guido@mcvax.UUCP (04/05/87)
Long, long ago (a year?) somebody started a net-wide project whose purpose was to design and implement an interface to window managers which would allow applications to be written that could easily be ported to other machines such as the Atari or the Amiga. I believe I've even seen a status report on the project, which mentioned some delay but promised results in the end. It all happened so long ago that I have completely forgotten all names and other details of the project; even the above summary may be quite beside the truth. Also, it may be the case that the project continued in the Atari and/or Amiga worlds but was abandoned for the Mac; I don't read the Atari/Amiga newsgroups. But I'm currently very interested in what came out of it, if anything. Is the original poster still working on it? Please send mail to: Guido van Rossum, Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI), Amsterdam guido@cwi.nl or mcvax!guido or guido%cwi.nl@seismo.css.gov (from ARPAnet)
bob@wiley.UUCP (04/07/87)
I probably shouldn't mention this, but just yesterday I started on
porting X windows to the ST. I know what your going say: "But I was
told that it is impossible to put X windows on a single tasking machine."
I don't believe this. I've been studying X and have assessed the changes
which must be made to make X run on the ST.
I don't know anything about the 'universal window manager interface,'
but X windows is becoming a standard. Perhaps X can be the portable interface
that you are looking for. I should have something running within 2 months.
If anyone else is also doing the port, I would like to here from them so
that I don't duplicate ongoing work.
Bob Amstadt
trwrb.uucp!wiley!bob
csvax.caltech.edu!wiley!bobjww@sdcsvax.UUCP (04/08/87)
FYI, there is no such thing as 'X Windows' (you might be confusing
it with MS-Windows.)
The folks at MIT have developed the 'X Window System'. If that's too
much of a mouthful, call it 'X', thank you very much.
--
Joel West
{ucbvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww (ihnp4!gould9!joel once I fix news)
jww@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu if you mustelwell@osu-eddie.UUCP (Clayton Elwell) (04/09/87)
In article <7331@boring.mcvax.cwi.nl> guido@cwi.nl (Guido van Rossum) writes: >Long, long ago (a year?) somebody started a net-wide project whose >purpose was to design and implement an interface to window managers >which would allow applications to be written that could easily be ported >to other machines such as the Atari or the Amiga. I believe I've even >seen a status report on the project, which mentioned some delay but >promised results in the end. > >[...] > >Guido van Rossum, Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI), Amsterdam >guido@cwi.nl or mcvax!guido or guido%cwi.nl@seismo.css.gov (from ARPAnet) Since others may be interested in the current state of this, I'm posting rather than mailing out an individual reply. The project, which is/was not net-wide but was announced and discussed on the net, and whose working name is PL (portability library), is still around. The goal of the project is to allow people (like me) to write programs once and compile them on bunches of different machines. The idea was to have something that was roughly conceptually similar to Curses, but for window systems instead of CRTs. It's been educational, to say the least. As you may guess from the fact that it hasn't been released yet, it's not complete. There are several reasons for this, to wit: 1. It's about halfway down on my priority list. Important, but not as important as supporting existing software (which can take a lot of time and energy) and doing development on systems that will be used directly for instructional purposes (this is a university). It gets worked on when I am inspired or get some free time (free time? what's free time?). Since it's not a product (it will be placed into the public domain), it has no funding behind it. That's how life goes sometimes. 2. Doing it right (as opposed to a set of quick hacks) is one <expletive deleted> of a lot harder that it seems at first glance. This is where the "educational" part mentioned above comes in. The basic problem is that each window system presents its own model of display manipulation and user interaction. These models tend not to map well to each other in fairly significant ways. This means that factoring out a common model requires a lot of thought. 3. C may not be the best language to implement this in (I admit it; I'm a LISP bigot from way back). Unfortunately, not everyone has C++, so the library ends up doing a lot of low-level shuffling. X is proving instructive, however. In summary, it's on its way, but it may still be a while yet. I hope it will be worth the wait. -=- "The greatest warriors are Clayton Elwell the ones who fight for peace." Elwell@Ohio-State.ARPA --Holly Near ...!cbosgd!osu-eddie!elwell
bob@wiley.UUCP (04/09/87)
In article <2968@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> jww@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU (Joel West) writes: > FYI, there is no such thing as 'X Windows' (you might be confusing > it with MS-Windows.) > The folks at MIT have developed the 'X Window System'. If that's too > much of a mouthful, call it 'X', thank you very much. I stand corrected. BTW - I started planning out the changes and it doesn't look to bad. I suspect I'll have some form of the X Window System running in 2 months as scheduled. Bob Amstadt bob@wiley.uucp (UUCP) trwrb.uucp!wiley!bob (Alternate UUCP) csvax.caltech.edu!wiley!bob (Alternate UUCP or ARPA)