Re: [9fans] current bitsy status (and rushhour :-)

[Axel Belinfante <Axel.Belinfante@cs.utwente.nl>]

> The bitsy port I installed used a remote filesystem on a plan9 
> authenticated network so no wifi, no plan9
> It worked ok as an mp3 player, I couldn't find much to do with it apart 
> from that.
> It's not plan9's fault though I think, I've never found much use for a 
> PDA esp. when my phone does most of the PIM functions.

I have been using it with wifi as a small remote terminal,
using a small local filesystem, also to debug my small plan 9 network.
I have also used it with applications imported from a
remote plan 9 filerserver - typically vncv, to read
mail on a remote unix box in an xterm with a tiny font,
in the office, at home, or even at a conference.

my most recent bitsy experiences I mentioned here in summer 2006.
I don't recall whether I built a new kernel and used that, or
whether I continued to use the old kernel that was already on it
from some years before.
that summer I discovered the advantage that a touch screen
has over the mouse for those who can move the mouse and press its
buttons but are not yet experienced enough to do both
(and have small hands while the mouse is big).
moving mouse with button 1 pressed was needed for the
rushhour game that I fiddled with at that time.
the touch screen made it much more intuitive.
also then I used the bitsy as a terminal, importing the rushhour
game from another plan 9 machine (for no other reason than
not having to put the game on the bitsy).
the game has a 'bitsy mode' flag that makes it use
smaller font and images, to fit the small screen.

[going off-original-topic now...]
as a matter of fact, today I added cursor key support to rushhour (*).
just put the mouse cursor over the item you want to move, and
use the cursor keys to move. when the item is moved the mouse
is warped so it stays over the item. it seems to be easy to use.
however, it took me several iterations to get there.

I started by keeping track of the 'currently selected item'
which would be moved by the cursor keys. there was a mechanism to
select an item (click mouse button 1)
and a mechanism to 'highlight' it (special border around it).
it didn't really work. having a separate 'select item to be moved'
was not very intuitive, and prone to be forgotten.
extending the select mechanism to allow pressing the space bar
when mouse cursor hovered over the right item did not really help.
then the idea came to just use the mouse cursor as 'item of interest'
indicator, and to warp the mouse cursor to avoid leaving said
indicator behind when the item is moved - and I could rip out
those special selection/highlighting mechanisms.

I'm not sure I succeed in conveying it here, but for me it turned
out to be a small but interesting design exercise, going from zero
to unintuitive (and 'complex') to pretty intuitive (and simple).


Axel.
hmmm... the story of my plan 9 life - vncv to unix
(like right now to type this message :-)
and fiddling with games like rushhour

(*) on sources, /n/sources/contrib/axel/rushhour -
some other changes I made over time since I last posted
about it here never seemed to warrant spamming  the list.