Subject: Re: X programming To: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu (DJ's GPP mailing list) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 11:31:55 EDT From: Stephen Turnbull Chris Kukilies writes > I'm considering getting serious with X programming using djgpp. > Could anyone help to answer my questions: > > 1) What do I need from QuarterDeck? See my response to David, below. > 2) Is the dvx library presently available from barnavcle.erc.clarkson.edu > sufficient (latest version)? It seems to be a complete implementation of Xlib, Xmu, and Xt, plus some DV/X-specific stuff. I am not an expert, so take that with a grain of salt. > Are there any constraints for building local clients using the above > requisites? I don't know yet. David Ronis asks > 1. What is the minimal setup which will give me full downward > compatibility with what I've got. > > Currently. I use and write DJGPP, Microsoft C6.0, and fortran > applications. My networking tools are FTP software's TC/PIP tools, > and I'm connected directly to our university's ethernet backbone. > Finally I've written several "desqview-aware" applications. I don't > mind if something of mine becomes obsolete, e.g., my networking tools, > but I'd hope that everything else would still work without too much > extra trouble. Is this the case? For example, can the regular > desqview interface be run as a separate local window. I'm not sure what you mean by "minimal" or the "regular DV interface," so forgive me if what I say isn't helpful. I don't have a lot of experience with DV; I got it originally in hopes of multi-tasking DEmacs (the current version neither runs under DV[/X], nor does it coexist with other DOS-extended software when suspended). Since it does not run under DV, I gave up on DV (I use 4DOS, which allows me to move among DEmacs, TeX, the previewer, and the printer driver as fast as MicroLimply possible, the main situation where I want to be multi-tasked). As far as I can tell, networking aside, *everything* that ran under DV will still run under DV/X, with one refinement. You can run things under "DOS-writes-to-screen," and it looks exactly like you time-warped your old DV app into a nifty graphical interface. (Like the characters in the Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" video in reverse.) I think that answers your question about "old DV interface." Of course, you also have a DOS window to run things from the command line. The refinement is a pure bonus. Due to the wonders of Adobe Type Manager with scalable fonts, there is a "scalable DOS window" version of the "DOS-writes-to-screen" interface, and you can make the characters big or small by reducing or enlarging the window; but you always have 25x80 characters (or whatever you started with) in the window. If you are running Novell or NetBIOS, DV/X may have native support for those technologies. I don't have them, I can't tell you. The documentation indicates it should be really easy to get peer-to-peer communication in those technologies. If you are running a TCP/IP or other (surely DECNet is supported since it MIT X is native bilingual in TCP/IP and DECNet) net, you will need the Network Manager optional module. The file manager and window manager that come with the basic DV/X package have changed my views about GUI for Intel based machines. It's the first file manager I've seen that made moving large numbers of files packed into .zips willy-nilly with no respect for directory structure easy, if still tedious (it doesn't read your mind :-). OTOH, it's not the Mac Finder. 'Nuf said. In my inexperienced opinion, DV/X is a huge win with nothing but $100/copy against it if you are already using DV. I am busy, up to my neck in alligators, you know, right now. But I really want this DV/X to take off. I hate Windows (probably a pure prejudice now that 3.1 is out ;-), but as I wrote above, DV/X is the GUI that has me convinced that I want one on *my* machine. And I want apps that know about X, which requires an installed customer base "out there." So if you have any questions that require a comparison of DV and DV/X on commonly available software, let me know. If I've got it, I'll try it for you. That is, I'll put it into my (priority :-) queue. ("Easy things get done next week, the difficult ones Real Soon Now.") -- Stephen Turnbull The Ohio State University, Department of Economics 410 Arps Hall, 1945 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43210-1172 USA Phone: (614) 292-0654 Fax: ...-3906 Email: turnbull DOT 1 AT osu DOT edu