Greetings:

I'm curious about the use of images for the log-in screens. For example, End of the Line BBS (where I'm at now) uses images of the USS Excelsior, amonst others. Is there a way to use such images in other parts of Synchronet? If these could be incorporated into messages, that would be very useful; instead of posting links to images, just import them into your message.

Just a thought.

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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Mortar to All on Sun Nov 17 2024 01:13 pm

Greetings:

I'm curious about the use of images for the log-in screens. For example, End of the Line BBS (where I'm at now) uses images of the USS Excelsior, amonst others. Is there a way to use such images in other parts of Synchronet? If these could be incorporated into messages, that would be very useful; instead of posting links to images, just import them into your message.

Just a thought.

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format. Theoretically, yes, a Sixel image could be placed in-line in a message. Unfortunately, it'd the image data would be sent to every user's terminal that viewed that message (whether they supported Sixel or not) and appear as garbage to non-Sixel terminals. But it's an idea...!
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #83:
TCP = Transmission Control Protocol
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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 11:47 am

Just a thought.

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format. Theoretically, yes, a Sixel image could be placed in-line in a message. Unfortunately, it'd the image data would be sent to every user's terminal that viewed that message (whether they supported Sixel or not) and appear as garbage to non-Sixel terminals. But it's an idea...!

time for an upload feature with a png jpg to sixel script.
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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 11:47 am

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format. Theoretically, yes, a Sixel image could be placed in-line in a message. Unfortunately, it'd the image data would be sent to every user's terminal that viewed that message (whether they supported Sixel or not) and appear as garbage to non-Sixel terminals. But it's an idea...!

Maybe a message reader could do some parsing of the message and hide the sixel session if the user's terminal isn't capable of displaying sixel images. It looks like sixel images start with an ESC character and end with ESC\

Nightfox

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Digital Man wrote to Mortar <=-

Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Mortar to All on Sun Nov 17 2024 01:13 pm

I'm curious about the use of images for the log-in screens. For example, End of the Line BBS (where I'm at now) uses images of the USS Excelsior, amonst others. Is there a way to use such images in other parts of Synchronet? If these could be incorporated into messages, that would be very useful; instead of posting links to images, just import them into your message.

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format. Theoretically, yes, a Sixel image could be placed in-line in a message. Unfortunately, it'd the image data would be sent to every user's
terminal that viewed that message (whether they supported Sixel or not) and appear as garbage to non-Sixel terminals. But it's an idea...!

I'll go on record as saying I'm not in favor of such a thing.

If I wanted inline images in my messages, I'd stick to HTML email, or
FaceBook (gag). That's one of the attractions of BBS'ing and it's
messaging functions, to me. Simple text. Also, think of the bloat/size impact to message base files/indexes. We don't need that.

I don't mind such images at logon, as that's a whole 'nother thing. In
fact I offer Sixel image login options on my own system, and enjoy that.

There you have it. My $0.02 worth, and keep the change.



... Great thing about UDP jokes? I don't care if you get them.
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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Nightfox to Digital Man on Sun Nov 17 2024 03:38 pm

Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 11:47 am

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format. Theoretically, yes, a Sixel image could be placed in-line in a message. Unfortunately, it'd the image data would be sent to every user's terminal that viewed that message (whether they supported Sixel or not) and appear as garbage to non-Sixel terminals. But it's an idea...!

Maybe a message reader could do some parsing of the message and hide the sixel session if the user's terminal isn't capable of displaying sixel images. It looks like sixel images start with an ESC character and end with ESC\

I think a better option to store image data separate from messge data. It's not a flexible in layout as MIME or HTML (e.g. interleaving images and text), but I think it would work better for BBSes.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #31:
FF = Form Feed (ASCII 12, Ctrl-L)
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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 11:47:25

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format.

Never heard of it.

the image data would be sent to every user's terminal...and appear as garbage...

In that case, how would the log-on screen appear on such a terminal?

But it's an idea...!

"Words and ideas can change the world."
Robin Williams

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Re: Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Dan Clough to Digital Man on Sun Nov 17 2024 19:49:15

If I wanted inline images in my messages, I'd stick to HTML email

Agreed, which is why I would suggest making it an option in your account settings.

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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Sun Nov 17 2024 09:53 pm

Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 11:47:25

The images you speak of are encoded and sent in Sixel format.

Never heard of it.

the image data would be sent to every user's terminal...and appear as garbage...

In that case, how would the log-on screen appear on such a terminal?

There's a script that checks the terminal capabilities and sends the sixel image if the terminal is capable of it.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #88:
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Mortar wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Re: Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Dan Clough to Digital Man on Sun Nov 17 2024 19:49:15

If I wanted inline images in my messages, I'd stick to HTML email

Agreed, which is why I would suggest making it an option in your
account settings.

Having a little trouble understanding your position here... If you
agree (that we don't need inline images in BBS messages), why were you
the one suggesting it might be a good idea?

In other words, if it isn't needed/desired, why even make it an option
in the first place?



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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 21:32:10

There's a script that checks the terminal capabilities and sends the sixel image if the terminal is capable of it.

Ah. Perhaps that same principle could be used for messages?

Are login screens the only place sixel images can be used?

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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Tue Nov 19 2024 12:33 am

Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Sun Nov 17 2024 21:32:10

There's a script that checks the terminal capabilities and sends the sixel image if the terminal is capable of it.

Ah. Perhaps that same principle could be used for messages?

Sure, or at least similar, some of the time. There are a lot of ways to view messages from a Synchronet BBS: terminal protocols (e.g. Telnet, SSH, RLogin, Raw TCP) obviously, using different clients with different terminal emulation capabilities. Then there's NNTP, HTTP, Gopher, and IMAP Internet protocols. And then there's the traditional BBS message networking protocols (i.e. FidoNet, QWKnet). You can only really expect a sixel image to be supported/displayable in a vast minority of those situations. More likely, you'd store the bitmap image data in a traditional image format (say, PNG) and then convert to Sixel and send in that format only when appropriate. At other times (e.g. HTTP), you might just send the raw image data "as is" since you can expect the client (e.g. web browser) will be capable of displaying it.

Are login screens the only place sixel images can be used?

No, in theory you can send a sixel image any time. But you shouldn't unless you know the terminal is capable of displaying it.
--
digital man (rob)

Breaking Bad quote #18:
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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Tue Nov 19 2024 05:33:46

No, in theory you can send a sixel image any time. But you shouldn't unless you know the terminal is capable of displaying it.

That would seem to contradict your previous statement:

There's a script that checks the terminal capabilities and sends the
sixel image if the terminal is capable of it.

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Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Mortar to Digital Man on Tue Nov 19 2024 10:18 pm

Re: Using Log-in Images
By: Digital Man to Mortar on Tue Nov 19 2024 05:33:46

No, in theory you can send a sixel image any time. But you shouldn't unless you know the terminal is capable of displaying it.

That would seem to contradict your previous statement:

There's a script that checks the terminal capabilities and sends the
sixel image if the terminal is capable of it.

The script I was referring is a login matrix that the sysop chose to run.
--
digital man (rob)

Synchronet "Real Fact" #70:
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