[XPOST] [REQ] open source multimedia authoring tools? In python maybe?

[stefanogaburri]

This is crossposted to comp.lang.pytho n & comp.multimedia ; if there is a
better place to go please tell me :)

I've been asked to build a quick-and-dirty prototype of a simple
computer-based training application. You know, those multimedia thingies
with text, some videos, a bit of speech and quizzes at the end of the
unit...

I've been proposed to build a new reusable architecture using Macromedia
Director: the reason being, Macromedia Authorware costs too much.
Well, I found on the web a lot of tools that cost $100-200 and probably
allow me to build such a simple app with a wizard or something like
that; but what surprised me is the lack of an open source toolkit or a
set of classes to help in the definition of a task that has become very
trivial (at least in simple cases like mine). I know the varios GUI
toolkits, but they're too low-level; I would have to build the system
more or less from scratch.

So, what i'm asking is: Am I missing something? Is there a fabled "Zope
for CD authoring" I never heard about? If it's indeed missing, i could
start building some simple classes and share them with, like, anyone
interested :)

I could use something like, say, PythonCard and ZODB, trying to define
clearly an high-level framework to allow the rapid construction of
simple multimedia e-learning apps. That is, if you don't point me to the
guys that already did it, of course...

thanks a lot to everyone reading so far,
Stefano

[stefanogaburri]

Kevin Ollivier wrote:

Seriously, I'm glad that I found another Python programmer with the
same area of interest - I think it's an area that badly needs an open
source alternative to what is out there. Educators aren't really the
types to have bundles of cash to spend on development!

heh, you tell me :)

BTW, I see you're using a free web-server-on-a-CD solution, Karrigell:
another thing I've been looking for and didn't find, and I'm not the
only one, since in this same thread people is pointing out proprietary,
commercial solutions. Glad to know one is available, and with an
integrated DB to boot (via gadfly).

later,
S

[Kevin Ollivier]

On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 20:41:18 +0100, stefanogaburri
<St************ *@gaburri.net> wrote:

Kevin Ollivier wrote:

Seriously, I'm glad that I found another Python programmer with the
same area of interest - I think it's an area that badly needs an open
source alternative to what is out there. Educators aren't really the
types to have bundles of cash to spend on development!

heh, you tell me :)

BTW, I see you're using a free web-server-on-a-CD solution, Karrigell:
another thing I've been looking for and didn't find, and I'm not the
only one, since in this same thread people is pointing out proprietary,
commercial solutions. Glad to know one is available, and with an
integrated DB to boot (via gadfly).

Yeah, another thing I really like about Karrigell is its ability to
run .py files without treating it like a CGI. This is a big deal on
Windows, because when I freeze the web server, I can't fork()/exec()
CGI scripts unless there is an interpreter on the user's machine, not
to mention command line support on Windows isn't as robust as *nix or
Mac. Karrigell lets me get around this with very little overhead. It
is what makes the search engine runnable from CD-ROM.

I haven't been following this thread too closely, or I would have
mentioned Karrigell before! It is an excellent program and I recommend
anyone looking for a web server on a CD check it out. I've added a wx
GUI to it, although one could add a Tkinter one too to shave some of
the size.

Kevin

[jsimha_makineni]

Hi Kevin,

I am on the look out for an open source multimedia authoring tool written in Python that is comparable to javanti (www.javanti.org). Please let me know if you are aware of any.

cheers,
jay