Celestia Motherlode Launch

[alphap1us]

The Celestia Motherlode is now live and ready for your feedback.



Please visit http://celestiamotherlode.net to see it.

The main portion of the site is an updated and expanded version of my add-on catalog. It has been redesigned from the ground up by rthorvald, with upload and contact forms by Don G. The pages were recoded by Norm Shaw.

The site is now hosted by ibiblio.org, which has agreed to give us a large amount of space to host Celestia Add-ons. The site currently hosts about 4GB of add-ons and other files and is ready to accept much, much more. We are currently focusing on linking up the first load of add-ons we recevied, including most of Jestr's finished add-ons. This is an ongoing process. To see the most recent version of our add-ons, you can browse the back-end by creator name at http://celestiamotherlode.net/creators

When providing feedback in this stage, please try to focus on the "big issues." Many of the links are broken and we know it. Many people will be updating the site in the coming weeks and we'll get all the info accurate. It will help that most of the add-ons will be on one server For now we are most interested in the menu behavior, the forms and layout rendering. None of the Linux users on the forum got back to us about testing so there are probably a lot of problems with the site on Linux.

Instructions for submitting content can be found on the site. We are happy to have everyone's add-ons, but you will start at the bottom of the list and this is a busy time for us, so please be patient. We will get to you.

Thanks to all who contributed to this effort! This is only the beginning of what we can do with the site. With everyone's help, Celestia will be better than life soon!

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

All I can say is "Wow!!"

[ANDREA]

The Celestia Motherlode is now live and ready for your feedback.

Alphaplus, I can only say

"THANK YOU!"

Andrea

[christoria]

Thanks a lot for this great resource. I have one question - can someone please post the "Star Trek Universe SSC" file. I've tried all the tricks and I'm still forbidden from downloading the file.

Thanks,

christoria

[philrossimusic]

Great work!

[jestr]

Great work JB,Runar,Don,Norm it looks very stylish,this will be a great resource for the community,Jestr

[don]

...can someone please post the "Star Trek Universe SSC" file. I've tried all the tricks and I'm still forbidden from downloading the file.

As a general rule, on ANY web site, whenever you receive any kind of permission denied, not allowed, or other non-404 errors ...

* Right-click the link and select the option to Copy the Shortcut
* Paste the Shortcut into your browser address bar
* Place the cursor at the end of the URL (address)
* Backspace over the filename (deleting it) until you get to a "/"
* Press Enter

Sometimes, this will display the specific directory in which the file is listed. Then you can simply click the filename and download it.

Other times, this will display the main page for a web site, in which case you can hopefully navigate to the file you are looking for.

Other times, you will get a permission denied or not allowed to view this directory error. In this case, go back up to the address bar, place the cursor at the end of the URL (address), backspace until you get to the next "/" and press Enter.

If all else fails, backspace to the ".com", ".net", ".org" part of the domain name, and press Enter. This will display the site's home page.

AND, if the link on the Celestia Motherlode web site is truly "broken" (you can't get to the file anywhere), please let us know via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of each page. This form contains a Category called something like "Report broken link". Thank you!

Cheers,

[DaveMc]

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls 'O Fire! This is simply awesome, thanks and congrats to all involved with this resource !

In the short term, if we are using our own webspace (which may not be for long since mine is so limited ) what is the best way to alert the Motherlode of new addons? Post a message to the addon forum and/or contact the Motherlode Collective?

Thanks!
DaveMc

[Bob Hegwood]

Pardon a "Voice of Moderation" in your orgasmic diatribes of the new
website if you please. I *also* very much love the new graphics and the
sexy as hell new interface, but could we please, please get some more
files on the site.

Thus far, *no* educational files, no Scripting files, few textures... Sigh!

In *my* opinion, Mike still has the "MotherLode" Celestia site right now.
Many, MANY more files available there. <hint, hint> See
http://mikecelestia.bravehost.com/index2.htm for many, many files...

I just *know* how to make friends, don't I?

Take care, Bob

[Bob Hegwood]

In the short term, if we are using our own webspace (which may not be for long since mine is so limited )

Dave...

You have a website? What's the URL there Son? Didn't even know you
had one. Sorry.

Take care, Bob

[don]

... but could we please, please get some more
files on the site.

Hey, you grumpy old geezer, are you offering your services to locate, get permission, download, check file formats, and upload your fully-approved files to the Motherload site? If so, we would LOVE to have your help Bob! ... Care to put your hands and internet connection to work helping us GET the files you want listed?

After all, this IS a part-time volunteer effort (only 4 people so far, with a few more coming on now), and has only been worked on for a total of a little over 3 weeks, aside from Joe's initial collection of mere LINKS and not the files themselves.

In *my* opinion, Mike still has the "MotherLode" Celestia site right now. Many, MANY more files available there.

Unfortunately, this is the message one gets way too often when visiting his site:
... Error: Daily Bandwidth Allocation Exceeded

This is a message you will NEVER see on the Celestia Motherlode web site. Nor will your download speed be artificially limited either. And, when the site is fully operational, ALL files will be stored on our server, and not linked to other locations. Meaning, you will ALWAYS have access to every file listed on the web site, where the creator has given us permission to re-distribute their files.

Soooo, my "Brain-Dead", want-it-ALL-now, grumpy old geezer of a friend ... ... I challenge you to put your hands and internet connection where your words are!

Whadaya say Bob? Want to HELP us out?

[Bob Hegwood]

For your information (You grumpier than me old Gastronomical Geezer)

I was just about to do just that! In fact, if you check your PM's, you'll see that I have
offered my help, but am a bit unknowledgable about what I need in terms of
FTP ware, and such.

So to make a long story short... Bite Me!

Take care, The Real Geezer.

[don]

CHOMP!

[don]

Thank you for your offer to help us Bob!

I can't help it if you type faster than I do.

In the Site Info menu, there is a "File Upload" item, with two sub-items. We have an upload form for files up to 2 MB in size. Files above 2 MB in size require an FTP program, per our host. Please see the related pages for more info and details. It's simple, really.

Cheers,

[Bob Hegwood]

Yer KILLIN me here. <laughing on the floor while my wife calls the ambulance!>

Okay, okay... I'll go do it right NOW.

I liked you better when you were ILL. <hee, hee>

Take care, Bob

[alphap1us]

Uhhhh....Right
Moving right along,:oops:
There's obviously a lot going on with the site.
We have lots of offers and requests for different things, which is really exciting.
One thing I ask is that people send all general motherlode-related business through the contact form or through celestia (at) ibiblio.org
Everyone that works on the site can access this address so we can all see your message. Hopefully this will help keep as much order as is possible for something as rabid as this is becoming.

BTW Bob, unless Mike has done huge amount of updating since I last saw his site, the Motherlode has about twice as many files listed as he does. His and JeamTag's were my catalog muses, though.

Don - Quit slacking! There's work to do. More email to write! Back to the grindstone!

[don]

Uhhhh....Right
Moving right along,:oops:

For those who don't know, Bob and I DO know one another -- maybe too well.

Don - Quit slacking! There's work to do. More email to write! Back to the grindstone!

Sassin, frassin, slave driver. Awwww, come on boss, gotta have some FUN once in a while!

[DaveMc]

In the short term, if we are using our own webspace (which may not be for long since mine is so limited )

Dave...

You have a website? What's the URL there Son? Didn't even know you
had one. Sorry.

Take care, Bob

Hi Bob,

I don't actually have a website...well, actually I have several, one on Cytogenetics, two on Shelby Mustangs, just not one on Celestia stuff. I just store the Celestia addons on my aol webspace, which doesn't amount to crap. I have a few more simple nebula I'd like to throw out there soon but I will be hitting my webspace limit and get hauled off by the aol webspace police.

Dave

[alphap1us]

Hi Dave,
For the short term, you can just choose "Report a broken link" in the contact form and explain what's going on. It will go to the right place. Why bother though? Just use the form or ftp to uplaod the files and you'll never run out of space.

Cheers,

Joe

[t00fri]

For those who don't know, Bob and I DO know one another -- maybe too well.

Did you two actually shake hands once???

The Internet is sometimes a really virtual environment: I have cooperated with Elwood Downey for > 11 years (XEphem), we have exchanged countless emails, but never met in person. I often flew "over his head" but that's about the closest we ever managed to come...

Bye Fridger