From: jimh@surreal.asd.sgi.com (Jim Helman)
Subject: Re: APPS: SGI System, REF: Jurassic Park.
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 14:00:37 GMT
Organization: Home for Degenerate Physicists



The file-system-as-information-landscape software is fsn, File System
Navigator, created by SGI's Joel Tesler and Steve Strasnick.

fsn is available by anonymous FTP in:

	sgi.com:pub/sgi/fsn

>From the README

	3D File System Navigator for IRIX 4.0.1+

	fsn (pronounced fusion) is a file system
	navigator in cyberspace.  It lays out the
	directories in a hierarchy with each directory
	represented by a pedestal.  The height of the
	pedestal is proportional to the size of the files
	in the directory.  The directories are connected
	by wires, on which it is possible to travel.  On
	top of each directory are boxes representing
	individual files.  The height of the box
	represents the size of the file, while the color
	represents the age.

	Fsn is intended as an investigation in
	information landscape navigation.  Although the
	file system was chosen as a system to navigate
	through, similar paradigms could be applied to
	other trees and graphs, such as call graphs.

	Keep in mind that fsn is a prototype and an
	experiment.  It is neither a full featured
	product nor a replacement for a filesystem
	manager such as Workspace.

	Fsn requires Z-buffering and RGB support.  You
	must be running IRIX release 4.0.1 or greater.
	It is recommended that you have at least 16MB of
	memory, especially on an Indigo, where Z
	buffering uses a lot of memory.  On the Indigo,
	using split screen mode requires even more
	memory.  On the Indigo, only the double buffered
	color map is used, so the colors are not as
	pretty as on other machines.

rgds,

-jim helman

jimh@surreal.asd.sgi.com
415/390-1151