Unix Windowing Systems: Difference between revisions
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* BSD window(1) | * BSD window(1) | ||
* the A/UX window system | * the A/UX window system | ||
=== BSD window === | |||
window(1) is a terminal multiplexer that offers overlapping windows on ordinary character cell terminals. It was introduced in 4.3BSD, and survived long enough to make it into the modern BSD systems for a bit. All of them have since jettisoned it in favor of tmux. Its last appearance was in NetBSD 6.1<ref>https://man.netbsd.org/NetBSD-6.1.5/window.1</ref>. | |||
The NetBSD version of window was archived into pkgsrc <ref>https://github.com/NetBSD/pkgsrc/tree/trunk/misc/window</ref>. The terminal emulation isn't ANSI-compliant, and there's no terminfo definition on non-NetBSD platforms (at least not on macOS). Compatibility with modern fancy shell prompts and TUI software is limited; Neofetch in particular emits sludge. | |||
TODO: a good screenshot | |||
TODO: build/install instructions for non-NetBSD (could probably make a fork/distribution with a terminfo definition) | |||
== Novelties == | == Novelties == | ||
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* Y Window System | * Y Window System | ||
* Orbital | * Orbital | ||
== References == | |||
<references /> | |||
[[Category:Preservation and Documentation]] | [[Category:Preservation and Documentation]] | ||
[[Category:Projects]] | [[Category:Projects]] | ||
Revision as of 16:08, 4 February 2024
The phrase "windowing system for Unix" is nearly synonymous with X11 and, increasingly, Wayland. While X11 has dominated the Unix window system market for decades, it has coexisted with many others over the years. Some of them were early competitors that fell by the wayside, others filled niches that X was unable to, and still others are just fun little things someone made for fun or for a school project.
This project has three aims:
- Gather information about these alternative window systems
- Bring them up under emulation, where possible
- Preserve them by porting them to modern operating systems, where practical
Early Competitors and Predecessors
- ManaGeR (MGR)
- SunView
- NeWS / OpenWindows
- NeXT Display PostScript
- PERQ PNX / Sapphire
- HP Windows/9000
- CMU Andrew Window Manager
- W (the predecessor to X)
- prior versions of X (I'm aware X10R4 has been run in emulation)
- mpx and mux from Research Unix 8/9
- layers
- the UNIX PC window system
Niche Window Systems
- Xynth/XFast
- QNX Windows
- QNX Photon
- QNX screen
- RockLyte Athene
- Maryland Windows
- BSD window(1)
- the A/UX window system
BSD window
window(1) is a terminal multiplexer that offers overlapping windows on ordinary character cell terminals. It was introduced in 4.3BSD, and survived long enough to make it into the modern BSD systems for a bit. All of them have since jettisoned it in favor of tmux. Its last appearance was in NetBSD 6.1[1].
The NetBSD version of window was archived into pkgsrc [2]. The terminal emulation isn't ANSI-compliant, and there's no terminfo definition on non-NetBSD platforms (at least not on macOS). Compatibility with modern fancy shell prompts and TUI software is limited; Neofetch in particular emits sludge.
TODO: a good screenshot
TODO: build/install instructions for non-NetBSD (could probably make a fork/distribution with a terminfo definition)
Novelties
- Twin
- Y Window System
- Orbital