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- åPurpose
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- Virtual Desktop is the answer to a growing problem among users of
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- modern Macintosh computers, who have plenty of RAM to run programs
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- in, but don’t have the “screen real estate” to handle large numbers of
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- windows productively. This problem is especially acute for people using
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- PowerBook computers, because of their small screen size.
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- Virtual Desktop, the virtual desktop manager for the Macintosh, is an
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- adaptation of the kind of virtual window manager found on many X Window
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- System workstations. Having allocated some memory for off-screen
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- buffers, they let the user’s screen view move between several “rooms”
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- where various programs can put their windows. Usually, these rooms are
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- non-overlapping and arranged in a rigid grid pattern. A small-scale
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- window shows the user where all the windows are, in a stylized form.
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- On the Macintosh, to date, there have been three successful solutions to
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- this problem. The first, a commercial program using software
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- techniques, extended the desktop by scrolling it away when the user
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- shoved the mouse against the edge of the screen. The second, a
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- shareware program with hardware dependencies, bought the user some
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- extra real estate by opening up the usually black area at the edges of the
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- monitor. The third, an increasingly lucrative business, is the sale of
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- graphic display stations or expansion cards with hardware-based scroll
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- and zoom capability.
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- Virtual Desktop has a number of advantages over these solutions. First,
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- it’s free. Second, it works on all types of monitors. Third, it has a
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- sophisticated user interface. Fourth, it takes advantage of System 7
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- features to do the whole job in the fewest possible clicks and keystrokes.
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- And last, it’s free.
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- åWho Can Use Virtual Desktop?
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- Any Macintosh running System 7.0 or later can use Virtual Desktop.
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- There is nothing special to install, but the first time you open Virtual
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- Desktop, it will ask for permission to install its own system extension,
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- then suggest that you restart your Macintosh. This system extension is
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- required in order for the application to operate.
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- See the section entitled “Virtual Desktop Extension” for more
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- information.
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- NOTE: To work as it does, the program needs intimate knowledge of how
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- Finder works. Because of this dependency, Virtual Desktop checks the
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- system version at startup, and if it finds itself in an unfamiliar version,
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- it warns you and lets you decide whether to continue. This version of
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- Virtual Desktop may someday be replaced by one which takes account of
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- changes in later versions of Finder.
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- Virtual Desktop also works on Macintoshes running At Ease instead of
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- Finder, with the exception of one option which requires Finder.
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- See the section entitled “The Door Preferences Dialog” for more
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- information.
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- Virtual Desktop can be placed on an AppleShare file server, where any
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- number of users can access it simultaneously.
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