows 7 on because I needed to use another piece of software that was also Windows only.
- eternalban 4y ago
  Your post has earned my 2nd uttering of OMG on the internets. Thank you so very much!
  - codetrotter 4y ago
    yw :)
msla 4y ago
Since the archive.org link isn't readable, what were Marimba and Bongo?
- eternalban 4y ago
  Marimba (iirc!) was a Java startup by a Java insider set. It was definitely promoted/hyped along with Java. Bongo was this cool fun silly thing that I can only describe as a kind of REPL for UI :) You basically started out with a blank canvas for your app, and could switch between design mode and run mode. In design mode you would layout widgets (box layout with springs and stuff iirc) and you could script its actions with Java (fill in the callback blank, etc.) Components were named and one could invoke e.g. disable a sibling component, etc. Then you went to runtime mode and voila, you had a working GUI. I also vaguely recall a 'bongo' sound that it actually made when you switched to run mode. It was designed by Arthur van Hoff (who also designed Castanet). (Not sure why refs. to this company and its products are so obscure now. It's almost memory holed.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_van_Hoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_van_Hoff Yes, he wrote AWT (not mentioned in wiki /g): https://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/marc/hotjava/doc/api/awt.ContainerLayout.html https://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/marc/hotjava/doc/api/a... p.s. Old brain. I actually prototyped a SPA with Bongo in late 90s for a telco company. I was pushing them to have their apps -- think network cabinets, field engineer control panels, etc. -- ported to the browser. They thought it was a very strange idea.. p.s. this is fairly representative of the coverage they were getting back then: https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-marimba/ https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-marimba/

codetrotter 4y ago

> I actually liked Bongo a lot - it was great for quickly prototyping an idea. I haven’t had any luck finding it. Not familiar with Bongo, and not sure if this fits what you are looking for. > IBM Developer Connection Release 2 Volume 2 > June 1998 > Discontinued Software > This is a complete list of the The IBM Developer Connection Release 2, Volume 2 content. > […] > Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9) https://archive.org/details/IBMDevConR2V2#ia-carousel https://archive.org/details/IBMDevConR2V2#ia-carousel Might be worth to download CD_09.zip and have a look https://archive.org/download/IBMDevConR2V2 https://archive.org/download/IBMDevConR2V2 You’ll need a way to mount bin and cue files. --- Edit: So I just had a look at the contents of the CD 9. I had to convert the bin and cue file to iso in order to mount it. Did so using a cli tool called "bchunk". When you mount the CD, there is an "index.htm" file that you can open in your web browser. This page is a little confusing because it has no other navigation than a link to the license agreement. On the bottom of the license page, you see: > Enter the Catalog > Select a catalog option below to explore the variety of content available from the Developer Connection. Select the appropriate Java catalog based on the Java level supported by your browser. For Java 1.1, be sure to obtain the latest browser updates. > Java catalog (Java 1.0) > Java catalog (Java 1.1) > Pure HTML catalog Click that link for the Pure HTML catalog. From there, click the link "Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9)" There we find the following description: > Bongo, Castanet Tuner & Transmitter (Marimba) (M9) > This product is located on Member Disc 9. > Bongo is a visual interface builder for Java. Bongo includes a wide variety of interface "widgets" to enable rapid development of rich user interfaces. Widgets are pre-written visual controls, ready to immediately insert into Bongo. Simply drag and drop Bongo widgets to create a stunning visual interface, then use Bongo to add intelligence behind the interface via scripts written in Java. > Unlike widgets in most builders, Bongo widgets can be transparent or opaque, offering developers a great deal of flexibility and ease of use. Features such as these make Bongo an extremely powerful development tool. Bongo can produce visual interfaces for stand-alone Java applications as well as applets. > Best of all, Bongo's output can be directly published as a Marimba Castanet channel, and the presentation is then automatically distributed and maintained by Castanet within a company or across the Internet. Bongo is not required for developing Castanet channels, but if you're looking for a great tool that makes it easy to create Castanet channels, Bongo is for you. > Castanet automatically distributes and maintains software applications and content within a company or across the Internet. The Castanet Transmitter (server) and Castanet Tuner (client) work together to keep software and content always up-to-date. Create a "channel" and place it on a Castanet Transmitter. Castanet automatically distributes, installs, maintains, and updates the channel, all via the internet. Castanet can support any type of channel: internal corporate applications, multimedia consumer channels, and more. And the install instructions: > Installation Instructions: > To install from the CD: > 1. Change to the \marimba\bongo directory on the CD and type bongo1_0. > 2. Change to the \marimba\tuner directory on the CD and type tuner1_0. > 3. Change to the \marimba\transmit directory on the CD and type trans1_0. These files are all Windows exe files. I tried to run bongo1_0.exe in Wine, but nothing happened. I don't usually use Windows anymore, not since many years. But I do have a laptop that I recently installed an old copy of Windows 7 on because I needed to use another piece of software that was also Windows only.

eternalban 4y ago
Your post has earned my 2nd uttering of OMG on the internets. Thank you so very much!
- codetrotter 4y ago
  yw :)

msla 4y ago

Since the archive.org link isn't readable, what were Marimba and Bongo?

eternalban 4y ago
Marimba (iirc!) was a Java startup by a Java insider set. It was definitely promoted/hyped along with Java. Bongo was this cool fun silly thing that I can only describe as a kind of REPL for UI :) You basically started out with a blank canvas for your app, and could switch between design mode and run mode. In design mode you would layout widgets (box layout with springs and stuff iirc) and you could script its actions with Java (fill in the callback blank, etc.) Components were named and one could invoke e.g. disable a sibling component, etc. Then you went to runtime mode and voila, you had a working GUI. I also vaguely recall a 'bongo' sound that it actually made when you switched to run mode. It was designed by Arthur van Hoff (who also designed Castanet). (Not sure why refs. to this company and its products are so obscure now. It's almost memory holed.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_van_Hoff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_van_Hoff Yes, he wrote AWT (not mentioned in wiki /g): https://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/marc/hotjava/doc/api/awt.ContainerLayout.html https://www.mit.edu/afs.new/sipb/user/marc/hotjava/doc/api/a... p.s. Old brain. I actually prototyped a SPA with Bongo in late 90s for a telco company. I was pushing them to have their apps -- think network cabinets, field engineer control panels, etc. -- ported to the browser. They thought it was a very strange idea.. p.s. this is fairly representative of the coverage they were getting back then: https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-marimba/ https://www.wired.com/1996/11/es-marimba/