INTRODUCTION

Concert is a collaboration program, with which two or more people may "share" the execution of one of the main Khoros xvroutines: animate, editimage, putimage, warpimage, viewimage, xprism2, xprism3, or cantata. When concert is used, the specified application program will appear on all the displays that are indicated, and the same execution of the program will be reflected on each display.

Concert may be used as an instructional tool, or it may be used so that two or more people can collaborate on the analysis of a problem using one of the above Khoros programs; accordingly, concert may be run in one of two modes: master/slave mode, or equal-participant mode. Regardless of the mode that concert is run in, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that all concert users remain in verbal communication with each other at all times. If users remain within hearing range of one another, this is not a problem; however, if separated by distance, use of the telephone is recommended during the use of concert.

USING CONCERT

Master/Slave Mode
    When concert is run in master/slave mode, by specifying [-master 1], it is for instructional or demonstrational purposes. The user on the display on which the execution of concert was initiated acts as the "master"; all other users agree to be "slaves". The "master" controls all I/O for the program being run; the actions of the "master" are reflected on all other displays. "Slave" users are limited to simply observing the actions of the "master". Any input that a "slave" user attempts to initiate on the running program will be ignored. Thus, this mode of concert may be used in instructing new users of Khoros in the correct use of one of the abovementioned Khoros programs. Other uses may include bug reports and demos. Verbal contact should be maintained between the "master" user (who should be giving a running explanation of his actions as he uses the desired program) and the "slave" users (who should be allowed to interrupt to ask questions at any time).

Equal-Participant Mode
    When concert is run in equal-participant mode (the default mode), all users are equal participants in the running program; each can provide input to the program at any time, the program's response to which will be reflected on the displays of all the other users. While this provides a valuable method of collaborating with others on the solution of a problem using one of the Khoros applications, its success depends entirely on the cooperation of the users! It is easy (and often tempting) to "fight" with other users over control of the program. Contention over control of the program will lead to confusion and loss of productivity. To avoid this, it is recommended that all users remain in close verbal contact with each other at all times; users should take turns controlling the program, and should agree on who is to provide input to the program before doing so.

Before running concert, it is required that all users give permission to the machine on which concert is executed to send X Events to their displays. Each user of concert (besides the one who executes the concert program) must execute the following command:

% xhost machine:display

Where "machine:display" is the name of the machine and display from which concert is executed.

Concert is not highly developed at this time; it is still an experimental program as of Khoros 1.0, and it will take much more time and research before it will be considered a mature Khoros application. However, while not embued with many of the desired niceties at this time, the concert program is functional, and should serve its purpose sufficiently.