AppImage doesnāt execute on Arch linux. This seems to be a Tauri issue, not something specific to Colony. Iām unsure how to fix this one:
Could not create default EGL display: EGL _BAD_PARAMETER. Aborting...
If any other developers with Tauri apps have figured this out, Iād love to hear how you fixed it.
Clicking āUpload All Podsā with updates too quickly can cause network synchronization issues. Basically what happens is, the scratchpads are pushed out onto the network and are working their way through, then another one is sent. Sometimes the network will see this as a fork, or 2 versions of the truth. @Anselme has made a patch to the autonomi crate to enable me to arbitrate the issue on the app side and I have the code to do this working, but I need an official release in order for me to update Colony itself. So for now, wait like 5 minutes between clicking āUpload All Podsā just to be safe.
If you add a local pod as a pod reference in one of your other local pods, you wonāt be able to see it in the GUI. This was a bug in colonylib. Iāve fixed it locally and it works, but this fix is stacked on top of the forked scratch pad error handling stuff I mentioned above. So for now, just avoid referencing your own pods.
hi @zettawatt, I have uploaded my first file waves.mp4 but how do I actually find it in Search? Or - how do other people find that file? Can you see it in the list of files? (because I do not)
edit: I think I found it. I had to go File Management > Your Pods > Edit > Transfer File to the Pod > Edit > Choose video metadata, etc > Then upload my pods. (very complicated for a new, noob user like me to find and figure out)
Now I can see Waves.mp4 in the searchā¦ Donāt expect nothing extraordinary, itās just a downloaded clip from Pixabay Which by the way may be a great resource for new uploads, what do you think?
I was just coming on here to help walk you through it, but I was too slow . Excellent. This was the one part of the UX we couldnāt figure out how best present to the user. Uploading is easy, just push a button, but writing the metadata will always require a human touch, especially for things that are new. Like I did in the ia_downloader program, I plan to add the capability to scrape databases and call an LLM to help populate eventually. If you have any suggestions, they will be greatly appreciated.
At a high level, there are always these 3 steps:
upload a file
attach metadata to that file in your pod
share your pod address with others so they can find it
So for everyone else to be able to find it, all you need to do is share your pod address here, Iāll add it as a reference to the Genesis Pod, and everyone who installs Colony from here on out will be able to search for any file that has metadata in that pod in the future. Or if you want to bootstrap someone else onto the network, simply give them your pod address and theyāll tie into everything that is connected in this way. As the connections get formed between people, the topology will turn into a web instead of a spoke and wheel, and the Genesis Pod will no longer be that important, just one more among many.
After you post that address, youāll be the first one that has shared their pod, ever !! @southside and @aatonnomicc , you guys better catch up !
Quickly before they catch upā¦ this is my āwhat is podā Pod address a67d5401e2720ba381092df3ac868d92533f2cbcf2bc2555e75957e5ce346ea8fa3c4792c9e9c9a5df2ae769972ea258
Edit: Now I can reply calmlyā¦ what I would suggest is to attach metadata & create Pod association at the time of upload, for example having a prompt before hitting the upload button, to fill in all necessary information for the file to be found (public file) or to skip this dialog (private file).
All in 1 step when uploading, not doing it afterwards and figuring out how to do it. Is that technically possible?
now that I shared my pod address, people can basically see all files uploaded into this pod? Does it work like a kind of folder on the network? Sorry, I still have many basic questions and need to understand all of this new terminology. I actually never heard the term pod yet (maybe because Iām not English native), but is there some other possible word that could explain its meaning? Is folder the right word?
It works !! I was able to find your āwaves.mp4ā video file!
Yes, this is possible. Iāll need to cache the metadata information and plug it into the pod on successful upload. The āUpload All Podsā operation will need to be a separate operation since it locks up the app while it is operating, but I could put an indicator somewhere that tells the user they need to upload their pods for people to see the things theyāve uploaded.
No worries, I just didnāt explain it well. I agree that folder is probably a better word because weāre kind of building a file system on the network. If youāre used to Unix land the mapping is like this:
pod ā folder : store all of your filesā information in this container
pod reference ā symbolic link: link to other folders (pods) on the network.
Using file system terminology, you added your waves.mp4 file to your folder (pod). Then you sent me the path (autonomi address) to your folder (pod). Then I added that path as a symbolic link (pod reference) in my folder (pod).
Now when someone looks at my folder (pod) and does a find -L (search) they can find every file that matches their query through all folders (pods) and symbolic links (pod references).
Iām not hung up on the names, if it makes sense to change them, I can do that. I more or less put those in because I didnāt know what to call them when I started coding this thing up
Now I get it much more, thank you for the explanation. In my brain, the term folder works much better, and the term folder path makes much more sense now.
I guess there will be a need of constant education for newcomers, so they can understand these new things. Maybe a small question mark icon attached to these words like pod, pod reference, etc. with a small pop-up explanation would help a lot. Like in-app education.
If you explain things in terms which I already know, I have much better understanding how to use the app and what can be done with it.
I think it is better, but also wonder if āindexā fits even better, as a āpodā as I understand it is a list of references to files with info about them?
I think directory and folder are accurate and familiar terms for such a structure. Both are indexes containing metadata and references to content, but structured in a way that isnāt apparent from the term index.
An index is fairly accurate too, but less familiar wrt this kind of content.
I think @zettawatt chose Pod because he is alluding to Solid Pods, having decided to follow that approach and use RDF. RDF defines structures called Containers, which are similar to directories and folders (hierarchical), but less familiar.
I took a lot of inspiration from the Solid project, which like @happybeing said, was the original use of the term āpodā. Iāll look into what it will take to change everything from āpodā to āfolderā and āpod referenceā to ālinkā.
Enhancements for flakey network issues. Basically handles the case where if scratchpads/pointers canāt be found on the network, the sync operation will continue and rebuild the local cache to the best of its ability with the information it finds.
Yes, the uploaded files are all immutable and use the standard API so they can be downloaded by any tool. The metadata however is mutable. I plan to support private data in the future, but I havenāt implemented that functionality yet.
Autonomi web pages are incredibly slow via colony/dweb, like 3 or 4 minutes to load the atlas page. Is this normal now? Does the network have some problems? I donāt remmeber it being this slow. My internet is fine.
Thatās better than it was a few days ago. Many didnāt load at all. The fact that theyāre loading now is a good sign that the network is recovering. Pre-update, pages would load in about 30 seconds on my poor wifi connection at my house.
Which by the way may be a great resource for new uploads, what do you think?
. Excellent. This was the one part of the UX we couldnāt figure out how best present to the user. Uploading is easy, just push a button, but writing the metadata will always require a human touch, especially for things that are new. Like I did in the 
!! 
!
what I would suggest is to attach metadata & create Pod association at the time of upload, for example having a prompt before hitting the upload button, to fill in all necessary information for the file to be found (public file) or to skip this dialog (private file).