Why use gobby?

For quite a while now, some users have requested translations for Elive, which is great except that it requires too much work on my part -- work that I just do not have the time for. And then there is the SVN or CVS server, which is much too complicated for users who have not used those tools before. Then it is too much work for me to constantly check the revisions commited... Fortunately, I have finally found a nice way to handle translations fast, userfriendly, and fun for the end-user.

What exactly is gobby?

Gobby is a collaborative text editor, which is a simple text editor that allows a file to be edited by multiple people at the same time. All you have to do is launch gobby and select the file of you want to edit. You can see contributions by other editors in a different color, and there is also the ability to chat with other editors.

http://darcs.0x539.de/trac/obby/screenshots/gobby-0.4.0-dev-linux_thumbnail.png Zoom

How can I try it?

You just need to apt-get install gobby and run the application. Then open the list of documents and select one to subscribe to. Please use the following servers:

  • For Translations: Host: thanatermesis.org Port: 6522 (default)

IMPORTANT: Before editing a file, especially the translations, ensure your system is set to UTF-8. To check your setting, type: locale

Note: Ignore the error message that appears when you run gobby for the first time.

Important things to know

  • Editing with Colors: Editing code using syntax colors is a great feature: it helps to quickly locate various parts of the code, which can speed up your editing efforts and help you find possible errors in the code. This feature is called syntax and you can set it using the menu everytime you open a new file.
    • NOTE: All the scripts and translations are .sh files, so use the SH syntax mode.
  • Emphasized colors: These colors indicate the work of other editors, so you can tell what each editor has contributed by looking at his or her assigned color.
  • Register your username: You can register your username and password via the menu.

NOTES

  • Right now, this is still very much in the testing phase. We need to use it for a while, and if all looks good, we will make it official.
  • The gobby application, and especially the server, are under development. The server is not perfect, and we have been trying to avoid problems, but we want new features! :)
  • The server shuts down sometimes. I have set it up to auto-recover, then if the connection is lost, try again in about 5 to 10 minutes.