The "Undies Underneath" logo comforts & assures the end user and provides the ( normally unseen ) extra layer of support of Undieware.
Undieware provides nonintrusive support to the user addressing potential problems with human factors, software & hardware.
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Java developers dont' know what machines their software will ultimately be run on ( it will be run on machines that don't yet exist ! ), and sometimes the person using the software doesn't know anything about the client machine ( a library patron surfing the net may only see a keyboard & monitor ).
What happens when :
1) a "real-time 3d Graphics Engine" is run an old, slow machine ?
2) a Java 1.1 applet is run on a 1.0 V.M. ( an out of date browser ) ?
3) there is innsufficient memory available ?
4) the network connection is unexpectly broken ?
5) the CPU is maxed out and threads are starving ?
Well, a robust program would catch the error and appropriately notify the user.
But ... some applets are written quickly ... and not a lot of effort is given to the handling of unexpected conditions, and users who are less expert than the developer are ... sometimes ... left confused and frustrated.
. . . .
Undieware is for those unanticipated events.
Undieware advises the user of the client machine's OS, architecture, memory, Java Machine vendor and version, and the activity of any available threads.
Undieware can tell the end user -- if and when appropriate -- if the client environment is non-compliant with needs of the software ( memory, internet connection, Java Vitrual Machine Version ).
I posted the following to an Intel newsgroup & got no reply :
Intel "Cyclometer" : "Need a faster computer than a P75 ..." ;
Real-time Real-time, Wondering While Waiting.
[ subject title above, contents below ]
"Need a faster computer than a P75 though ... "
-- a comment from an Intel ( & NSF ) supported web site,
Swarthmore's Math Forum ( k-12 math education )
"I love these pages. [ Sorry, the writer is not referring to Intel's site. ]
Didn't think too highly of Java til I saw it in action.
**
** Need a faster computer than a P75 though for it to run smoothly.
** ----------------------------------
But still I loved it."
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/epigone/geometry-pre-college/quoblimbreh
http://forum.swarthmore.edu/epigone/geometry-pre-college/quoblimbreh/MPG.10b9a14a7aadc60b9897d4@news.mindspring.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Question : Does / Can Intel provide a "Cyclometer" ( comparable to Tachometer on a car )
for web pages ?
A Tach warns when you're "red lining"
( about to blow ) your engine.
( If the Hertz exceeds design specs
-- like over-clocking your CPU --
except with the car a piston is shot
through the engine block. )
**
** Shouldn't (the increasing less nerdy) internet users
** be warned / advised if their hardware is unable
** to run 'real-time' programs in real-time.
**
Gosh, my dish washing detergent comes with a
'time to buy a new one' gauge ...
Can't Intel match that functionality ?
I get hate mail that my
"Relatively Realistic Real-time 3d Engine"
is "too slow".
Isn't the problem that they should donate
their equipment to a museum and upgrade to
a 100 M Hz bus and at least 300 M Hz machine ?
A good Cyclometer would era-rate the users machine.
"Your equipment is 1992 vintage, stick to word processing."
"The web page you are visiting was assuming that your machine
would not be a piece of junk, you'd see SMOOTH animation with
a modern machine. Your machine has a resale value of $100.
It's an EMBARRASSMENT. You're a wimp. Kids are LAUGHING at you.
Gimme your credit card number and address and
I'll have Dell deliver you a machine that vastly improve
your internet browsing experience, social standing and career."
- - - -
The quote that began this note is in response to this post
( about an Interactive, Educational web page ) :
- - - - extract - - - -
Character Animation, Computer Animation & Modeling :
"A Bug's Life"; The Math that Animates & Draws.
Disney's "A Bug's Life" opens the 25-th of this month.
The magic behind the artwork is mathematical modeling using
Matrix Multiplication.
YOU can view and _MOVE_ 3d models on your screen,
including complex multi-jointed humanoid characters.
Character animation is the movement of multiple, hierarchical, articulating joints.
( You have a shoulder joint, an elbow joint, and a wrist joint;
and moving the shoulder joint moves the both the arm and the wrist,
and the joints, in a simple but non-trivial motion. )
Including :
- Character Animation (1)
- "Clinton Clock" : Real-time Imaging, 3d mapping, 2d image rotations, & the time (2) - 3d Modeling of Faceted Solids, you can view and ROTATE them (3)
- Modeling / Imaging / Math / Virtual Reality / Java / Interactive Visualizations (4)
- Arcade Games On line ( using & demonstrating Computer Graphics Math ) (5)
- "Photo realistic" ( raytracing ) imaging ( the Quadrics & My Home Planet )
interactive demo, theory, derivations (6)
- "Play A Piano / Oscilloscope" : Hit a key, SEE & HEAR the wave form. (7)
1 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/animHierarchy.html
2 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/CuteClock.html
3 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/java3dviewer.html
4 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/math_is_a_game.html
5 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/java_games.html
6 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/raytracing.html
7 ) http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/play_a_piano.html
and more fun stuff you can do with math & a keyboard ...
Java : Safe, Free, Interactive, Instantaneous (with your Cable modem).
- - - end extract of posting - - -
I can't reveal who wrote most of the above, modesty forids it.
A "Cyclometer" would be a much more efficient way of delivering
the 'time to upgrade' message than expensive television ads.
A "Cyclometer" would be distributed at zero cost, to people who
are at that instant experiencing the disadvantages of using
under-powered systems.
TV spots are expensive and delivered to an audience seeking entertainment (generally).
A web page "Cyclometer" would reach them just as they
themselves were already thinking of the advantages of
a newer and better machine, and reinforce their own idea.
If Intel doesn't have such a utility,
perhaps the fastest & cheapest way to get one would be
to contract it out to a Java Developer who has already
written and posted half a dozen Java applets already.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Paul Flavin, Java Developer, with half a dozen Java applets posted.
"Imaging the Imagined : Modeling with Math & a Keyboard"
http://www.frontiernet.net/~imaging/contents.html
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