Xref: news2.mv.net comp.os.msdos.djgpp:2342
From: stwand07 AT uctvms DOT uct DOT ac DOT za
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: TWS
Date: 31 Mar 96 23:12:43 +0200
Organization: University of Cape Town
Lines: 44
Message-ID: <1996Mar31.231243@uctvms.uct.ac.za>
References: <199603290855 DOT DAA26343 AT delorie DOT com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: uctvms.uct.ac.za
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

In article <199603290855 DOT DAA26343 AT delorie DOT com>, Martynas Kunigelis <martynas DOT kunigelis AT VM DOT KTU DOT LT> writes:
>   I downloaded TWS from oulu yesterday and checked it. Aaaaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!
> Malcolm's Window System ***KILLS***!!! I haven't seen SWORD yet, buf so far
> TWS is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. (Win95 eat your heart out).
> Maybe... a little slow. But just a little bit. Also mouse cursor disappears
> after coming back from DOS shell, and appears after the mouse is moved. And
> the docs are somewhat incomplete.. Anyway, the system rules. Congratulations
> Malcolm!!!
> 
> Martynas Kunigelis

It's not bad, but : (ahem)
- There's no source, so it's impossible to hack/improve it.
- It's GREY! Aaargh! Plus you don't seem to be able to change the system colours!
- It uses its own proprietary graphics library, which seems a bit limited.
- It's a bit buggy. The single test program crashes (there's a sequence that
  crashes it always, don't remember it off hand).
- The docs are incomplete and must be read using the above-named test program.

In it's favour, it is about 1/5th the size of SWORD (SWORD does more though),
ang looks really slick. The file selector is really cool - I ran it on a
machine with :
- Ram disk
- Hard disk
- Floppy disk
- Stiffy disk
- Network drives

Each of the above types of disk had their own icon in the file selector. Cool!
(How do you find out the drive type?)

I'd recommend taking a look at SWORD. It's a bit bloated, but has many more
features (Mouse cursor changes appearance as you move over window frames,
etc.), has JPEG picture routines, FFT, complex maths, etc. etc.

I don't want to dump on Malcolm - TWS is really impressive in many ways, and
with some improvements could be great. I just wanted to "balance" Matynas'
views.

(Plus it's Sunday evening, and I'm bored!)
Adios
Mark Wodrich.
Email : mwodric AT eleceng DOT uct DOT ac DOT za