This is the latest release of the bbcticker distribution (v0.3.1).
It is an attempt to create a Linux/Unix version of the BBC Online Ticker
using GTK.
The official Windows version is available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/inform,
(the BBC's website).
I haven't incorporated all the features of the original yet, but it is
still useable. Currently it will only launch netscape to view the stories,
but I will look at the possibility of supporting other browsers in the
future.
bbcticker is available from SourceForge (http://bbcticker.sourceforge.net) and is also from ME (http://www.amtech-solutions.co.uk/bbcticker). As this is the inital release, the sites are probably going to be a bit sparse, but hopefully things will flesh out if/when people start using it!!!
IMPORTANT NOTE
I don't really have time to maintain this these days, and to be honest I think
the BBC have lost interest in the original ticker anyway, so don't expect any
updates/revisions soon (sorry).
The main fix for this release is to change the name of the headline file
retrieved from the BBC - they changed it to story2.dat
This software is freely distributable under the GNU public license, a copy of which you should have received with this software (in a file called COPYING).
BUILDING
The build should be quite straightforward, but for the record, my current environment consists of:-
SuSE (v6.1)
egcs (v2.91.66)
glib (v1.2.6)
GTK (v1.2.6)
plus
netscape (v4.51) - for viewing the web pages
I've also built against Mandrake 7.0, and netscape 4.7 without problems.
To build the ticker, use:
./configure
make
followed by:
make install
which will install the binary into /usr/local/bin.
USAGE
Make sure 'netscape' is in your path before you start the ticker, otherwise you won't get any pages launched.
Without Proxy Server
If you connect to the internet without using a proxy, you can just run the ticker without any parameters, and it should pop-up on the top line of your display, and start scrolling away merrily.
With Proxy Server
If you connect via a proxy server, there are several ways you can specify the proxy to use. You can either set it on the command line using:
bbcticker -pproxy.somedom.com:port (port is the http portnum on the proxy)
or, for the perl-heads using the 'url_get.pl" package, it will also use the environment variable 'http_proxy' which uses the same 'host:port' format. A cmd line argument overrides the environment variable.
Other Options
The other options you can pass are
-h or -? Usage
-n This option causes each story to open in a new window rather
than the same window. The default is to open stories in the
same window
-p proxy server (in the format host:port).
See 'With Proxy Server' above
-r Refresh Time. Specifies in minutes how often the stories
should refresh from the BBC. The default is 15 minutes.
-s Scroll Speed. This defines in msec's how fast the ticker
should scroll. The default is 50msecs.
-y YPosition. Sets the Y Position of the ticker on your screen.
The default is 0 (Top)
PARTING THOUGHTS
If anyone has any comments or suggestions for improvements, (even if you think it's crap), you can let me know via email at bbcticker@amtech-solutions.co.uk
You never know, I may even help someone....
Mark Greatrix