5 ms·

This looks very nice, but a 2D visualization might have been more practical. For example, the fact that the dot size represents the total number of dependents

This looks very nice, but a 2D visualization might have been more practical. For example, the fact that the dot size represents the total number of dependents is obscured by the fact that the dot sizes are also a function of camera distance.

zbendefy 2y ago
Reminds me of the 3D file browser user interface in Jurassic Park, which was an actual application. Looks cool but its not good to use (I mean the 3d file browser, not this software galaxies, which i found quite good). 3D interfaces rarely plan out, wonder if something like a vision pro or quest could make a 3D user interface work better than a 2D counterpart.
- aphrax 2y ago
  IIRC it was an SGI application - very cool but not terribly practical!
  - surfingdino 2y ago
    To be fair, it was all new back then and people were playing with ideas, so a 3d file browser seemed like a cool idea. A bit like the metal roller on the Paris Metro ticket machines https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=9SjBfRA3YzA https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=9SjBfRA3YzA
    - dcminter 2y ago
      The discoverability on those things is definitely lacking. I think it took us five or so broken touch-screens before my wife noticed that you could use that to select menu options instead! I guess once you know it's fine though? Feels a bit dated compared to the typical touch & go card payments elsewhere in Europe now though.
      - surfingdino 2y ago
        I couldn't work it out for a good while, because it's the most unintuitive UI I have found on reasonably recent ticket machines. Once you know how to use it, it's ok. ProTip: if you travel from London on a train, the buffet sells Paris Metro tickets.
  - grimgrin 2y ago
    Looks like it's "File System Navigator" or fsn (fusion) https://web.archive.org/web/20160416092919/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsn https://web.archive.org/web/20160416092919/https://en.wikipe... Since removed, but still mentioned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface#In_science_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface#In_sc...
  - Medox 2y ago
    Can be seen here (@8.02): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PP--lVTPCQ&t=482s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PP--lVTPCQ&t=482s (A $36,000 Graphical Workstation from 1993 | SGI Indigo 2)
  - p_l 2y ago
    There was a bunch of "demo" applications bundled in Irix, some more some less useful, that were used to showcase the capabilities of the systems. File System Navigator was, afaik, one of them (similarly there was bundled "dogfight", a networked flight simulator game).
  - Fnoord 2y ago
    Yes, it was a SGI application. Probably used in the movie Hackers. There was also a Doom file manager where you'd use BFG to nuke a directory. I only found one for Doom 3 but this also existed with original Doom. Nowadays, BFG is only used to nuke git repos.
    - giobox 2y ago
      Doom process managers where a thing for a while too, 20 years ago. Using the BFG on a crowded room of processes usually resulted in a system crash. Hunting down a stuck program and shooting it in E1M1 was pretty neat though. Your comment reminded me of playing with this in MacOS X a long time ago. > https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html
- HPsquared 2y ago
  In VR, there was a wave of that kind of thing (3D productivity apps, file browsers etc.) None really took off though as far as I can tell.
- _kb 2y ago
  https://fsv.sourceforge.net https://fsv.sourceforge.net There's a great write up at https://scifiinterfaces.com/2023/11/27/jurassic-park-1993/ https://scifiinterfaces.com/2023/11/27/jurassic-park-1993/
- cratermoon 2y ago
  There's also Doom as an Interface for Process Management https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html
ethbr1 2y ago
What's used to compute distance? I couldn't find any legend or description (mobile). Edit Ah, noticed the bottom-right about: https://github.com/anvaka/pm/tree/master/about#software-galaxies-documentation https://github.com/anvaka/pm/tree/master/about#software-gala... Distance is seemingly arbitrary, decided by clustering algorithm.
- digging 2y ago
  It's weird, because there are (at least in the Rust "galaxy") several tiny, extremely distant constellations. I thought they were background decoration until I zoomed way in on them. Hard to image why they would be so distant if they're relevant.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    I did notice it seems to have a preference for distancing well-connected clusters. Maybe it's a layout algorithm preference for distancing "complexity" (i.e. groups of many items / connections) for improved readability? Or that's representing single source-to-core clusters (e.g. many different things depend on a single library, which itself links back to core)?
failbuffer 2y ago
2D might be more practical if you were trying to make architectural decisions, but I feel the author's whimsical embrace of the starship metaphor made his/her project more interesting and fun. I've already seen a bunch of 2D code graphs.

zbendefy 2y ago

Reminds me of the 3D file browser user interface in Jurassic Park, which was an actual application. Looks cool but its not good to use (I mean the 3d file browser, not this software galaxies, which i found quite good). 3D interfaces rarely plan out, wonder if something like a vision pro or quest could make a 3D user interface work better than a 2D counterpart.

aphrax 2y ago
IIRC it was an SGI application - very cool but not terribly practical!
- surfingdino 2y ago
  To be fair, it was all new back then and people were playing with ideas, so a 3d file browser seemed like a cool idea. A bit like the metal roller on the Paris Metro ticket machines https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=9SjBfRA3YzA https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=9SjBfRA3YzA
  - dcminter 2y ago
    The discoverability on those things is definitely lacking. I think it took us five or so broken touch-screens before my wife noticed that you could use that to select menu options instead! I guess once you know it's fine though? Feels a bit dated compared to the typical touch & go card payments elsewhere in Europe now though.
    - surfingdino 2y ago
      I couldn't work it out for a good while, because it's the most unintuitive UI I have found on reasonably recent ticket machines. Once you know how to use it, it's ok. ProTip: if you travel from London on a train, the buffet sells Paris Metro tickets.
- grimgrin 2y ago
  Looks like it's "File System Navigator" or fsn (fusion) https://web.archive.org/web/20160416092919/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fsn https://web.archive.org/web/20160416092919/https://en.wikipe... Since removed, but still mentioned here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface#In_science_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphical_user_interface#In_sc...
- Medox 2y ago
  Can be seen here (@8.02): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PP--lVTPCQ&t=482s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PP--lVTPCQ&t=482s (A $36,000 Graphical Workstation from 1993 | SGI Indigo 2)
- p_l 2y ago
  There was a bunch of "demo" applications bundled in Irix, some more some less useful, that were used to showcase the capabilities of the systems. File System Navigator was, afaik, one of them (similarly there was bundled "dogfight", a networked flight simulator game).
- Fnoord 2y ago
  Yes, it was a SGI application. Probably used in the movie Hackers. There was also a Doom file manager where you'd use BFG to nuke a directory. I only found one for Doom 3 but this also existed with original Doom. Nowadays, BFG is only used to nuke git repos.
  - giobox 2y ago
    Doom process managers where a thing for a while too, 20 years ago. Using the BFG on a crowded room of processes usually resulted in a system crash. Hunting down a stuck program and shooting it in E1M1 was pretty neat though. Your comment reminded me of playing with this in MacOS X a long time ago. > https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html
HPsquared 2y ago
In VR, there was a wave of that kind of thing (3D productivity apps, file browsers etc.) None really took off though as far as I can tell.
_kb 2y ago
https://fsv.sourceforge.net https://fsv.sourceforge.net There's a great write up at https://scifiinterfaces.com/2023/11/27/jurassic-park-1993/ https://scifiinterfaces.com/2023/11/27/jurassic-park-1993/
cratermoon 2y ago
There's also Doom as an Interface for Process Management https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/doom/chi/chi.html

ethbr1 2y ago

What's used to compute distance? I couldn't find any legend or description (mobile). Edit Ah, noticed the bottom-right about: https://github.com/anvaka/pm/tree/master/about#software-galaxies-documentation https://github.com/anvaka/pm/tree/master/about#software-gala... Distance is seemingly arbitrary, decided by clustering algorithm.

digging 2y ago
It's weird, because there are (at least in the Rust "galaxy") several tiny, extremely distant constellations. I thought they were background decoration until I zoomed way in on them. Hard to image why they would be so distant if they're relevant.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  I did notice it seems to have a preference for distancing well-connected clusters. Maybe it's a layout algorithm preference for distancing "complexity" (i.e. groups of many items / connections) for improved readability? Or that's representing single source-to-core clusters (e.g. many different things depend on a single library, which itself links back to core)?

failbuffer 2y ago

2D might be more practical if you were trying to make architectural decisions, but I feel the author's whimsical embrace of the starship metaphor made his/her project more interesting and fun. I've already seen a bunch of 2D code graphs.