4 ms·

Is there a working emulator for Engelbart's NLS system anywhere?

leoc 13y ago
There was something which worked well enough to produce the 2006 screencast http://vimeo.com/81336768 http://vimeo.com/81336768 . But the project http://hyperscope.org/ http://hyperscope.org/ seems to be abandoned and the download page is missing.
- meric 13y ago
  Looks like Doug Engelbart was part of the team and he's died.
- lstamour 13y ago
  It seems to have continued here: http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-hyperscope-11-released.html http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-hyperscope-11... The demo might not work as I was viewing OPML. Probably wasn't served with the correct mime type to be recognised as XML. Would work locally though.
DennisP 13y ago
After Doug Engelbart died I poked around and found a clone of his Augment software. It's a Windows 3.0 application, this company still uses it and sells copies for $150: http://www.ndma.com/resources/ndm8543.htm http://www.ndma.com/resources/ndm8543.htm Comes with a decent manual. I've played around with it a bit but not too much so far. It's limited to 8-character filenames, and seems more mouse-dependent than I prefer, though maybe I just don't know all the tricks. These days, emacs with org-mode and evil-mode might be a more productive implementation of similar ideas. But it's still pretty interesting. Curiously, one thing that people have criticized as unintuitive is its modal verb-noun command structure, which as a Vim user I find completely natural. How well this software really captures NLS, I can't say.
- kristopolous 13y ago
  I would think that a piece of software which intends to have a markedly different user-interaction with the computer would show, in concrete terms, what that interaction looks like - through the technology of photographics or videography. Especially when wanting $150 for it. I guess I ask too much.
- endlessvoid94 13y ago
  I tried to email that group and didn't get a response -- have you had any luck?
  - DennisP 13y ago
    I ended up phoning them. They were pleasantly surprised that someone wanted to buy their old Windows 3.0 software. Mostly they just use it internally. Once I got connected they were really nice and helpful.
    - endlessvoid94 13y ago
      Have you used the software?

leoc 13y ago

There was something which worked well enough to produce the 2006 screencast http://vimeo.com/81336768 http://vimeo.com/81336768 . But the project http://hyperscope.org/ http://hyperscope.org/ seems to be abandoned and the download page is missing.

meric 13y ago
Looks like Doug Engelbart was part of the team and he's died.
lstamour 13y ago
It seems to have continued here: http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-hyperscope-11-released.html http://codinginparadise.org/weblog/2006/12/ann-hyperscope-11... The demo might not work as I was viewing OPML. Probably wasn't served with the correct mime type to be recognised as XML. Would work locally though.

DennisP 13y ago

After Doug Engelbart died I poked around and found a clone of his Augment software. It's a Windows 3.0 application, this company still uses it and sells copies for $150: http://www.ndma.com/resources/ndm8543.htm http://www.ndma.com/resources/ndm8543.htm Comes with a decent manual. I've played around with it a bit but not too much so far. It's limited to 8-character filenames, and seems more mouse-dependent than I prefer, though maybe I just don't know all the tricks. These days, emacs with org-mode and evil-mode might be a more productive implementation of similar ideas. But it's still pretty interesting. Curiously, one thing that people have criticized as unintuitive is its modal verb-noun command structure, which as a Vim user I find completely natural. How well this software really captures NLS, I can't say.

kristopolous 13y ago
I would think that a piece of software which intends to have a markedly different user-interaction with the computer would show, in concrete terms, what that interaction looks like - through the technology of photographics or videography. Especially when wanting $150 for it. I guess I ask too much.
endlessvoid94 13y ago
I tried to email that group and didn't get a response -- have you had any luck?
- DennisP 13y ago
  I ended up phoning them. They were pleasantly surprised that someone wanted to buy their old Windows 3.0 software. Mostly they just use it internally. Once I got connected they were really nice and helpful.
  - endlessvoid94 13y ago
    Have you used the software?