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From: salzman@rand.org (Isaac Salzman)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: swm and "bigscreens" [was Re: Xerox Rooms]
Message-ID: <1990May29.075648.586@rand.org>
Date: 29 May 90 07:56:48 GMT
References: <1138200005@cdp> <1138200006@cdp> <1990May29.033706.5681@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Sender: news@rand.org
Reply-To: salzman@rand.ORG (Isaac Salzman)
Organization: The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
Lines: 33

In article <1990May29.033706.5681@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca> craig@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (Craig Hubley) writes:
>Bigscreen is back, horribly, on the Mac - an ill-conceived clone that moves
>the screen around to the unseen edges of the 'bigscreen' if your pointer hits
>the sides. 

There is (what I consider to be) a reasonable implementation of the
"bigscreen" idea for X11. It's part of the Solbourne Window Manager (swm).
I forget what they call it - something like "virtual root" or "virtual
desktop". They use a 2D panner that consists of a very reduced view of your
entire virtual desktop/root window. You can easily change your current view
by moving an outline of the real desktop within the panner. You can also
move windows around within the virtual desktop without them being visible
on the real desktop. They have a nice way of dealing with the problem of
things like menus or trashcans, etc., that you want to access from all
areas of the desktop. You can "nail" any window to the real desktop. It's
actually more like taping the window to the glass (but it was much easier
to make an icon that represented nailing the window than taping the
window). No matter where you go in the virtual desktop, the nailed windows
stay put. It's possible to customize swm so you can do things like "change
wallpaper" when you move to a different part of the virtual root. It's
kindof a compromise between the rooms idea and big screens (I think). 

As far as getting swm. It's part of the OI toolkit, a C++ UI toolkit that
Soulborne developed. It can be source liscensed from AT&T sometime towards
the end of this summer. I don't know much else about it, except that I'd
like to get a copy! Ciao!

* Isaac J. Salzman                                            ----     
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