Lucid Program

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02-16-2006, 02:39 AM
TaggeD

Lucid Program

Hello all, First time poster!
This appears to be the right section, so here goes.

I have been developing this cross-platform (Windows,Macintosh and Linux) program for a few months now that I think (hope?) will become invaluable to lucid dreamers. The program contains a dream logger, which I am working on having a basic dream analyzer built in that finds repetitive events in your dreams. It also has a feature to pop-up a window at a given interval to remind you to check your not dreaming, the program is capable of running in the background so you can have this feature pop-up every 1hr if you wish. There will also be articles/tutorials included to help those new to lucid dreaming.

The program will still be a few weeks/months away, but I would love to hear from people about what features they would consider important for such a program? I hope to release a beta version soon for testing, but for now I've included two simple screen shots to get an idea of the program:

Login Screen: This is the first window you see.
http://www.taggedsoftware.com/lucid/login.jpg
Each time you launch the program a random message relating to lucid dreaming is displayed (such as the time check one in the screenshot).

Main Screen: Haven't done the graphics for this yet, and the layout needs tweaking.
http://www.taggedsoftware.com/lucid/main.jpg

The program will be free. But I am trying to find some possible revenue, leaning towards a donation feature. I don't wish to disable/enable any features for those who donate though. Another idea was advertisement, although I can't really think of who would wish to advertise within the program? Novadreamer?

Thank you,
Jeremy.
02-16-2006, 02:30 PM
MartinB

It's an interesting idea.

I'm also working on something similar and am planning on releasing my program as open-source (GPL) for anyone to use and modify as they wish; it will be truely free; no advertisements, no donations. I am hoping that other developers who are interested may contribute their efforts and ideas towards the program.

It's really quite simple; kind of like a front-end to a dream database that can be searched and allows dreams to be rated from 0 to 10 in terms of vividness, lucidity, interest, strangeness, length, etc., or a freeform worded description of the dream. The database can then be analysed to find information such as: most frequently occurring characters, events, etc. I'm considering adding the ability to import or even perhaps draw images relating to the dreams, like maps of the dream area, images seen in the dream, etc. I want to keep it as open-ended as possible.

My program is using GTK, and so should work on any platform that can support GTK (Linux, Windows, Mac, BSD, Solaris, etc.). I plan to have it released within the next couple of weeks or so.

I hadn't thought about including reminders for reality checks, as I typically don't use reality checks for inducing lucid dreams, but I guess I could do, or someone else could add the feature if they wanted to and have the relevent programming skills (as I said, it will be open-source, so anyone is free to contribute and add features).

I don't really think a login screen for the program is necessary though because the Operating System itself already provides that functionality.

EDIT: Here's an interesting idea... How about providing a button, such as "Make this dream public" that will automatically add the current dream to your DreamViews dream journal? Or, say, a feature to synchronise your off-line and on-line dream journals? At first I was thinking that dreams could be shared via a dedicated on-line server database that worked directly with the program, but I don't have the resources to do that, so this seems like an ideal compromise, although I'm not exactly sure how this would be implemented, I'll have to look into it.

I guess I could even make it so that the program only stores dreams on-line at DV and then simply accesses the site and parses them, with an option for an off-line backup. :)
02-16-2006, 05:07 PM
Neruo

Sounds good! Especially the ' dream sign dectector' like thingy would be nice... however wouldn't it see 'the' as a reocuring dream event? :)

Might check it out
02-16-2006, 05:07 PM
Krrish

Re: Lucid Program

Quote:

Originally posted by TaggeD

Another idea was advertisement, although I can't really think of who would wish to advertise within the program? Novadreamer?

Dont put ads in my dreams also.
02-17-2006, 12:06 AM
TaggeD

Quote:

Originally posted by MartinB+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MartinB)</div>

Quote:

I don't really think a login screen for the program is necessary though because the Operating System itself already provides that functionality.
[/b]

Well alot of people typically share a single user account on their computer, while others actually use the default admin account all the time. I put this into thought and considered people don't generally want anyone who has access to their computer to read their dreams, much like someone reading their diary. So as well as a password option, the program encrypts all user data, call me paranoid but I believe others will enjoy this feature helping them feel safe. I like to look at my programs from the user's perspective and this was one feature I felt really strong about.

Another reason was multiple accounts and ease of portability. I personally don't like programs that intergrate themselves with the OS login. It (almost) limits the usability of the program to that specific computer. What if you were going on a trip somewhere, you might want to carry the program on a USB key, keeping it close to you like a diary. It wouldn't be usable if it checked the OS login at a different computer.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Neruo)</div>

Quote:

Sounds good! Especially the ' dream sign dectector' like thingy would be nice... however wouldn't it see 'the' as a reocuring dream event? Smile[/b]

The first (basic) step is filtering out the common words, I only have ~200 words so far and hoping to extend that once testing begins. Once I complete this step I will then start to look at linked words.. I figure eventually the Dream Signs window will resemble a spider's web, with the most likly dream signs appearing in the centre as others stretch out to the edges :)

<!--QuoteBegin-korothism
Dont put ads in my dreams also.

lol. I don't wish to do anything that detracts the user.

Thanks everyone for replying. Good luck MartinB with your program and thanks for the interesting questions/post.
02-17-2006, 02:09 AM
MartinB

Quote:

Originally posted by TaggeD+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TaggeD)</div>

Quote:

Well alot of people typically share a single user account on their computer, while others actually use the default admin account all the time.[/b]

Yes, but running as root when performing regular tasks is dangerous and I don't think that it's wise for us, as software developers, to encourage this type of behaviour.

However, I do think that the encryption option is a good idea.
<!--QuoteBegin-TaggerD
Another reason was multiple accounts and ease of portability. I personally don't like programs that intergrate themselves with the OS login.

This is actually very easy to solve. The idea is simply that the program stores your dream data in your home directory, e.g. $HOME/.dreamdatabase/ or whatever the equivalent is for your OS (e.g. C:/Documents & Settings/$USER/ etc.). You can also configure the directory that data is saved to, or export data to a file of your choosing. That way, you can easily transport your data by copying the exported file or directory along with the program to your USB mass storage device.

And because the filing system of most Operating Systems do not allow users to access another user's home directory, there is an additional level of security. It should be very easy to implement that, and it's fully portable.
02-17-2006, 03:17 AM
DreamGuy88

I really like the idea, especially for new people like me. I'm on the computer all the time but I always forget to RC during the day. But for the people who don't find the need to, I'm sure you could make an option to turn auto-RCs on or off.

I hope I get to try it out soon! Keep up the good work!
02-17-2006, 11:28 AM
TaggeD

Quote:

Originally posted by MartinB+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MartinB)</div>

Quote:

Yes, but running as root when performing regular tasks is dangerous and I don't think that it's wise for us, as software developers, to encourage this type of behaviour. *
[/b]

I don't wish to encourage it at all. But unless people are required to gain a licence to use a computer this will continue to happen. I really can't see software developers (apart from those in the OS department) helping to prevent this. I may be short sighted, but forcing a user to log out of admin may be the last straw that drives them away from our software and towards one that doesn't.

Quote:

Originally posted by MartinB@
This is actually very easy to solve. *The idea is simply that the program stores your dream data in your home directory, e.g. $HOME/.dreamdatabase/ or whatever the equivalent is for your OS (e.g. C:/Documents & Settings/$USER/ etc.). *You can also configure the directory that data is saved to, or export data to a file of your choosing. *That way, you can easily transport your data by copying the exported file or directory along with the program to your USB mass storage device.

And because the filing system of most Operating Systems do not allow users to access another user's home directory, there is an additional level of security. *It should be very easy to implement that, and it's fully portable.

I see where you are coming from but still have reservations, I'm not saying its a bad idea just not the direction I wish to take. I just prefer to make my program under the KISS rule, keeping it as simple as possible for the end-user and assuming nothing of their computer knowledge. Having to import and export data would make some people uncomfortable.

<!--QuoteBegin-DreamGuy88
really like the idea, especially for new people like me. I'm on the computer all the time but I always forget to RC during the day. But for the people who don't find the need to, I'm sure you could make an option to turn auto-RCs on or off.

I hope I get to try it out soon! Keep up the good work!

I've placed two security checks (optional to each user) in the software to prevent other users from snooping even when the user is still logged into the program. One is to require the user to enter their password if they wishes to view previous dreams. The other is to ask for their password if the user is inactive for more than x amount of time. I'm treating this software as a personal diary, even if it's left open an intruder won't be able to (easily) snoop through it at his leisure.

It's actually been designed to be left open, minimizing the program creates a small anchor in the bottom right corner of the screen, clicking on this brings the program back up again to ensure when you awake at 3am wanting to log a dream you don't have to go through too many steps to do it.

Thanks for the complement, I will be able to give a more accurate release date by March, once i'm further along.
02-17-2006, 01:03 PM
MartinB

Quote:

Originally posted by TaggeD
It's actually been designed to be left open, minimizing the program creates a small anchor in the bottom right corner of the screen, clicking on this brings the program back up again to ensure when you awake at 3am wanting to log a dream you don't have to go through too many steps to do it.

You just gave me another idea... I always find it rather frustrating to write up dreams as soon as I wake. Will your program allow you to do an audio recording through your computer's microphone as a quick way of recording? I didn't think of this because I typically voice record my dreams this way on to my MP3 player then write them up later on the computer, but I guess there may be those who will use the program to record the dreams directly as soon as they wake.