Aminet CDs/DVDs

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Basic decisions

  • determine the capacity of the media we're going to use

The CD content

  • come up with a (console) frontend that creates a CD specific INDEX file. The console frontend should be able to create INDEX files according to various conditions (package newer than date X, only packages with certain architectures, only packages from certain directories, as much packages as can fit in XX MB). The INDEX file needs to include the architecture field and a CD indicator (for sets with multiple CDs/DVDs)
  • optional: in addition to creating CD specific INDEX file, the console tool could offer the option to print the total size of packages that match the given criteria (date, arch etc.) would allow easy "what if?" scenarios even for mere mortals.
  • how do we create INDEX files for sets with several CDs/DVDs? Manual workaround: create each CD (incl. INDEX file) seperately, then replace CD indicator in each line of INDEX1 with "1", CD indicator in each line of INDEX2 with "2" etc. Then merge all INDEX files into one.
  • write a script that parses the CD specific INDEX file and copys the files it lists from Aminet tree to a seperate directory (which mimics the doc/ layout and can be directly used as the Aminet/ drawer for CD/DVD image).

The bonus content

  • Ask around for Aminet contributions

The interface

  • decide if we should use both AmigaGuide and HTML or just HTML (AG has the added advantage of allowing you to extract and copy packages to user selected destination and lets you call the search tool directly from the interface)
  • adapt HTML interface for offline use
  • write tools to convert CD specific INDEX file to HTML and AG documents. We may need several architecture specific interfaces (for OS4, MOS, Classic only) aswell as the "browse all files" mode, all available from the root HTML document. The converter would have to respect the CD indicator (i.e. it would create HTML pages for CD1, CD2 etc.)
  • write offline specific HTML pages (Copyright, Support, how-to-use-CD)

CD layout

  • Make a CD root directory that looks good (i.e. proper icons, window size and position) on Windows (autostart?), AmigaOS and AROS (optionally: Mac OS, Linux)
  • create an Aminet specific icon set for AmigaOS (does AROS support NewIcons?) and Windows/Linux - we need at least disk.info, Readme.info, BrowseCD.info, SearchCD.info, AminetDrawer.info and ContributionsDrawer.info
  • Subdirectories (i.e. Aminet/) need to have proper windows positions and settings (show all files, show as text?)
  • what is the default tool (AmigaOS icons) for HTML pages (e.g. BrowseCD) - OpenURL?

The search tool

  • make m68k-amigaos tool offering traditional "simple search" (i.e. search CD specific INDEX file for filename/short: supporting wildcards) plus the option to limit search results to certain architectures or certain directories.
  • do we need "advanced search" (i.e. search all #?.readme files in the Aminet/ dir on CD for keywords)?
  • create versions for Windows? Linux? Mac OS?

Other

  • (if we use AmigaGuide): create a tool that can be called from the AG document and offers options for copying ("select destination") or extracting packages the user clicked on. The old version of that tool even played MODs, but that's not practical anymore (too much different architectures).
  • Design a CD cover, the backside and the look of the CD