ViewMAX

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use list-defined references Template:Infobox Software ViewMAX is a CUA-compliant file manager supplied with DR DOS versions 5.0 and 6.0. It is based on a cut-down runtime version of Digital Research's GEM/3 graphical user interface modified to run only a single statically built application, the ViewMAX desktop.[1][2] Support for some unneeded functions has been removed whilst some new functions were added at the same time.[2] Nevertheless, the systems remained close enough for ViewMAX to recognize GEM desktop accessories (Template:Mono executables) automatically[3][4] and to allow some native GEM applications (Template:Mono executables) to be run inside the ViewMAX environment (without having to install and launch GEM first).[3][4] Many display drivers for GEM 3.xx could be used by ViewMAX as well, enabling ViewMAX to be used with non-standard display adapters and higher resolutions than possible using the default set of ViewMAX drivers.[2][3][4] Also, Digital Research's SID86, the symbolic instruction debugger that shipped with DR DOS 3.xx and provided dedicated functions to debug GEM applications (see Template:Mono GEM-specific help under SID86 or GEMSID), could be used for ViewMAX as well.[5][6]

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Originally named Navigator in beta versions,[7] ViewMAX 1.00[8] was distributed with DR DOS 5.0 in 1990 to provide an equivalent to DOSSHELL in MS-DOS/PC DOS 4.0. It had a very similar appearance to Digital Research's previous GEM desktops – two fixed-size windows. Each window would either contain icons representing drives, directories and files, or a representation of the directory hierarchy.[8] If supported by the underlying operating system (such as DR DOS), file and directory passwords and access permissions were supported. Network drives (including CD-ROM drives) were distinguished through their own icon, different from those of local drives.[8]

In 1991, ViewMAX 2 was distributed with DR DOS 6.0. Various graphical improvements were made in this release, including controls with a 3D appearance and user-selectable colour schemes.[9] The directory tree (if enabled) was now shown beside the list of icons, rather than instead of it.[9] Various settings could be stored in a configuration files named %DRDOSCFG%\VIEWMAX.INI.[10][3][4][11][9] For more flexible character set support ViewMAX 2 loaded display fonts from a standard DOS Template:Mono file[12][13][14][15][16][17] depending on the current code page rather than using a GEM specific character set, a feature also incorporated into FreeGEM since 2005.[18] The DOS/V-compatible Japanese version of ViewMAX, as distributed with DR DOS 6.0/V in 1992, supported DBCS characters loaded by Template:Mono from Template:Mono.[19] Support was added for the DR DOS task switcher TaskMAX; if this was present, applications would be launched as separate tasks, and ViewMAX could switch between them.[10][20][9] As TASKMGR in later operating systems such as Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, DR-DOS 7.02 and higher continued to emulate most of the task switcher API as well,[4][11][21] ViewMAX 2 could be used to switch and control multiple concurrently running full-screen DOS tasks under the DR-DOS preemptively multitasking kernel (Template:Mono) as well.[4][11][21]

ViewMAX 3 was intended to be the graphical file manager for Novell's next version of DR DOS. ViewMAX 3 included support for colour icons, movable and resizable windows, program groups, and background images.[22] If the underlying DR-DOS had the optional multi-user security module loaded, ViewMAX would also provide support for the extended world/group/owner access permission system. Although ViewMAX 3 was part of the DR DOS "Panther" Beta 1 distribution in October 1992,[11] it was never completed and apparently abandoned in favour to Apple's and Novell's "Star Trek" team project in 1992/1993, which remained unreleased as well. So, Novell DOS 7, as "DR DOS 7.0" was called in 1994, came without any graphical file manager at all. When Caldera bought the remaining Digital Research assets from Novell on 23 July 1996,[23] initial plans were to revive GEM and ViewMAX technologies for a low-footprint user interface for OpenDOS in mobile applications[24][25] as Caldera View, but these plans were abandoned by Caldera UK in favour of DR-WebSpyder and GROW. After closing the DR-DOS development center Caldera UK in early 1999, the remaining source code of the ViewMAX 3 beta version was published in April 1999 by the US parent company Caldera Thin Clients under the GPL[25] following continued community request to release the sources, shortly before the company changed its name to Lineo and switched to Linux-based technologies three months later.[26] Various ViewMAX features not previously found in GEM have been incorporated into FreeGEM since then.[27][18]

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

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  • Script error: No such module "citation/CS1". (106 pages)

External links

Template:Digital Research

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_1999_Versions
  2. ↑ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_1999_Differences
  3. ↑ a b c d Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN
  4. ↑ a b c d e f Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN
  5. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_1997_DRDOSTIP
  6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2002_GEMSID
  7. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MS_DR50
  8. ↑ a b c Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1
  9. ↑ a b c d Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2
  10. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Novell_1992_VM2
  11. ↑ a b c d Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP
  12. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_2001_CPI
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2006_CPI
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2006_CPPREP
  15. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named AEB_2001_CPI
  16. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Haralambous_2007_CPI
  17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MS_1991_PR
  18. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2006_FreeGEM2
  19. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named DRDOS60V_ViewMAX
  20. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Caldera_1997_MULTI
  21. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Paul_2001_API
  22. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2013_ViewMAX3
  23. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Leon_1996_Caldera
  24. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Caldera_1997_WebSpyder
  25. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Jemmett_1999
  26. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Caldera_1999_Lineo
  27. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Elliott_2006_FreeGEM1
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