feat: plork paper — cards template fixes, notepat section, Minirig amplification

+38 -27

papers/ac-paper-cards.sty

··· 28 28 paperwidth=4in, 29 29 paperheight=6in, 30 30 top=0.45in, 31 - bottom=0.55in, 31 + bottom=0.85in, 32 32 left=0.4in, 33 33 right=0.4in, 34 34 ]{geometry} ··· 132 132 \RequirePackage{tikz} 133 133 \AddToShipoutPictureBG{% 134 134 \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay] 135 - % Hairline border on every page 136 - \draw[acgray!30, line width=0.2pt] 137 - ([xshift=2pt, yshift=2pt]current page.south west) rectangle 138 - ([xshift=-2pt, yshift=-2pt]current page.north east); 139 135 % Draft watermark — tiled pattern across content pages (skip cover) 140 136 \ifnum\c@page>1\relax 141 - \foreach \xoff in {-3cm, 0cm, 3cm} { 142 - \foreach \yoff in {-4cm, -1cm, 2cm, 5cm} { 143 - \node[opacity=0.08, rotate=35, anchor=center, font=\aclight\fontsize{0.55cm}{0.65cm}\selectfont] 137 + \foreach \xoff in {-3cm, 1cm, 5cm} { 138 + \foreach \yoff in {-5cm, -1.5cm, 2cm, 5.5cm} { 139 + \node[opacity=0.14, rotate=35, anchor=center, font=\aclight\fontsize{0.65cm}{0.8cm}\selectfont] 144 140 at ([xshift=\xoff, yshift=\yoff]current page.center) 145 141 {\color{red!70!acpink}WORKING DRAFT}; 146 142 } 147 143 } 148 - \node[opacity=0.12, rotate=35, anchor=center, font=\aclight\fontsize{0.3cm}{0.35cm}\selectfont] 149 - at ([yshift=-0.5cm]current page.center) 150 - {\color{red!70!acpink}not for citation}; 151 144 \fi 152 - % Rotated URL running up the left margin 145 + % Tappable URL at bottom center of every page 153 146 \ifx\acpdfbase\empty\else 154 - \node[rotate=90, anchor=south, font=\tiny, color=acgray, opacity=0.35] 155 - at ([xshift=0.15cm, yshift=0.4cm]current page.south west) 156 - {papers.aesthetic.computer/\acpdfbase-cards.pdf\#page=\thepage}; 147 + \ifnum\c@page=1\relax 148 + \node[anchor=south, font=\acbold\fontsize{5pt}{6pt}\selectfont, opacity=0.7] 149 + at ([yshift=0.15cm]current page.south) 150 + {\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/\acpdfbase-cards.pdf}% 151 + {\color{acpurple}https://papers.aesthetic.computer/\acpdfbase-cards.pdf}}; 152 + \else 153 + \node[anchor=south, font=\acbold\fontsize{5pt}{6pt}\selectfont, opacity=0.7] 154 + at ([yshift=0.15cm]current page.south) 155 + {\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/\acpdfbase-cards.pdf\#page=\thepage}% 156 + {\color{acpurple}https://papers.aesthetic.computer/\acpdfbase-cards.pdf\#page=\thepage}}; 157 + \fi 157 158 \fi 158 159 \end{tikzpicture}% 159 160 } ··· 188 189 \fancyhead[R]{} 189 190 % Footer: page number center, pals logo bottom-right 190 191 \fancyfoot[C]{{\small\color{acgray}\thepage}} 191 - \fancyfoot[R]{\raisebox{-0.1em}{\includegraphics[height=0.9em]{pals}}} 192 + \fancyfoot[R]{\ifnum\c@page=1\raisebox{-0.1em}{\includegraphics[height=0.9em]{pals}}\fi} 192 193 193 194 % === LIST SETTINGS === 194 195 \RequirePackage{enumitem} ··· 225 226 \oriendtabular% 226 227 \end{adjustbox}% 227 228 } 228 - \let\origintabularx\tabularx 229 - \let\oriendtabularx\endtabularx 230 - \renewenvironment{tabularx}[2]{% 231 - \small% 232 - \begin{adjustbox}{max width=\linewidth}% 233 - \origintabularx{#1}{#2}% 234 - }{% 235 - \oriendtabularx% 236 - \end{adjustbox}% 237 - } 229 + % Note: tabularx is NOT wrapped in adjustbox because tabularx does 230 + % internal trial typesetting that breaks inside adjustbox. 231 + % tabularx already constrains to its specified width argument. 238 232 239 233 % === HYPERREF === 240 234 \RequirePackage{hyperref} ··· 243 237 linkcolor=acpurple, 244 238 urlcolor=acpink, 245 239 citecolor=acpurple, 240 + breaklinks=true, 241 + pdfborderstyle={}, 242 + } 243 + % Prevent citations from creating PDF hyperlink annotations 244 + % (avoids full-page clickable area bug when citations span page breaks) 245 + % Note: no \makeatother here — we are inside a .sty where @ is already a letter 246 + \AtBeginDocument{% 247 + \@ifpackageloaded{natbib}{% 248 + \renewcommand{\hyper@natlinkstart}[1]{}% 249 + \renewcommand{\hyper@natlinkend}{}% 250 + \renewcommand{\hyper@natlinkbreak}[2]{#1}% 251 + }{}% 246 252 } 247 253 248 254 % === TABLE OF CONTENTS STYLING (for index card) === 249 255 \RequirePackage{titletoc} 250 - \contentsmargin{0pt} 256 + \contentsmargin{2.5em} 251 257 \titlecontents{section}[0em] 252 258 {\smallskip\small} 253 259 {\color{acpurple}\thecontentslabel.\enspace\color{acdark}} 260 + {\color{acdark}} 261 + {\titlerule*[0.6em]{\tiny\color{acgray}.}\color{acpurple}\contentspage} 262 + \titlecontents{subsection}[1.5em] 263 + {\smallskip\small} 264 + {\color{acpurple}\thecontentslabel\enspace\color{acdark}} 254 265 {\color{acdark}} 255 266 {\titlerule*[0.6em]{\tiny\color{acgray}.}\color{acpurple}\contentspage} 256 267

+26 -5

papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex

··· 61 61 \definecolor{jscmt}{RGB}{102,102,102} 62 62 63 63 \hypersetup{ 64 - pdftitle={PLOrk'ing the Planet: From Laptop Orchestra to Planetary Organ}, 64 + pdftitle={PLOrk'ing the Planet: From Ivy League Laptop Orchestra to Kid-Friendly Planetary Organ}, 65 65 } 66 66 67 67 \renewcommand{\acpdfbase}{plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv} ··· 73 73 \thispagestyle{empty} 74 74 \vspace*{\fill} 75 75 \begin{center} 76 - \includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em} 76 + \includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.2em} 77 77 {\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} PLOrk'ing the Planet}\par 78 78 \vspace{0.3em} 79 - {\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Laptop Orchestra to Planetary Organ}\par 79 + {\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Ivy League Laptop Orchestra to Kid-Friendly Planetary Organ}\par 80 80 \vspace{0.8em} 81 - {\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par 81 + {\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par 82 82 {\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par 83 83 {\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par 84 84 \vspace{0.8em} 85 85 \rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par 86 86 \vspace{0.4em} 87 - {\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par 87 + \colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par 88 88 \vspace{0.3em} 89 89 {\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par 90 90 \end{center} ··· 237 237 This is the critical divergence from PLOrk. Trueman's hemispherical speaker solved the problem of spatial sound projection for laptop ensembles. \acos{} sidesteps the problem entirely: the built-in laptop speakers are the speakers. They are not omnidirectional, not hemispherical, not acoustically ideal. But they are \emph{there}---in every surplus laptop, already connected, requiring no fabrication, no amplifiers, no power conditioners, no racks. 238 238 239 239 For a 15-person PLOrk ensemble performing in a concert hall, hemispherical speakers are the right answer. For a 1{,}000-person distributed ensemble performing in classrooms, community centers, parks, and living rooms, the laptop's own speakers are the right answer. The hemispherical speaker was a solution to a concert hall problem. The planetary laptop orchestra is not a concert hall. 240 + 241 + \subsection{Notepat: The Default Instrument} 242 + \label{sec:notepat} 243 + 244 + \acos{} does not boot into a desktop, a browser, or a command line. It boots into \np{}---a chromatic keyboard instrument~\citep{scudder2026notepat}. The first thing you can do with the machine is \emph{play it}. The first sound it makes is a tone you chose. This framing---instrument, not computer---changes the user's relationship to the device before any instruction begins. 245 + 246 + The keyboard layout encodes a pedagogical decision. The QWERTY keys C, D, E, F, G, A, and B play the notes they name. A person who knows the Western scale already knows the layout. Sharps sit between their naturals on the keyboard (V for C$\sharp$, S for D$\sharp$, W for F$\sharp$, R for G$\sharp$, Q for A$\sharp$). A second octave mirrors the pattern on the upper row (H through N for naturals, T through P for sharps). The result is a two-octave chromatic instrument playable without explanation, expandable to nine octaves via a single key press. 247 + 248 + This is not an accident of implementation. PLOrk required performers to learn Max/MSP, ChucK, or SuperCollider before they could produce a sound. L2Ork required Pd-L2Ork. Both demanded software literacy as a prerequisite for musical participation. \np{} inverts this: musical participation is the prerequisite for nothing. It is the starting point. 249 + 250 + The design draws on Orff and Kod\'{a}ly pedagogies, which constrain the instrument to match the learner's current ability~\citep{scudder2026folksongs}. \np{}'s song mode makes this explicit: a scrolling lyric track shows the current syllable, only the correct note is active, and pressing it advances the song. The player cannot make a mistake---they can only wait. Wrong notes are blocked. Right notes are highlighted. The instrument teaches the song by refusing to let you fail. 251 + 252 + Songs are encoded as NOTE:word pairs (e.g., ``C:Twin- G:kle A:lit-tle'') that are human-readable, URL-safe, and forkable---a folk process in text form~\citep{scudder2026folksongs}. Any \acos{} user can write a song as a string, share it as a URL, and another user can play it immediately. The encoding carries melody and lyrics but not duration or dynamics; those remain in the performer's hands, preserving the interpretive space that distinguishes performance from playback. 253 + 254 + For the planetary laptop orchestra, this matters concretely. A conductor distributing \acos{} devices in a classroom does not need to teach programming, music notation, or software configuration. The instrument is ready. The folk songs are loaded. The students press keys and hear notes. Everything else---waveform selection, octave shifting, recording, sharing, eventually writing code---comes later, pulled by curiosity rather than pushed by curriculum. 240 255 241 256 \subsection{The Laptop Already Has Everything} 242 257 ··· 497 512 This paper advances an ambitious claim. The limitations are real and should be stated plainly. 498 513 499 514 \textbf{Audio quality.} Built-in laptop speakers are acoustically poor. They lack bass response, have limited dynamic range, and project sound narrowly. Trueman's hemispherical speaker solved a real problem---electronic instruments need acoustic presence to function musically in ensemble contexts. A surplus ThinkPad's speakers cannot match this. For intimate or small-group contexts, built-in speakers may suffice. For any ensemble larger than a room, external amplification is needed, partially eroding the ``no additional hardware'' claim. 515 + 516 + However, the amplification gap has a commercially available answer that did not exist when PLOrk was designed. The Minirig speaker system (Minirig 4, \$170; Minirig Mini, \$100; Minirig Subwoofer 4, \$250) is a portable, Bluetooth-and-aux speaker designed for exactly this use case: high-fidelity audio from a small, battery-powered, rugged enclosure. A single Minirig 4 produces 80\,dB at 1\,m with a frequency response of 50\,Hz--20\,kHz---adequate for a classroom or small venue. Multiple Minirigs can be daisy-chained via aux or paired wirelessly for stereo and multi-point configurations. Adding a Minirig Subwoofer extends bass response to 40\,Hz, approaching the low-end presence of a hemispherical speaker system. 517 + 518 + The cost comparison is instructive. A PLOrk hemispherical speaker required custom fabrication (\$300--500 in materials), an 8-channel amplifier (\$200+), a power conditioner, and a rack enclosure. Total per-seat amplification cost: roughly \$600--800, not counting labor. A Minirig 4 at \$170 provides comparable acoustic presence for small-ensemble contexts, ships to your door, fits in a backpack, runs on a rechargeable battery for 30+ hours, and requires no fabrication, no rack, no power conditioner. 519 + 520 + This does not eliminate the limitation---a Minirig is not a hemispherical speaker, and directional projection remains an open problem for laptop ensembles. But it reduces the amplification question from ``build custom hardware'' to ``buy an off-the-shelf speaker,'' which is a qualitatively different kind of problem. For a community laptop orchestra operating on a budget, 15 Minirig Minis (\$1{,}500 total) provide per-seat amplification at roughly one-eighth the cost of PLOrk's custom solution, with zero fabrication time. 500 521 501 522 \textbf{ARM support.} \acos{} currently targets x86\_64 UEFI machines only. The majority of surplus educational Chromebooks use ARM processors (Mediatek, Qualcomm). Until ARM support ships, the single largest pool of surplus educational hardware remains inaccessible. This is the most critical engineering gap. 502 523

+23 -2

papers/arxiv-plork/plork.tex

··· 69 69 urlcolor=acpurple, 70 70 citecolor=acpurple, 71 71 pdfauthor={@jeffrey}, 72 - pdftitle={PLOrk'ing the Planet: From Laptop Orchestra to Planetary Organ}, 72 + pdftitle={PLOrk'ing the Planet: From Ivy League Laptop Orchestra to Kid-Friendly Planetary Organ}, 73 73 } 74 74 75 75 % === SECTION FORMATTING === ··· 169 169 \includegraphics[height=4em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.5em} 170 170 {\acbold\fontsize{24pt}{28pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} PLOrk'ing the Planet}\par 171 171 \vspace{0.2em} 172 - {\aclight\fontsize{11pt}{13pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Laptop Orchestra to Planetary Organ}\par 172 + {\aclight\fontsize{11pt}{13pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Ivy League Laptop Orchestra to Kid-Friendly Planetary Organ}\par 173 173 \vspace{0.3em} 174 174 {\aclight\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acgray} Surplus Hardware, Bare-Metal Synthesis, and the 240-Million-Machine Orchestra}\par 175 175 \vspace{0.6em} ··· 337 337 338 338 For a 15-person PLOrk ensemble performing in a concert hall, hemispherical speakers are the right answer. For a 1{,}000-person distributed ensemble performing in classrooms, community centers, parks, and living rooms, the laptop's own speakers are the right answer. The hemispherical speaker was a solution to a concert hall problem. The planetary laptop orchestra is not a concert hall. 339 339 340 + \subsection{Notepat: The Default Instrument} 341 + \label{sec:notepat} 342 + 343 + \acos{} does not boot into a desktop, a browser, or a command line. It boots into \np{}---a chromatic keyboard instrument~\citep{scudder2026notepat}. The first thing you can do with the machine is \emph{play it}. The first sound it makes is a tone you chose. This framing---instrument, not computer---changes the user's relationship to the device before any instruction begins. 344 + 345 + The keyboard layout encodes a pedagogical decision. The QWERTY keys C, D, E, F, G, A, and B play the notes they name. A person who knows the Western scale already knows the layout. Sharps sit between their naturals on the keyboard (V for C$\sharp$, S for D$\sharp$, W for F$\sharp$, R for G$\sharp$, Q for A$\sharp$). A second octave mirrors the pattern on the upper row (H through N for naturals, T through P for sharps). The result is a two-octave chromatic instrument playable without explanation, expandable to nine octaves via a single key press. 346 + 347 + This is not an accident of implementation. PLOrk required performers to learn Max/MSP, ChucK, or SuperCollider before they could produce a sound. L2Ork required Pd-L2Ork. Both demanded software literacy as a prerequisite for musical participation. \np{} inverts this: musical participation is the prerequisite for nothing. It is the starting point. 348 + 349 + The design draws on Orff and Kod\'{a}ly pedagogies, which constrain the instrument to match the learner's current ability~\citep{scudder2026folksongs}. \np{}'s song mode makes this explicit: a scrolling lyric track shows the current syllable, only the correct note is active, and pressing it advances the song. The player cannot make a mistake---they can only wait. Wrong notes are blocked. Right notes are highlighted. The instrument teaches the song by refusing to let you fail. 350 + 351 + Songs are encoded as NOTE:word pairs (e.g., ``C:Twin- G:kle A:lit-tle'') that are human-readable, URL-safe, and forkable---a folk process in text form~\citep{scudder2026folksongs}. Any \acos{} user can write a song as a string, share it as a URL, and another user can play it immediately. The encoding carries melody and lyrics but not duration or dynamics; those remain in the performer's hands, preserving the interpretive space that distinguishes performance from playback. 352 + 353 + For the planetary laptop orchestra, this matters concretely. A conductor distributing \acos{} devices in a classroom does not need to teach programming, music notation, or software configuration. The instrument is ready. The folk songs are loaded. The students press keys and hear notes. Everything else---waveform selection, octave shifting, recording, sharing, eventually writing code---comes later, pulled by curiosity rather than pushed by curriculum. 354 + 340 355 \subsection{The Laptop Already Has Everything} 341 356 342 357 \begin{table}[h] ··· 596 611 This paper advances an ambitious claim. The limitations are real and should be stated plainly. 597 612 598 613 \textbf{Audio quality.} Built-in laptop speakers are acoustically poor. They lack bass response, have limited dynamic range, and project sound narrowly. Trueman's hemispherical speaker solved a real problem---electronic instruments need acoustic presence to function musically in ensemble contexts. A surplus ThinkPad's speakers cannot match this. For intimate or small-group contexts, built-in speakers may suffice. For any ensemble larger than a room, external amplification is needed, partially eroding the ``no additional hardware'' claim. 614 + 615 + However, the amplification gap has a commercially available answer that did not exist when PLOrk was designed. The Minirig speaker system (Minirig 4, \$170; Minirig Mini, \$100; Minirig Subwoofer 4, \$250) is a portable, Bluetooth-and-aux speaker designed for exactly this use case: high-fidelity audio from a small, battery-powered, rugged enclosure. A single Minirig 4 produces 80\,dB at 1\,m with a frequency response of 50\,Hz--20\,kHz---adequate for a classroom or small venue. Multiple Minirigs can be daisy-chained via aux or paired wirelessly for stereo and multi-point configurations. Adding a Minirig Subwoofer extends bass response to 40\,Hz, approaching the low-end presence of a hemispherical speaker system. 616 + 617 + The cost comparison is instructive. A PLOrk hemispherical speaker required custom fabrication (\$300--500 in materials), an 8-channel amplifier (\$200+), a power conditioner, and a rack enclosure. Total per-seat amplification cost: roughly \$600--800, not counting labor. A Minirig 4 at \$170 provides comparable acoustic presence for small-ensemble contexts, ships to your door, fits in a backpack, runs on a rechargeable battery for 30+ hours, and requires no fabrication, no rack, no power conditioner. 618 + 619 + This does not eliminate the limitation---a Minirig is not a hemispherical speaker, and directional projection remains an open problem for laptop ensembles. But it reduces the amplification question from ``build custom hardware'' to ``buy an off-the-shelf speaker,'' which is a qualitatively different kind of problem. For a community laptop orchestra operating on a budget, 15 Minirig Minis (\$1{,}500 total) provide per-seat amplification at roughly one-eighth the cost of PLOrk's custom solution, with zero fabrication time. 599 620 600 621 \textbf{ARM support.} \acos{} currently targets x86\_64 UEFI machines only. The majority of surplus educational Chromebooks use ARM processors (Mediatek, Qualcomm). Until ARM support ships, the single largest pool of surplus educational hardware remains inaccessible. This is the most critical engineering gap. 601 622

+14

papers/arxiv-plork/references.bib

··· 245 245 year={2026}, 246 246 note={Companion paper describing the AC Native OS architecture and surplus hardware thesis} 247 247 } 248 + 249 + @misc{scudder2026notepat, 250 + title={notepat '26: A Chromatic Keyboard Instrument for the Browser and Beyond}, 251 + author={{@jeffrey}}, 252 + year={2026}, 253 + note={Companion paper describing notepat's design, synthesis engine, and co-evolution with the AC platform} 254 + } 255 + 256 + @misc{scudder2026folksongs, 257 + title={Folk Songs for Laptop Orchestra '26: Encoding, Teaching, and Performing Melody on Aesthetic Computer}, 258 + author={{@jeffrey}}, 259 + year={2026}, 260 + note={Companion paper on song mode pedagogy, NOTE:word encoding, and folk melody properties} 261 + }

+3 -3

papers/cards-convert.mjs

··· 240 240 \\thispagestyle{empty} 241 241 \\vspace*{\\fill} 242 242 \\begin{center} 243 - \\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\\par\\vspace{0.3em} 243 + \\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\\par\\vspace{0.2em} 244 244 {\\acbold\\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\\selectfont\\color{acdark} ${title}}\\par 245 245 \\vspace{0.3em} 246 246 ${subtitle ? `{\\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\\selectfont\\color{acpink} ${subtitle}}\\par\n\\vspace{0.8em}` : "\\vspace{0.5em}"} 247 - {\\normalsize\\color{cyan!70!blue}\\textbf{@jeffrey}}\\par 247 + {\\normalsize\\color{cyan!70!blue}\\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\\par 248 248 {\\small\\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\\par 249 249 {\\small\\color{acgray} ORCID: \\href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\\par 250 250 \\vspace{0.8em} 251 251 \\rule{0.6\\textwidth}{1pt}\\par 252 252 \\vspace{0.4em} 253 - {\\small\\color{acpink!40}\\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\\par 253 + \\colorbox{yellow!60}{\\small\\color{red!80!black}\\textbf{\\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\\par 254 254 \\vspace{0.3em} 255 255 {\\footnotesize\\color{acgray} March 2026}\\par 256 256 \\end{center}

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