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Related: The MGR Window System https://hack.org/mc/mgr/ https://hack.org/mc/mgr/ “MGR provides each client window with: curses-like terminal control functions
by rudolfwinestock 6y ago
Related: The MGR Window System https://hack.org/mc/mgr/ https://hack.org/mc/mgr/
“MGR provides each client window with: curses-like terminal control functions, graphics primitives such as line and circle drawing; facilities for manipulating bitmaps, fonts, icons, and pop-up menus; commands to reshape and position windows; and a message passing facility enabling client programs to rendezvous and exchange messages.”
Essentially, each window was a souped up ASCII terminal with extra escape sequences which implemented primitive graphics. It competed with X-Windows on low-end workstations during the 1980s.
Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18742611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18742611
- ilaksh 6y agoLove it! I have a strange desire to try to make that work in WASM over HTTP/2 and hack in MGR server hyperlinks.
- sitkack 6y ago+1 SVG over HTTP/2 in Wasm with WebGL1 (for compat)
- microcolonel 6y agoI wonder how hard it would be to write an MGR terminal emulator today.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoI suspect a lot easier with modern graphics libraries and so on Not sure I'd bother with MGR itself, but instead do something similar. It's not as compelling now that we don't do much over serial links anymore. The modern day version of this really is the browser/HTML. I remember being intrigued at the time by the idea of using this protocol over a MUD (telnet / TCP socket carrying text) connection.
- cmrdporcupine 6y agoRan this on my Atari ST for a bit back in 1990 or so. And then again on my 486 running early Linux a couple years later. It's a really neat idea. But it was of limited use as not many applications were made for it.