3.0 KiB
octomode
work-in-progress
Octomode is a collective editing space for PDF making, using Etherpad, Paged.js and Flask.
Inspired by the multi-centered, tentacular cognition capabilities of the octopus, we imagined a space in which the artificial boundaries of writing and design can be crossed; where writing, editing and designing can be done in one environment simultaneously, allowing the format to influence the matter and vice-versa.
More expanded documentation can be found here.
Prerequisites
Get started
You can clone this repository to run octomode on your own computer or server.
git clone https://git.vvvvvvaria.org/varia/octomode.git
cd octomode
Configure your environment, save the following configuration settings as to a file called .env
.
OCTOMODE_APPLICATION_ROOT=XXX
OCTOMODE_PORTNUMBER=XXX
OCTOMODE_PAD_URL=XXX
OCTOMODE_PAD_API_URL=XXX
OCTOMODE_PAD_API_KEY=XXX
- OCTOMODE_PAD_API_KEY: required, no default
- OCTOMODE_APPLICATION_ROOT: optional, default:
/
- OCTOMODE_PORTNUMBER: optional, default:
5001
- OCTOMODE_PAD_URL: required, default:
https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/
(you need API access to this pad instance) - OCTOMODE_PAD_API_URL: required, default:
https://pad.vvvvvvaria.org/api/1.2.15/
Note: you must provide a value for OCTOMODE_PAD_API_KEY
, OCTOMODE_PAD_URL
and OCTOMODE_PAD_API_URL
.
Now we install the dependencies. All the python
dependencies are listed in requirements.txt
. To install them, you can run.
make setup
This creates a virtual environment at .venv
and installs all the dependencies here. Next, we also need to install pandoc
.
sudo apt install pandoc
And finally, run the application.
make run
Open the application at port 5001
, for example: http://localhost:5001
Install with URL prefix
If you want to install octomode with an URL prefix, like https://mydomainname.ext/octomode/, then you can use the gunicorn WSGI. If you have ran the make setup
command already, then gunicorn
is already installed. Configure your application root URL in your .env
file. You can simply run octomode now with the following command to run it with gunicorn
(and not the built-in Flask dev server): make action
Which browser to use?
WARNING: When working collectively, it's recommended to use the same browser and if possible also the same version of that browser, to get the same (or at least the most similar) PDF. Different operating systems and browsers render CSS rules slightly differently, which can result in out-of-sync layouts between across a group of people.
WARNING: It's recommended to use Chrome/Chromium when working with Octomode. Firefox renders images in very low quality.
WARNING: It's recommended to use Firefox when working with Octomode locally. Chrome or Chromium do not load external etherpads in iframes.