mgr question

[Dave Brower, UNIX Group, [415] 748-3418]

"You sure ask a lot of questions"

		- Roseanne Rosannadanna

In <1991Jun20.034506.15523 at texrex.uucp> Rex Fowler writes:
>
>How similar is MGR to X?

	Like X, it's a user process running the display rather than the
	original 7300 kernel window driver.  Unlike X, the terminal
	emulation is built into the server rather than being an
	application.  All display operations are piggy backed into
	terminal command sequences.  A compilcation to this is that
	the terminal is notihing at all like a vt100, so if you
	need a good vt100 you'll have trouble.  The "vtem" program
	from the comp.sources.something archives is a help, but not
	a complete solution as it doesn't handle function keys or
	the alternate character sets well.

>What can MGR do?
	Beyond the 7300 window system, it really lets you have multiple
	readable windows, with cut and paste.  There are some demo
	applications, including a clock, that are more X-like.

	There aren't many 3rd party MGR applications floating around.

	You lose the print-screen functions that were built into
	the 7300.  (Which was sort of a shame, becuase I'd just
	figured out how to use them when I switched to mgr :-()

>Can I copy text from window-to-window?
	Yes, and this is worth the price of admission

>Can I pop windows open "at will"?
	Yes.

>Can I change the geometry
>of a window so that a window that is only 6" x 6" still has 24 rows x 80
>columns?
	Yes.

>Are there fonts to support this sort of thing?
	Yes.

>Is installing the vidpal irreversible?
	No, you only need to unplug the daughter board, extract your
	68010, and put it back into the original socket.

Here's a question you didn't ask:

> Is installing mgr easy?
	If you are an experienced system administrator, or very
	ambitious and patient, you can install it.  If you don't
	know how and why to, for instance, boot single user from 
	a floppy and poke around your hard disk unmounted, then
	it may not be ready for   Booting single user isn't 
	necessary, but it's an example of the sort of thing that
	someone who can readily install mgr would also be able to
	do easily.  

hope this helps,
-dB
--
"If it were easy to understand, we wouldn't call it 'code'"
David Brower: {amdahl, cpsc6a, mtxinu, sun}!rtech!daveb daveb at ingres.com