[linux-audio-dev] Read this after your first cup of coffee

[John Check]

On Tuesday 17 August 2004 01:01 pm, Paul Winkler wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 17, 2004 at 07:17:54AM -0400, John Check wrote:
> (snip)
>
> > I'm going to whomp up a database driven reporting system that extends the
> > concept to include protocol and library support and has some
> > Wiki like features. One will be able to search for specific types of
> > programs with specific criteria like:
> > Sequencers with LADSPA, JACK, DSSI, MESS, OSC, PHAT (Yes PHAT is that
> > cool) Hits will come back in table form with checkmarks in the
> > appropriate columns, ranked by how much of a match and a "freshness"
> > date.
> > The app name will link to the project site and there will be additional
> > links to the primary documentation and the Wiki, if one exists.
>
> (snip)
>
> > The only text input will be for URLs. This should minimize grammatical
> > and language issues as well as make internationalization easy.
>
> (snip)
>
> > I would appreciate any ideas on what should be included, but I'm not
> > going to get into extended debates about what should be in.
> > I'm the ultimate arbiter, at least until it debuts. The basic manual
> > reporting and search should be live in 7-10 days.
>
> Interesting idea. It has significant intersection with my long-promised,
> long-postponed replacement for DLP's soundapps site, which has been
> discussed many times before (most recently this past january / february) -
> see here for summary and links:
> http://www.slinkp.com/slinkp/linux/soundapp_site_roughs
>
> On the one hand, I would like to point out that my proposal linked
> above has had considerable community input already, so you might want to
> at least think about my requirements list.
>

Sure!

> On the other hand, I don't want to hold you back, and though the topic
> has been much on my mind recently, obviously I don't really have a burning
> need to be the one to get it done - if I did, I'd have done it by now.
> I have to face the fact that my track record adds up to 3 years of
> mailing list discussions and pure vaporware.
> So, I would much rather offer a bit of help on a project with some
> momentum than keep waiting forever for a free weekend or two to hack
> up my own without help.
>

Okay that's awesome

> AFAICT you're proposing a particular subset of the information
> I wanted to gather, plus a really nice search result matrix idea.
>
> I see significant value to the restricted scope of the information you
> want to gather:
> - simpler UI for users
> - less administrative intervention
> - less site code to implement and maintain
> - easier i18n (I hadn't really thought about that till you mentioned it.)
>

Heheh, I didn't think of i18n until you said it.

> But then, all the additional information in my proposal could be really
> useful.  I didn't entirely make up that requirements list, a lot of it
> was stuff that people on LAD and LAU suggested and argued over.
> Much of it would be optional of course. And if some of that information
> didn't go on your site, where would it go?  If there were two sites,
> wouldn't that just add to the existing "too much information"
> problem you described?
>

Absolutely. Like I said I bounced the idea off of DP first, and I can host
linux-sound or he can pull pages from me. 6 of one .5 dozen of the other.
He's got the traffic already, so let the mountain go to Mohammed.

> I don't see it so much as a problem of too much information -
> more a lack of coherence and organization to that information.
> A good domain-specific search engine and a consistent presentation of
> individual apps would be an enormous help IMO.
>

Yes, that's about the size of it. The post was pretty much one 4 hour
draft>spellcheck> paste into email>format>tweak>send
Email has been holding me back from getting things done.

> I would really hope to build some community consensus about this.
> As a user, what I really want is one and only one kick-ass site for
> looking up linux audio apps.
>

It'll be slashdotted on the first day. I'll but in a second machine and round 
robin the first week.

> (Out of my own curiosity as a potential collaborator:
> What's your preferred web app platform?  And how much time during
> that 7-10 days do you think will actually be spent working on this project?
> And do you have a host in mind?)
>

Linux/Apache/PHP4/MySQL
Well, it's mostly designing the database schema, I have a guy that does
that all day long, then does it some more when he gets home, but even
if I did the front end forms and stuff.. I dunno. any where from 24-72 hours.
I have a host in co-lo with some pretty fat pipes.

> > What About The Business Angle Then, Donald Chump?
>
> (snip)
>
> Good luck with it. I'd like to see some successful businesses
> putting more money in the hands of the LAD heavy lifters.

Well, you'll have to wait for the book, but I think I can pull it off.
BTW and FWIW, the actual work that I expect to be doing is going
to be regional, which means once the model is proven, there is
franchise potential, but thats just service mark, so anybody that's 
so inclined can get in on the fun.

> btw, are you aware of http://linuxaudio.org ?

I am now. Okay that's very cool. I've been wanting to say "synergize" since I 
got here, but I didn't want anybody to laugh ;)