Grapevine - Revision history

Dummy User: add link

2009-11-08T14:13:48Z

add link

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:13, 8 November 2009
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			:''Grapevine is now called [[Inform]]. This page is retained for historical purposes.''

	Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes. The underlying software has been revamped many times, usually to improve graphics.		Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes. The underlying software has been revamped many times, usually to improve graphics.

Sprow: /* Dragon */ Unsure from question mark

2007-07-07T17:54:32Z

Dragon: Unsure from question mark

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:54, 7 July 2007
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	==Versions==		==Versions==
	===Dragon===		===Dragon===
	The earliest known incarnation was a textual information system called Quaxfax (Ceefax with a campus duck flavour!), and was produced from a Dragon ~~(?)~~ computer.		The earliest known incarnation was a textual information system called Quaxfax (Ceefax with a campus duck flavour!), and was produced from a {{unsure\|Dragon}} computer.

	===BBC Micro===		===BBC Micro===

Sprow: /* BBC Micro */

2007-07-07T13:37:58Z

BBC Micro

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:37, 7 July 2007
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	[[Image:NewsBox.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Rolling news box news]]		[[Image:NewsBox.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Rolling news box news]]
	In 1994 [[Luke Brown]] added 'Newsbox' functionality which allowed snippets of current news headlines and weather reports to be interspersed with Grapevine pages, news team dedication permitting.		In 1994 [[Luke Brown]] added 'Newsbox' functionality which allowed snippets of current news headlines and weather reports to be interspersed with Grapevine pages, news team dedication permitting. Luke's obsession with news was clear, as he went on to work for ITN.

	===Amiga version===		===Amiga version===

Sprow: /* BBC Micro */

2007-07-07T13:36:32Z

BBC Micro

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:36, 7 July 2007
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	The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.		The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.

			[[Image:NewsBox.png\|left\|thumb\|160px\|Rolling news box news]]
	In 1994 [[Luke Brown]] added 'Newsbox' functionality which allowed snippets of current news headlines and weather reports to be interspersed with Grapevine pages, news team dedication permitting.		In 1994 [[Luke Brown]] added 'Newsbox' functionality which allowed snippets of current news headlines and weather reports to be interspersed with Grapevine pages, news team dedication permitting.

Sprow: /* BBC Micro */ Newsbox.

2007-07-07T13:33:00Z

BBC Micro: Newsbox.

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:33, 7 July 2007
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	The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.		The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.

			In 1994 [[Luke Brown]] added 'Newsbox' functionality which allowed snippets of current news headlines and weather reports to be interspersed with Grapevine pages, news team dedication permitting.

	===Amiga version===		===Amiga version===

Sprow: Link

2007-07-06T07:47:09Z

Link

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:47, 6 July 2007
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	[[Image:TeletextGVine.gif\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Society pages from the 1990s]]		[[Image:TeletextGVine.gif\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Society pages from the 1990s]]
	Old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started show live evidence of the system, and 5.25" floppies from the [[YSTV ~~archive~~]] are still perfectly readable despite the continual thrashing that they would have endured as each page was loaded from disc rather than cached in precious RAM.		Old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started show live evidence of the system, and 5.25" floppies from the [[YSTV Archive]] are still perfectly readable despite the continual thrashing that they would have endured as each page was loaded from disc rather than cached in precious RAM.

	The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.		The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.

Sprow: /* BBC Micro */ Guff on the menus

2007-07-05T21:50:21Z

BBC Micro: Guff on the menus

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:50, 5 July 2007
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	[[Image:TeletextGVine.gif\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Society pages from the 1990s]]		[[Image:TeletextGVine.gif\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Society pages from the 1990s]]
	Old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started show live evidence of the system, and 5.25" floppies from the [[YSTV archive]] are still perfectly readable despite the continual thrashing that they would have endured as each page was loaded from disc rather than cached in precious RAM.		Old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started show live evidence of the system, and 5.25" floppies from the [[YSTV archive]] are still perfectly readable despite the continual thrashing that they would have endured as each page was loaded from disc rather than cached in precious RAM.

			The software comprised a menu system to select between displaying the Grapevine (normal operation), editing the Grapevine (for new pages), and supervisor mode (for purging old unused pages and other housekeeping). Pages could be scheduled to appear for certain periods of time, periodically, and repeating: for this the BBC Micro required a concept of the day/month/time to be entered at startup.

	===Amiga version===		===Amiga version===

Sprow: Recovered beeb version off the 5.25" archive floppies

2007-07-05T21:46:28Z

Recovered beeb version off the 5.25" archive floppies

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:46, 5 July 2007
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	Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes.		Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes. The underlying software has been revamped many times, usually to improve graphics.

	~~This~~ was ~~first used in the mid-1980s using primitive Teletext-style technology driven from~~ a BBC Micro computer, and old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started are thought to be the only evidence of this system. It replaced an even earlier textual information system, called Quaxfax (Ceefax with a campus duck flavour!), ~~that~~ was produced from a Dragon (?) computer.		==Versions==
			===Dragon===
			The earliest known incarnation was a textual information system called Quaxfax (Ceefax with a campus duck flavour!), and was produced from a Dragon (?) computer.

	==~~Versions~~==		===BBC Micro===
	~~It has been revamped~~ a ~~number~~ of ~~times~~, ~~usually to improve graphics~~.		This was first used in the mid-1980s using mainly primitive Teletext-style images driven from a BBC Micro computer, plus an occasional bitmapped graphic for infrequently changing adverts such as those advertising the Grapevine service itself. Written by [[Roger Moffatt]] in 1986, it remained in constant use until 1994.

			[[Image:TeletextGVine.gif\|right\|thumb\|160px\|Society pages from the 1990s]]
			Old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started show live evidence of the system, and 5.25" floppies from the [[YSTV archive]] are still perfectly readable despite the continual thrashing that they would have endured as each page was loaded from disc rather than cached in precious RAM.

			===Amiga version===
	A version was created by [[Mark Hansgate]] for the [[Commodore Amiga]] which was used briefly during 1994. This featured greatly improved graphics over the BBC Micro version but proved to be unreliable (with Guru Meditation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation] being a regular feature) and so was abandoned.		A version was created by [[Mark Hansgate]] for the [[Commodore Amiga]] which was used briefly during 1994. This featured greatly improved graphics over the BBC Micro version but proved to be unreliable (with Guru Meditation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation] being a regular feature) and so was abandoned.

			===PC versions===
	During 1995-96, [[Owain Davies]] took a bold step and used a PC in the place of the BBC computer. This was made possible with a VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical. Elegant it was not, however somehow it managed to do the job even under Windows (the driver was loaded in DOS during the autoexec.bat). A windows presentation software package was used to scroll through a series of 'slides' to form the basis of the service.		During 1995-96, [[Owain Davies]] took a bold step and used a PC in the place of the BBC computer. This was made possible with a VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical. Elegant it was not, however somehow it managed to do the job even under Windows (the driver was loaded in DOS during the autoexec.bat). A windows presentation software package was used to scroll through a series of 'slides' to form the basis of the service.

Dummy User at 18:28, 16 June 2007

2007-06-16T18:28:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:28, 16 June 2007
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	Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes.		Grapevine was the name for YSTV's service of still advertisments and promotions between programmes.

	This was first used ~~some time~~ in the 1980s using primitive Teletext-style technology, and old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started are thought to be the only evidence of this system.		This was first used in the mid-1980s using primitive Teletext-style technology driven from a BBC Micro computer, and old VHS archive tapes from the era which were recorded directly from the network output before a programme started are thought to be the only evidence of this system. It replaced an even earlier textual information system, called Quaxfax (Ceefax with a campus duck flavour!), that was produced from a Dragon (?) computer.

	==Versions==		==Versions==

Dummy User: /* Versions */ adding the bull electrical box

2007-05-31T00:16:06Z

Versions: adding the bull electrical box

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:16, 31 May 2007
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	A version was created by [[Mark Hansgate]] for the [[Commodore Amiga]] which was used briefly during 1994. This featured greatly improved graphics over the BBC Micro version but proved to be unreliable (with Guru Meditation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation] being a regular feature) and so was abandoned.		A version was created by [[Mark Hansgate]] for the [[Commodore Amiga]] which was used briefly during 1994. This featured greatly improved graphics over the BBC Micro version but proved to be unreliable (with Guru Meditation [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Meditation] being a regular feature) and so was abandoned.

	~~The~~ PC ~~version~~ was by [[Adam Baxter]] ~~written~~ in Visual Basic, ~~and~~ updated in {{unsure\|1998}} by [[Chris Parker]] still in Visual Basic but this time supporting a wider range of sizes and colour depths of display bitmaps. However this version suffered from storing a running ticker (below the bitmap portion) in a CSV file which wasn't escaped, so ticker items enclosed in quotes would crash the program leaving a Windows 3.11 error box being broadcast.		During 1995-96, [[Owain Davies]] took a bold step and used a PC in the place of the BBC computer. This was made possible with a VGA to composite converter from Bull Electrical. Elegant it was not, however somehow it managed to do the job even under Windows (the driver was loaded in DOS during the autoexec.bat). A windows presentation software package was used to scroll through a series of 'slides' to form the basis of the service.

			This first PC interpretation of Grapevine lacked some of the features with which members had grown to love, so [[Adam Baxter]] wrote a much similar version in Visual Basic, which was later updated in {{unsure\|1998}} by [[Chris Parker]] still in Visual Basic but this time supporting a wider range of sizes and colour depths of display bitmaps. However this version suffered from storing a running ticker (below the bitmap portion) in a CSV file which wasn't escaped, so ticker items enclosed in quotes would crash the program leaving a Windows 3.11 error box being broadcast.

	Later in {{unsure\|1999}} it was migrated to a Window 98 machine by [[Alex Hudson]] after the cache memory failed on the old machine, and at this point it was renamed from Grapevine to Inform. The software branding was still as Grapevine, and by 2002 it was once more known as Grapevine. Whilst more stable, it still crashed quite easily when new slides were added, and the 640x480 resolution with 256 colours didn't look great on photos.		Later in {{unsure\|1999}} it was migrated to a Window 98 machine by [[Alex Hudson]] after the cache memory failed on the old machine, and at this point it was renamed from Grapevine to Inform. The software branding was still as Grapevine, and by 2002 it was once more known as Grapevine. Whilst more stable, it still crashed quite easily when new slides were added, and the 640x480 resolution with 256 colours didn't look great on photos.