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Review of Visualisation Systems

8.5 Khoros


8.5.1 - Availability
8.5.2 - Support
8.5.3 - Information
8.5.4 - User groups

8.5.1 Availability


There are currently two version of Khoros available, Khoros 2.0 Developer Release and Khoros 1.0.5. The Khoros 2.0 Developer Release is available via FTP only. The Khoros 2.0 book and CD-ROM will be distributed by Prentice Hall, and should be in local book stores by the second quarter of 1995. Khoros 1.0.5 is available via both anonymous FTP and CD-ROM.

Supplier


The supplier is Khoral Research, Inc (KRI).

Platforms


KRI is developing on and has ported the Khoros 2.0 Developer Release to the following architectures:

Khoros 1.0.5 runs on these architectures:

Costs


Khoros 1.0.5 and Khoros 2.0 are distributed via the Internet as free access software; that is, Khoros is available throughout the world, free of charge, via Unix File Transfer Protocol (FTP). In addition, Khoros 1.0.5 is also available for low-cost on CD-ROM. Although there is free access to Khoros, it is not in the public domain. The software is owned by KRI, and does carry a License and Copyright. While Khoros may be used by any organization free of charge, it can not be distributed without a license. Consult the Khoros Free Access License for additional information on use and distribution. KRI is committed to maintaining the Free Access Distribution of Khoros.

The Khoros 2.0 Developer Release is available from the following anonymous ftp sites:

Pull back the file $KHOROS_FTP/release/install and read it first. Please use the site closest to you.

Khoros 1.0.5 is available from the following anonymous ftp sites:

Pull back the file $KHOROS_FTP/release/install.ftp and read it first. Please use the site closest to you.

A CD-ROM and manual set of Khoros 1.0.5 may be purchased for $375 USD from KRI. Contact khoros-request@khoros.unm.edu for more information.

Licensing Costs


There are three standard Khoros distribution licenses; Free Access, System Integrator, and Developer. Rights in addition to those provided by the standard licenses are negotiated on a case-by-case basis. The Terms and Conditions of each license are summarized below:

8.5.2 Support


Provision


No cost email support is available over the Khoros mailing list and comp.soft-sys.khoros usenet group.

KRI offers monthly training courses for both developers and users. In addition, KRI can arrange for on-site training.

KRI also offers specialized consulting arrangements.

Costs


E-mail support is free.

The Developer's Training Course runs $1600 USD per person and the user training course runs $1200 USD per person.

The cost of on-site training and consulting agreements are negotiated.

8.5.3 Information


Manuals


Khoros 2.0 manuals are available via anonymous ftp from
ftp.khoros.unm.edu in the /pub/khoros2.0/manual directory.

Note that the khoros_manual/ subdirectory contains the combined manuals for the bootstrap, design, and dataserv toolboxes, which together comprise the core Khoros system. Thus, in this directory you will find:

Then, there is a different subdirectory for each additional toolbox that is distributed with the Khoros system. Thus, the datamanip/ directory contains the manual for the datamanip toolbox, the envision/ directory contains the manual for the envision/ toolbox, and so on.

KRI distributes printed Khoros 2.0 manuals only to Licensees and Khoros Consortium members. We are currently working on a Book and CD release; KRI has made an agreement with Manning Publications to produce the Khoros 2.0 manual set which will include a CD ROM of the Khoros 2.0 distribution. The manual set will be distributed by Prentice Hall in the summer of 1995.

On-line Information


All Khoros programs have complete man pages available on-line as well as help pages which can be browsed with an interactive viewer. HTML converters are available for the documentation if local hypertext versions are desired.

Network Information Services


Khoral Research, Inc. has a home page on the world-wide-web at

http://www.khoros.unm.edu KRI maintains up to date information on the Web Site. In addition to information on Khoral Research and Khoros there are pointers to many other home pages that may be of interest.

For additional information on Khoros, training, licensing, and support, users can mail to

khoros-request@khoros.unm.edu

Repositories of examples


The Khoros system comes with complete source code so programming examples are always available. Contributed toolboxes containing source are also available.

8.5.4 User groups


There are two ways to get questions answered and to interact with other Khoros users: The Khoros mailing list and the Khoros USENET group. The Khoros mailing list and USENET group are bi-directionally gatewayed to each other (all messages are cross posted). That way you only need to participate on either the mailing list or the USENET group.

To be added to, or removed from, the Khoros Mailing List, send e-mail to khoros-request@khoros.unm.edu with your request. To participate on the Khoros USENET group, subscribe to comp.soft-sys.khoros.

Khoral Research also provides a digestifed version of the Khoros mailing list. Once a day you will receive a single email message with a digest of the previous 24 hours' worth of articles. This message includes a list of topics discussed. To be added to, or removed from the digestified list, send e-mail to khoros-request@khoros.unm.edu with your request.

When you become a System Integrator or Developer Licensee of Khoros, you automatically become a member of the Khoros Consortium. The Consortium began in 1991 to facilitate the free access distribution of Khoros and to further the research and development of software development environments. Today the Consortium focuses on the rapid advancement of the Khoros software infrastructure.


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