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From: dwight@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu (Dwight D. Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Controlling 4207s from VAX; fast test for polygon contact
Message-ID: <1991Feb12.084332@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu>
Date: 12 Feb 91 14:49:07 GMT
References: <9102112210.AA18089@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
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In article <9102112210.AA18089@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>, POPX@vax.oxford.ac.uk
(Jocelyn Paine) writes:
|>Path: uokmax!apple!agate!ucbvax!vax.oxford.ac.uk!POPX
|>From: POPX@vax.oxford.ac.uk (Jocelyn Paine)
|>Newsgroups: comp.graphics
|>Subject: Controlling 4207s from VAX; fast test for polygon contact
|>Message-ID: <9102112210.AA18089@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
|>Date: 11 Feb 91 22:08:00 GMT
|>Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
|>Lines: 68
|
|>I wonder whether anyone can help with advice on controlling 4107/4207
|>terminals from a VAX? First some preamble, not mainly to do with
|>graphics.
|>
|>So, I need to find, or build, graphics software which allows me to build
|>something as close as possible to a multi-windowing system displaying on
|>4207 emulators and controlled from a VAX. To make best use of VAX CPU
|>time, the terminals must do as much of the graphics as possible. At the
|>moment, the best bet (and it's not a very good one) that I have is GKS.
|>Anyone who's used it will know that it is unsuitable in a number of
|>ways: for example, there's no way to selectively re-draw part of the
|>screen, and there's no way to represent object hierarchies. In general,
|>the coupling GKS affords between host and terminal is too loose; I need
|>something more like X-windows (but don't suggest that I change to
|>X-windows; we don't have suitable terminals, nor does my programming
|>language support the interface). Has anyone out there written any
|>alternatives to GKS, or can anyone suggest alternatives?
|                                                          Jocelyn Paine
|>                                                 Experimental Psychology
|>   
As for GKS and updating parts of the screen, you can create segments which are
groups
of  output primitives that you can manipulate as a group. However, this doesn't
solve
your problem with respect to object hierarchies.  For that, I would suggest
something like
PHIGS.  If you understand GKS, it shouldn't be to much of a jump to learn
PHIGS.
(just in case, PHIGS stands for Programmers Hierarchial Interactive Graphics
System).
You said you have a VAX, you can get PHIGS from DEC or there are several other
companies
that produce this software.

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                                Dwight D. Moore
                         Geosciences Computing Network
                            University of Oklahoma

                  dwight@geohub.gcn.uoknor.edu (129.15.40.10)
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