Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!psuvax1!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!longway!std-unix
From: gwyn@BRL.MIL
Newsgroups: comp.std.unix
Subject: Re: standard unix graphics package
Message-ID: <401@longway.TIC.COM>
Date: 14 Oct 89 04:41:15 GMT
References: <400@longway.TIC.COM>
Sender: std-unix@longway.TIC.COM
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 37
Approved: jsq@longway.tic.com (Moderator, John S. Quarterman)

From: gwyn@BRL.MIL

In article <400@longway.TIC.COM> Braddock John Hathaway <bh11+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>I'm doing a semester long project for Carnegie Mellon's Information
>Systems department requiring:
>1) my code be written in C
>2) the use of graphics
>3) that the final version be
>    a) UNIX-based
>    b) portable to ALL UNIX SYSTEMS

Wow, taken literally this would be EXTREMELY TOUGH.

>What my question boils down to is:
>"Is there any such thing as a UNIX graphics package that works for all
>systems?"

No, unfortunately.  The nearest thing is the old UNIX PLOT(4 or 5) format
using its associate PLOT(3X) library; however, some UNIX systems no longer
provide any useable version of this.

If you're allowed to provide your own graphics library, you could use one
similar in nature to UNIX PLOT or even X, but there would still be a need
for device-dependent interfaces that would vary from system to system.

At one time, BRL distributed a "TIG-plot" graphics library that was similar
to UNIX PLOT.  We currently have a "BRL-CAD" package that includes frame-
buffer and vector-oriented more-or-less device independent facilities.
Contact Keith@BRL.MIL for availability information.

>The first thing I asked my professor when I received the assignment was
>if I could assume X-windows on all of the systems.  She told me to
>explore other options.

Sounds like you need further clarification from the professor.

Volume-Number: Volume 17, Number 31