There's more in the README file, and if you want, you can download the source (it's GPL'd) you can do that here: formal.tar (the tar file contains the source, this readme, and a copy of the GNU Public License). There is a manual, but I need to find the softcopy for it (or scan it in).
JCoSy (for Java CoSy, until I find a better name) is a rewrite of CoSy in Java (the original was in C for Unix), with some enhancements that I've been wanting to add to the original (like the ability to draw graphics into messages along with text). It isn't complete yet, and it has been on the back burner for a year or so now, but lately there's been some interest expressed on the net so I'm reviving it.
JCoSy (such as it is) is available for download. However, what's available is pretty much just a snapshot of the development directory as of when I was last working on it. There's a set of class files that still work (here's a recent screenshot), and all the Java source files (licensed under the GPL). This doesn't include the NAPLPS stuff which is bundled separately, see below.
NAPLPS
JCoSy uses NAPLPS to allow graphics in messages, my Java NAPLPS decoder
package is available for download (naplps.tgz).
The tarball includes a brief README, here is the
online version.
Thanks for your patience, I'll try to answer any emailed questions.
Meanwhile you might also want to look at the
paper I wrote for BYTE about the CoSy
message storage architecture.
Original CoSy now available as free software under the GPL
In spring of 2001, some of the folks behind Noise
Level Zero talked the U of Guelph and Softworks into releasing the source
code to CoSy (which they no longer actively supported) under the GNU General Public
License. Current open source development is taking place on SourceForge, and NLZ is developing an active
user community, picking up from the defunct BIX.
JCoSy2 in development
Recently (January 2002) there has been some discussion on NL Zero over follow-on
designs for CoSy, including an XML-based "CoSy Transfer Protocol" and a multi-tier architecture
to provide for distributed conferencing in both client-server and peer-to-peer modes.
Some of the discussion documents relating to this are on my
WebCoSy site, as is the beginnings of "JCoSy2",
a rewrite of JCoSy based on Java 2, Swing, and the XML-based protocol mentioned above.
At this writing there's a lot of prototype code that isn't yet available for download,
that should change sometime soon.
