parora@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Pavneet Arora) (12/23/87)
Hi there! Please excuse me if this topic has been brought up before. I have just begun subscribing to this newsgroup. I am interested in getting any information about existing window packages out there for the PC. My concern at the moment is for those that run on MS-DOS, but I would welcome ideas about the future of MS-Windows etc. In particular, I have noticed ads for the following: Vitamin C MetaWindows Matrix Technology Windows GEM & MS-Windows If anyone has had experience with any of these or others I would really appreciate their comments. I am concerned about performance issues involved in developing an application using a window system. One of my concerns has to do with trying to do terminal emulation as a process in a window. What sort of speed restrictions have netters found? Many thanks in advance. Happy Hollidays! Pavneet Arora parora@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu
karthur@codas.att.com (Kurt_R_Arthur) (12/25/87)
In article <1987Dec22.213740.2447@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> parora@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Pavneet Arora) writes: > > I am interested in getting any information about existing window packages > out there for the PC... I have little exposure to any of the listed windows packages, but I do suggest you code the windows yourself - they are relatively trivial and you don't have to pay royalties, or worry about your compiler/assembler supporting the libraries, or having an external file to distribute with your program. The basic algorithm: 1. Determine adapter type (MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA, Hercules, etc) This tells you where in memory the display is (B000 for MDA, B8000 for the others). 2. Allocate memory off the heap to copy the display to. 3. Make your changes to the display (pop up a window). 4. Restore the video image from the heap. 5. For overlayed images, just put the screen into a linked list. The last 2 issues (November/December) issues of Dr. Dobb's Journal contain a pair of articles about adding a graphics library to Turbo C: source is pub- lished, so you can adapt as necessary. Kurt Arthur Software Services of Florida.