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From: lrj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Lewis R. Jansen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: problems with the amiga user interface... (really Suntools)
Message-ID: <444@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: Wed, 18-Mar-87 12:26:33 EST
Article-I.D.: batcompu.444
Posted: Wed Mar 18 12:26:33 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Mar-87 02:27:52 EST
References: <50@mit-prep.ARPA> <3500003@nucsrl.UUCP> <2811@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: lrj@batcomputer.UUCP (Lewis R. Jansen)
Organization: Lab of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University
Lines: 57

In article <2811@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (No one lives forever.) Meyer) writes:
>In article <3500003@nucsrl.UUCP> gore@nucsrl.UUCP (Jacob Gore) writes:
>>but on Sun-3 (/160, in my case), SUCH OPTIONS ARE USER-CONFIGURABLE!  Run the
>
>Yes, Sunstools is user-configureable. But it can't be configured to be
>as friendly as Intuition. [Note: this is purely subjective, of course!
>How friendly an interface is will vary from person to person.] There's
>no way to close windows without going through menus. Moving & resizing
>require either windows or bucky bits. And the list goes on.
>
>	<mike


	  Try again.  The L7 key toggles whether a window is closed or
	not.  Hit L7 on an open window, and *POOF* it closes.  Also,
	the L5 key places the 'top' window on the bottom of the stack.
	VERY nice for 'moving' from one window to another to another
	without reaching for the mouse; just have the windows slightly
	overlapping, and the mouse arrow sitting in that overlap area.

	  I have no idea what "bucky bits" are -- however, a shelltool
	(the window) can do some neato stuff with a variety of escape
	codes.  Send the right codes to a window, and you can move it,
	resize it, close/open it, change the icon it uses, change the
	label on the top (great for scrolling a message across), etc.
	If you are interested, look at the shelltool(1) man page.

	  In any case, it looks like you're given the source to
	Suntools.  I hate to say it, but if it does bother you that
	much, you at least have the ability to CHANGE thet part you
	dislike.  I haven't tried to actually make a new copy of
	suntools, however.	

>[ ... ]
>Rather than re-writing Intution to add lots of flexibility (and slow
>down startup), how about a writeup describing what has to happen to
>_replace_ intution. If you really want something as flexible as X or
>Suntools, you can then write one (or better yet, talk somebody else
>into it). If you're like me, you can write something that does exactly
>what you want, with no flexibility.

	  So imlement NeWS on the Amiga, and then put X on top of it.
	Best of both worlds. :^)

	  I haven't seen X in action yet, but i have seen NeWS on a
	Sun 3/160 -- neat stuff.  (no X vs. NeWS wars here!)

	  With whatever interface you create, there will be some people
	who prefer it to anything else, and others that detest it.  I
	abhor the line-mode IBM CMS interface -- but there ARE people
	that swear by it. (poor, misinformed souls. :^)

-- 
				-- Lewis R. Jansen, LASSP Systems Grunt
					lrj@lasspvax.tn.cornell.edu
					  ...!cornell!lasspvax!lrj
	The above opinions are for sale or rent.  Inquire within.