title
From emv@ox.com Tue Apr 2 12:10:29 1991
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 21:23 EST
From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti)
To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: vtwm
>From comp.archives Thu Aug 9 08:20:06 EDT 1990
Path: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!emv
From: rms@AI.MIT.EDU
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [emacs] X marks the suit
Message-ID: <1990Aug9.031936.29383@math.lsa.umich.edu>
Date: 9 Aug 90 03:19:36 GMT
Sender: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
Reply-To: rms@AI.MIT.EDU
Followup-To: comp.emacs
Organization: University of Michigan, Department of Mathematics
Lines: 35
Approved: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Archive-name: vtwm/03-Aug-90
Original-posting-by: rms@AI.MIT.EDU
Original-subject: X marks the suit
Archive-site: expo.lcs.mit.edu [18.30.0.212]
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
I hope this taste of the shape of things to come in the computer
industry will wake enough of us up before it is too late...
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 90 10:51:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Nicholas John Williams <njw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
To: staff@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Subject: TWM Virtual Desktop, Look & Feel Lawsuits etc.
As many of you know, there was a version of TWM available recently,
which had patches (written by Dave Edmondson of Imperial College) which
added a "Virtual Desktop" facility. This allowed you to spread your
windows out over virtual space and select which area to view at any one
time. The feature was modelled after the Solbourne Window Manager,
performing the same sort of tasks as their Virtual Desktop.
Wednesday, the patches allowing TWM to do this were placed into the
contrib area on expo.lcs.mit.edu.
Following this, Dave Edmondson yesterday received a letter from Paul
Lippe, the vice president of Solbourne stating that he had "engaged in
unauthorized copying of Solbourne's virtual desktop utility feature".
Legal discussions are currently underweigh and, until further notice,
the vtwm in the windowmanagers locker has been made unavailable.
Nick.
njw@athena.mit.edu
njw@doc.imperial.ac.uk
From toml@Solbourne.COM Sun May 12 02:14:16 1991
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 91 14:01:32 MST
From: toml@Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange)
To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Hakon Lie)
In-Reply-To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu's message of 1 Apr 91 19:47:10 GMT
Subject: Solbourne wm
> Remember the controversy regarding th Soulbourne window manager last
> summer? At some point they claimed to have rights to the "virtual"
> look & feel. I need a reference to this case for my thesis which deal
> with virtual environments.
>
> So, is you saved some email about the case or have other statements
> from involved parts, please let me know!
Yeah, I remember it. It wasn't "virtual look & feel" that started it all,
it was the fact that a person copied the Virtual Desktop (a trademark) feature
of swm, and didn't bother to ask Solbourne or acknowledge where he got the
idea from.
--
Tom LaStrange toml@Solbourne.COM
From toml@Solbourne.COM Sun May 12 02:22:51 1991
To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Solbourne wm
In-Reply-To: Your message of Tue, 02 Apr 91 16:43:06 -0500.
<9104022143.AA24156@media-lab.media.mit.edu>
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 91 14:57:50 -0700
From: toml@Solbourne.COM
> Thanks for your reply, I was going to ask you for comments.
> Yeah, I remember it. It wasn't "virtual look & feel" that started it all,
> it was the fact that a person copied the Virtual Desktop (a trademark) fea
ture
> of swm, and didn't bother to ask Solbourne or acknowledge where he got th
e
> idea from.
> Where the original ide comes from can be disputed. In the Media Lab we
> like to believe that SDMS (Spatial Data Management System) was first.
Well I certainly never saw it but if it was done in the 70's I'd bet you
were first.
> Anyway, the following draft text tries to summarize some of the events
> I find important. If you have comments or additional information, I'd
> be thankful. The text is intended to be a part of an MS thesis in the
> Media Lab where we use a modified vtwm as an interface to an electronic
> newspaper.
> -h&kon
> [..]
> During the last year, the X11 community has seen the introduction of
> several so-called "virtual window managers" [Solbourne] [Dave
> Edmondson] [Tom LaStrange]. The interface is clearly based on the
> concept pioneered by SDMS, a project in the Media Lab > in the late
> 70's. The window managers allow X11 displays to have a virtual plane
> larger than the physical screen size. The user can pan the real screen
> over the virtual screen to view a different part of the plane. The
> user interface for all the virtual window managers is implemented
> through a map. The user can see the outline of all toplevel windows in
> a special window that is an isomorph representation of the windows on
> the virtual plane. The implication of using a virtual window manager
> for the users is that they have more real estate to lay windows out
> on. The overlapping windows found in most window systems are replaced
> by a bulletin board with a partial view.
> X.3.1 X11 WINDOW MANAGERS
> The X11 concept of a "window manager" is quite unique. The window
> manager is with few exceptions an application just like any other X11
> client (For an overview over X Window System Concepts see Xlib
> Programming Manual, [Nye88]). The window manager is given authority to
> control the layout of windows on the screen. Other > clients indicate
> their preferred position and size and this will normally be granted.
> However, the window manager can anytime decide to move or resize a
> client window.
> One of the first window managers available, twm [LaStrange, when ,
> where, hp?], gained widespread popularity [Hafjeld, Kaplan, Lie] by
Most of the initial work was done while I was employed at Evans & Sutherland.
The first public release was April 15, 1988.
> offering the same functionality and ease of use as found in earlier
> window systems [Star, Lisa, Mac]. Recognizing it's de facto position
> among window managers, the X Consortium adopted the program and
> extended the functionality for release 4 of X11.
> Dave Edmondson of Imperial College [Edmonson] modified the freely
> available source code for twm to add the virtual feature. The new
> version, called vtwm (virtual twm), was made available in (june?) 1990
> and quickly gained popularity. It was the first free window manager
> with virtual features, Solbourne [LaStrange] had earlier (when?)
> released their propietary swm (Solbourne Window Manager).
> At some point Solbourne claimed to have the rights to the "virtual
> desktop utility feature" [Stallman90], a claim that was heavily
> disputed on the network at the time. Solbourne later acknowledged that
> they had no ....... and have later allowed the release of source code
> from tvtwm, written by LaStrange, now of Solbourne.
>From what I understand, the only thing we laid claim to was the name
"Virtual Desktop". If Dave Edmonson had called his the virtual outhouse
I don't think any of this would have ever happened. I could be wrong, I
never saw the lawyer letter that was sent to Edmonson, but that was my
impression.
--
Tom L.
From emv@ox.com Tue Apr 2 12:10:38 1991
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 21:24 EST
From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti)
To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: vtwm
>From comp.archives Thu Aug 30 20:20:04 EDT 1990
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Path: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!emv
From: toml@ninja.Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange)
Subject: [xpert] tvtwm is available
Message-ID: <1990Aug30.164251.14639@math.lsa.umich.edu>
Followup-To: comp.windows.x
Sender: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
Reply-To: toml@solbourne.com
Organization: University of Michigan, Department of Mathematics
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 90 16:42:51 GMT
Approved: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Lines: 211
Archive-name: tvtwm/30-Aug-90
Original-posting-by: toml@ninja.Solbourne.COM (Tom LaStrange)
Original-subject: tvtwm is available
Archive-site: expo.lcs.mit.edu [18.30.0.212]
Archive-directory: /contrib
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
As many of you have no doubt seen, tvtwm has shown up in comp.sources.x. But
as many of you also know, as soon as you send some software off, you find some
more problems that you would like to get fixed. Anyway, the sources posted
to comp.windows.x are now a whole day old and there is already a patch file
to bring it up to patchlevel 1. That will show up in comp.sources.x sometime
in the near future.
I have also placed a copy in contrib/tvtwm.tar.Z on expo. The version on
expo is the latest stuff and is already at patchlevel 1, no need to apply the
forthcoming patches.
What is tvtwm? It's a version of twm with a Virtual Desktop modeled after
swm (Solbourne Window Manager). It took me all of two and a half days to
get the major stuff written and its been in use for a whole three days
by Dave Lemke and some of his buddies at NCD (Thanks Dave!). I'm including
the README.tvtwm file here so you can decide if you want to grab it.
--
Tom LaStrange
Solbourne Computer Inc. ARPA: toml@Solbourne.COM
1900 Pike Rd. UUCP: ...!{boulder,sun}!stan!toml
Longmont, CO 80501
------------------ README.tvtwm -----------------------
For those of you like me who want to try software before reading
the instructions, all you have to do to get started is add a single
line to your .twmrc file. Something like this:
VirtualDesktop "3000x2000"
Now for the verbose description:
This is yet another, different implementation of the Virtual Desktop
concept for twm. I call this version tvtwm (Tom's Virtual twm). It is
based on the R4 version of twm with up to fix-14 installed. This
implementation is modeled after swm (Solbourne Window Manager) and
includes the very nice ability to move windows into and out of the
panner. It should be noted that none of this code came from the vtwm
implementation. If you have problems and/or patches you can email me
at the address at the end of this file.
If we look at different implementations of the Virtual Desktop, I think
we can relate them to soft drinks:
swm - Classic Coke "The Real Thing"
tvtwm - Diet Coke "Same as Coke but not as sweet"
vtwm - Diet Pepsi "Not as sweet as Coke, some people may
prefer it to any flavor of Coke"
There are pros and cons to the vtwm and swm/tvtwm implementations. Most
revolve around whether or not to use an additional window for the
scrolling desktop or to simply move windows around on the actual
root window.
vtwm moves windows on the actual root window, swm/tvtwm use an
additional window to perform the scrolling.
Pros:
vtwm Simple to implement.
Programs like xsetroot continue to work.
tvtwm Half the network traffic when the desktop scrolls,
only a ConfigureNotify event has to be sent.
Faster scrolling of the desktop.
Desktop background image will actually scroll.
Opens the door for possible multiple Virtual Desktop
windows.
Cons:
vtwm Twice as much network traffic when the desktop scrolls,
each window has to be moved and then a ConfigureNotify
event must be sent.
Slower scrolling of the desktop.
Desktop background image does not scroll.
tvtwm Programs like xsetroot no longer work, additional work
needs to be done to find the Virtual Desktop window.
Programs that attempt to find the size of the window
manager decoration may fail if the traverse the window
tree until they run into the actual root window.
The rest of the message is a user manual for tvtwm and is not relevant for this case.
From emv@ox.com Tue Apr 2 12:10:48 1991
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 91 21:26 EST
From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti)
To: howcome@media-lab.media.mit.edu
Subject: vtwm
>From comp.archives Fri Nov 23 20:20:04 EST 1990
Path: news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!ox.com!emv
From: dme@doc.ic.ac.uk (Dave Edmondson)
Newsgroups: comp.archives
Subject: [xannounce] vtwm release 3.0
Message-ID: <1990Nov23.234605.26799@ox.com>
Date: 23 Nov 90 23:46:05 GMT
Sender: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
Reply-To: dme@doc.ic.ac.uk (Dave Edmondson)
Followup-To: comp.windows.x.announce
Organization: Imperial College Mafia
Lines: 55
Approved: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
X-Original-Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.announce
Archive-name: vtwm/21-Nov-90
Original-posting-by: dme@doc.ic.ac.uk (Dave Edmondson)
Original-subject: vtwm release 3.0
Archive-site: expo.lcs.mit.edu [18.30.0.212]
Archive-directory: /contrib
Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
This is to announce the availability of the gamma release of
vtwm, TWM with a virtual desktop. This is the second public release,
and is numbered 3.0 (make sense ?).
A compressed shar file is available on expo.lcs.mit.edu
(18.30.0.212) as /contrib/vtwm.shar.Z. If anyone still wants a copy
of the older (beta) version, please send me mail.
Version 3.0 has been tested on the following platforms:
IBM 6150 with ACIS 4.3
Sun SPARC's with SunOS 4.x
Sun 68k's with SunOS 4.x
HP9000 seris 300 with HPUX 7.0
DECstation's with Ultrix 3.x and 4.0
A couple of notes on compiling:
* if you don't have strdup(), add -DNOSTRDUP
* if you are at Project Athena, add -DPIXEL_ALREADY_TYPEDEFED,
due to a change in /usr/include/X11/Xmu/Drawing.h
* if at Project Athena, use gmake (GNU-make), the standard one
complains about a line too long
As ever, I solicit bug reports and enhancement requests. A note from
our sponsors:
/*
* Copyright (c) 1990 Dave Edmondson.
* Copyright (c) 1990 Imperial College of Science, Technoology & Medicine
* All Rights Reserved.
*
* Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
* documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided
* that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that
* copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
* documentation, and that the names of Dave Edmondson or Imperial College
* not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the
* software without specific, written prior permission. Dave Edmondson and
* Imperial College make no representations about the suitability of this
* software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or
* implied warranty.
*/
thanks, dave.
--
Dave Edmondson, Systems Support. Opinions are all my own.
Department of Computing, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine,
180 Queen's Gate, London SW7 1BZ. phone: 071-589-5111 x5085 fax: 071-581-8024
email: dme@doc.ic.ac.uk, ..!ukc!icdoc!dme, dme@athena.mit.edu
``Be selective, be objective, be an asset to the collective'' -- Jazzy B
Generated with CERN WebMaker