[20668] in Athena Bugs
Re: sun4 9.1.14: olc
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (thg@MIT.EDU)
Fri Aug 30 13:43:05 2002
From: thg@MIT.EDU
Message-ID: <1030729383.3d6faea7523c6@webmail.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 13:43:03 -0400
To: oliver thomas <othomas@mit.edu>
Cc: bugs@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <200208301642.MAA16672@tooltime.mit.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Oliver,
Thanks for the info. Please set me up for multiple instances in olc. I
already could make use of this feature.
The online chat ability of olc has value, although I find that my olc requests
are not usually handled in real time. I have not thought of it as an online
chat environment. It doesn't really present itself that we, at least not to
me. This may be more of an education and documentation issue. Typically I've
asked a question and then exited the application. I then get back in when
there's a response, respond myself, and leave again. Perhaps this is not the
model olc had in mind.
While I don't mind olc's traditional tty interface, newer users would probably
welcome a web or e-mail interface as provided by CaseTracker. Zephyr could
provide the online chat ability if it were integrated with CaseTracker. As it
stands now, I find that I currently get most responses through e-mail.
Another problem with olc is that it doesn't provide any easy way to retrieve
the text of old solutions, while with CaseTracker I can go back and look up an
old question and find the answer again if I need it. Hence, I stand by my
original suggestion that CaseTracker be considered as a replacement for olc. I
hope you'll keep it in mind.
Tom
Quoting oliver thomas <othomas@MIT.EDU>:
>
> Tom,
>
> This is a policy decision more than a technical one. Although not
> easy to use, 'olc' does support multiple threads per person. These are
> called 'instances' in olc. There are several individuals who have been
> granted the ability to ask more than one question at a time. The default
> maximum for instances is 1, however, as that presents the least chance of
> confusion to clients. Given the extremely small number of requests for the
> ability to ask more than one question at a time that we receive, this is
> the right default.
>
> If you would like to request a higher number of concurrent
> instances for yourself in olc, please send me a note and we can take care
> of it. Before you start using them, there are a few things you should
> know:
>
> 1. You should use the 'olcr' client rather than the more limited
> 'olc' client
>
> 2. You should read through the on-line docs built into olcr on how
> to manipulate and change instances. The two key ones are:
>
> athena% olcr
> olcr> help instance
> olcr> help status
>
> You may also want to glance at the help pages for other commands
> you commonly use in olc, as most of them take an instance value as an
> optional argument.
>
> Finally, Casetracker is not really a viable option as a
> replacement for olc at this point. Keep in mind that olc offers chat
> capability and is quite tightly integrated into the Athena
> environment. Casetracker makes sense in a less interactive setting, but it
> still needs some work before we could slide it in as a functional
> replacement for olc.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Oliver Thomas
>
> -----original message-----
> [20644] daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Thomas H. Grayson) Athena Bugs 08/27/02
> 15:42 (
> 27 lines)
> Subject: sun4 9.1.14: olc
> Message-Id: <200208271942.PAA09650@mandela-1.mit.edu>
> To: bugs@MIT.EDU
> Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:42:08 -0400
> From: "Thomas H. Grayson" <thg@MIT.EDU>
>
> System name: mandela-1.mit.edu
> Type and version: Sun-Blade-100 9.1.14 (with mkserv)
> Display type: m
>
> Shell: /bin/athena/tcsh
> Window manager: sawfish
>
> What were you trying to do?
> Open a second support issue within OLC.
>
> What's wrong:
> Only one question can be open at a time. Any new text
> is added to the old text.
>
> What should have happened:
> A new distinct thread should be created.
> This is really an enhancement request for OLC, rather
> than a bug per se. Perhaps olc should be replaced
> by CaseTracker?
>
> Please describe any relevant documentation references:
> [Please replace this line with your information.]
>
