ViewMAX
ViewMAX is the DR DOS graphical user interface (GUI) based on GEM and distributed with DR DOS 5.0 and 6.0. With ViewMAX all possible internal and external commands as well as special utilities can be executed at the command line level.
history
Digital Research first integrated ViewMAX as a graphical user interface in 1990 in its in-house DOS operating system DR DOS 5.0 and in 1991 in DR DOS 6.0. At about the same time Microsoft delivered a similar system with DOS Shell with its DOS operating system MS-DOS . After DR DOS was sold, ViewMAX was also initially transferred from Digital Research to Novell . The planned integration of ViewMAX as a file manager in Novell DOS 7, however, was not completed. In 1996 Novell DOS (formerly DR DOS) was sold to Caldera . Like Novell, Caldera did not integrate ViewMAX into its operating system OpenDOS / DR-DOS (formerly Novell DOS). In 1999, Caldera Thin Clients published the source code of the unfinished version ViewMAX / 3 under the GNU General Public License .
development
ViewMAX is based on the GEM / 3 kernel , which has been cut in some functions only necessary for GEM applications, but in others has been extended to meet the requirements of the ViewMAX desktop. This close relationship makes it possible to start GEM applications in some cases. The ViewMAX desktop itself is actually a GEM application and can therefore (if VIEWMAX.EXEin VIEWMAX.APPis renamed) are all PC-GEM versions, and thus on GEM / 1 from 1984, executed. For the majority of the applications available for GEM, however, an additional installation of PC-GEM Version 3 is necessary, after which these can be started directly from ViewMAX.
In addition to the few GEM applications ( file name extensions .APP ) that work with ViewMAX , programs with the file name extension .ACCcan also be executed. These are “desk accessories” (literally translated as “desk accessories”), which can expand or change the way the GEM desktop works.
distribution
ViewMAX shares the same fate as its counterpart DOS Shell: since command line parameters on a pure DOS level (see also → command line interpreter and → COMMAND.COM ) were easier to pass than under ViewMAX, this extension was not widely used. At that time there were already suitable products for this purpose, for example the Norton Commander , the PC Shell or Xtree .
history
| version | publication | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| ViewMAX / 1 | May 1990 (DR DOS 5.0) | ViewMAX / 1 is very similar to previous GEM versions. There are two windows with a fixed size, which either contain icons of the directories and files or a representation of the directory hierarchy. |
| ViewMAX / 2 | March 1992 (DR DOS 6.0) | In addition to purely visual improvements, such as the 3D display of desktop and window elements as well as user-defined color schemes, support for the TaskMAX task switcher introduced under DR DOS 6.0 has been incorporated. |
| ViewMAX / 3 | planned (Novell DOS 7) | ViewMAX / 3 was supposed to be integrated as a file manager in Novell DOS 7, but was no longer completed. The source code for an unfinished beta version was later published by Caldera Thin Clients (later Lineo) under the GPL. Program groups and scalable windows were planned. |
Web links
- Deltasoft - the versions of GEM / 3 and ViewMAX / 3 Beta available as source code under the GPL
- John Elliott's homepage: The GEM GUI for the IBM PC (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Elliott's homepage: The GEM GUI for the IBM PC (English).
- ↑ John Elliott's homepage: The GEM GUI for the IBM PC - A comparison between GEM and ViewMAX (English).
- ↑ ATARI programming: Section 2; TOS / GEM (DR DOS part, German).
- ↑ John Elliott's homepage: The GEM GUI for the IBM PC - GEM file formats (English).