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Lunabyte Systems

Started by AmphetaMarinE, March 20, 2004, 01:49:17 AM

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AmphetaMarinE

OK....
Do you guys have much contact with Lunabyte Systems??
Apparently they will be doing a new version of their portal software called "Nebula"
This will seemingly be using SMF.....
Was kinda wondering whether it would be worth waiting on that (could be quite some time)
or if I would be better learning how to integrate SMF into something like say, xoops....

Thanks for the advice
Amph.
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David

Would be best to ask them. ;)
This space for rent.

Kris


Haase

Whether it's worth the wait or not really depends on what you're looking for in a portal/forum integration.  If you take a look at the current version of Enigma and like what you see, then it's worth the wait.  In Nebula we will be taking the core idea of Enigma, expanding and enhancing it, and combining that with the power and flexibility of SMF.
Find out about Enigma, the portal built exclusively for YaBB SE will be continuing it's work towards SMF

Jeff Lewis

Quote from: AmphetaMarinE on March 20, 2004, 01:49:17 AM
Do you guys have much contact with Lunabyte Systems??

yesterday we chatted between teams and there were a lot of ideas thrown around...
Co-Founder of SMF

kurotenshi

"Nebula" will be standalone version.. It's work little different llike it now work.. What I know in "Nebula" wont integrate any forum software.. But them made bridges for some forum systems.. So in "Nebula" can use any forum software..

So now I waiting for Nebula... and SMF final..

AmphetaMarinE

Thanks everyone for that quick reply :)
Especially Kurotenshi and Jeff.
I'm thinking it might be worth the wait...

Now... one more question for either Jeff or [unknown]
Where would i post questions on the setup of this site?? (simplemachines.com)
The way you guys have integrated certain aspects of the forum on your front page is one of the main reasons i'm after a portal.

Thanks again guys. :D
Amph.
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Haase

Hi.

First off, I'll introduce myself as one of the primary developers at Lunabyte Systems.  I can confirm both of what Jeff and KuroTenshi have said.  But let me elaborate on it a little bit.  There is a specific reason why a stand-alone version of the portal needs to be reached before we can integrate with SMF.  This portal has gone through a bit of a past with a few changing hands - first it was YaPP, then became PfaBB, and then Enigma.  The development path was not optimum, to say the least.  The current code base is a little messy, with several coding styles present and no real solid coding guidelines behind it.  It works, and from an end user standpoint, no one would really be able to tell, but it was done in such a way that there are some real limitations to it.  There is also an issue with the amount of original YaBB SE code that was copied over into portal functions.  All that YSE code needs to come out, and in a lot of places it's hard to distinguish what came from there and what the LSP development team created.

As a team, lunabyte systems decided that the best way to be certain that we were starting with a clean code base was to first generate the portal as a stand-alone version.  After that, integration into SMF should take a more logical/straightforward approach as opposed to the "just hacking in what was needed" that was done before.

The original intent has always been to focus on getting a great portal to accompany SMF.  The stand-alone version is just a step in that direction.  Of course, we feel that there are people out there that want a portal, but don't necessarily feel that they need a full blown forum, and we feel that we can accomodate that.  And after the full SMF/Nebula integration, we would have the potential to perform similar integrations with other forum softwares.  I imagine that this is of no interest to the folks here, since SMF is the forum of choice (and for good reason).  But for Lunabyte Systems, this is important to our growth and expansion.  A specific portal for SMF limits our potential userbase to only a percentage of the SMF userbase.  By expanding to other forums, we hope to interest new talent into our community.  This should benefit everyone.  If someone who is another forum user creates an exciting new mod for the portal, all users of the portal, including the SMF users, can benefit from that activity.

To confirm what Jeff has stated: We (lunabyte) did have our heads in the sand a bit over the last few months, but we did have a rather positive discussion the other day, and we are looking forward to working closely with the SMF team to ensure that we get an integrated Nebula/SMF portal available to the group in a timely manner.

In the mean time, you wanted to know how to create a fancy integrated home page for your SMF forum.  I would suggest that you work with the functions available in SSI.php.  If you put SMF in a subfolder on your site, you can build a main page in the root, and include the SSI.php functions as "pseudo" blocks on that page.  You may also be able to work those SSI.php functions into your forum template so that they show on every page.  The new SMF templating system is very robust and should be able to accomadate this.

Thanks
Find out about Enigma, the portal built exclusively for YaBB SE will be continuing it's work towards SMF

AmphetaMarinE

Wow...
Haase, Thank you very much for that very elaborate answer :) :)

I believe you have answered every one of my questions... (and just about every new one i was going to ask)
I am currently working out how ssi.php works... and it does seem to be the answer to my front page integration...

I think i could just about build a temporary "pseudo portal" using the functions in there, to tide me over until nebula arrives. :)

Once again, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions so well... it was no end of help.

Cheers,
Amph.
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Haase

no problem.

Just please be sure to share you dicoveries/findings/results with other.  ;)
Find out about Enigma, the portal built exclusively for YaBB SE will be continuing it's work towards SMF

AmphetaMarinE

That my friend is a definate must ;)
After all... there has to be others in the same position as me :)
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