Check Out XMLTerm!Wednesday March 15th, 2000R. Saravanan writes, "As Mozilla approaches beta, XMLterm finally approaches alpha. Check out the new screenshots at XMLTerm.org. On Linux/Solaris, XMLterm can now be compiled simply by setting the configure option --with-extensions=xmlterm. XMLterm can also be used as a powerful Javascript console (check out a screenshot). If you are a Linux mozilla user who also uses xterms in some form, please try out the M14-compatible version of the XMLterm binaries, which may be downloaded from here. Remember this is pre-alpha software; so don't delete your xterm binaries just yet! There are still many bugs and unimplemented features, but any feedback on the 'feel' of XMLterm will be appreciated." This looks like a very useful tool. I guess it could be easily added to the Mozilla task bar too... I just looked at the bottom of the xmlterm page and saw that there was indeed an example of adding it to the Mozilla task menu ! Unfortunately, when I tried running xmlterm with build 2000031013, I got a segfault. Oh well, I will just have to wait. The XMLterm binaries have only been tested with the "official" M14 release build. As mozilla's interfaces keep changing, it is difficult build an XPCOM component that will link with daily builds. In the future, hopefully, the xmlterm extension will be enabled in the daily builds. Saravanan What happens with xmlterm if mozilla crashes when you're busy editing a file in vi (say) inside the xmlterm ? If xmlterm dies too then it's a pretty risky thing to use. If it's a separate process that can "survive on its own", then it might be useful after all. Must say, I like that "xcat" command though ! What?? Mozilla never crashes!! ;) Seriously though, within a couple of months after the release of Mozilla it's likely to be one of the most stable pieces of software you ever saw, thanks to the *huge* number of people debugging and sending talkback data and stack traces. That's not the case *now* of course, but that's what you get for using alpha software. It'll happen, and xmlterm will be as rock-solid as the rest of the OS (and *more* solid than some...) Stuart. #5 mozilla, proving itself time and time again... n/tby punkrider Wednesday March 15th, 2000 8:57 PM n/t So when can we get file:// lists displaying images like that! We could have the current Detailed view as well as an icon view. When I say icon view I'm thinking for viewing gif/jpg/png files... it will be harder to read in the icon format for all os's. I was thinking about how xmlterm could work remotely if running over telnet or ssh. Specifically, how it would be possible to get the image-viewing capabilities when the images aren't on the local filesystem anymore, so just embedding an <img> tag isn't going to help you. It occurred to me that this is a perfect use for the data: url scheme. If using xmlterm in remote mode, you could configure xcat so that instead of simply saying <img src="file:my.gif /> it instead embedded <img src="data:image/gif?...[encoded data read from the file]" /> Voila! A true telnet shell with graphical capabilities. (It could do the same thing with html files and websites in case the computer running xmlterm can't contact the machine running the website; thus xcat http://www.mozilla.org/ would produce something like <iframe src="data:text/html?..." /> In doing that, you've also made xmlterm useful on non-unix platforms that don't have a shell... win32 doesn't even have a good telnet client, for example! Stuart. How to eat up all of your memory and slow the Xserver to a grinding halt: go to a directory with plenty of large images in it, and type ~/package/xcat * I just had to try it. Pretty darn cool stuff though. The one thing i would most like this to do is be able to select text to copy and paste. True, you can bring your system down! But if you you want to go beyond just the xterm-compatible features of xmlterm, you have to pay a price! Copy and paste will be implemented. The reason I have been slow to do that is that full copy-and-paste will be part of a full drag-and-drop implementation, including dragging icons to and from the desktop and have the option of icons appearing in the xmlterm command line. Saravanan |