NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/comp/sys/next/programm/8045

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-09 | 5.3 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!think.com!ames!agate!web-1a.berkeley.edu!128a-2fh
From: [e-mail] ()
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next.programmer
Subject: SUBMISSION:  Desktop v1.1 -- fast, cheap, user-friendly
Date: 9 Jan 1993 21:13:47 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 113
Sender: [e-mail]
Message-ID: <1inf6b$[e-mail]>
NNTP-Posting-Host: web-1a.berkeley.edu
Keywords: Desktop software

Hi Everyone,

A moment ago, Desktop v1.0 was released.  Its aim is to provide virtual
screens and freeform dock so that NeXT users have plenty of room to place
their windows and application icons.  It also comes with advanced features
that manipulate these windows and icons.  And it even automatically look up
the desired window for the users.

But this features-packed application, though handy, is quite CPU intensive.
My ideal window manager should be fast yet takes up as little CPU power as
possible.

Desktop v1.1 is a step closer to my ideal.  It is fast. It consumes very
little CPU power even while doing more housekeeping work than before!  And it
has useful features that I feel missing in Desktop v1.0.

In addition, all the functions of Desktop v1.1 are enabled if Desktop is in
the FULL DEMO mode so that NeXT users actually have a chance to see what
Desktop can do. (see below for more info)

Below are the features of Desktop v1.0 and Desktop v1.1

Features of Desktop 1.0
=======================
a.  Desktop provides four virtual screens with one being the active screen
at any one time.

b.  Desktop automatically switches from the current screen to the correct
virtual screen that contains the window that you need.  Alternatively, you
can ask Desktop to move that window to your current screen instead.

c.  Desktop offers a number of operations on any window, eg. floating a
window so that the window will always appear in the active screen, raising a
window, sending a window to any of the virtual screens etc.

d.  Besides window management, Desktop also manages the application icons
that are created by Workspace when you launch any application.  These
application icons can become misaligned or buried under other windows
sometimes.  With Desktop, you can tidy the icons, hide them, unhide them or
place them in front of other windows etc.

e.  Desktop offers its free-form dock that can be comprised of application
icons, folder icons and even data file icons.  In fact, the dock can be made
up of just any type of icons that appear in the file browser.  The status of
each Desktop dock icon is reflected by the three little dots just like any
NeXT dock icon (this is applicable to application icons only).  For other
types of Desktop icons, eg.  directory icon, a big dot appears on the lower
left corner instead of the three dots to indicate that Desktop will not keep
track of the status for this icon.  Of course, the user-customizable Desktop
dock can be edited and saved for future Desktop session.

f.  Desktop offers a new input method like that of a X-window manager.

Desktop has the miniaturization of the four virtual sceens in the Desktop
Window.  However, this does not mean that whenever you need to perform an
operation on a window eg. to move a window from one screen to another, you
have to drag the miniature view of that window in the Desktop Window.  This
can be inconvenient.

Instead, just move the mouse to the window (the actual window, not the
miniature view).  Then hold down the "Alternate" key first before moving the
mouse.  The WindowOp/NeXTApp Icon/Desktop Icon submenu will pop up depending
on whether the window is really a normal window, a NeXT app icon or a Desktop
icon.  You can then pick the desired operation from the menu.

g.  If the machine workload is heavy, adjust the refresh rate accordingly or
even turn it off.  Click on the Update button at the Desktop window to
manually update the display of the windows.


Features of Desktop 1.1
=======================
In addition to the above-mentioned features, Desktop1.1 has the following new
features:

h.  Desktop 1.1 consumes little CPU power, yet peforms operations faster than
Desktop 1.0.

i.  Auto Flip Screen feature for automatically switching to the correct
screen when you drag a window beyond the boundary of the active screen.  This
feature can be conveniently disabled for individual window-dragging sessions
if necessary.

j.  2 new icon features:
      i) Auto-tidy icons for aligning icons neatly at the bottom of the
screen at all times.
      ii) Group icons for grouping icons by application that owns these
icons.

k.  Popup submenu can be disabled if it causes interference by other
programs.

In short, Desktop 1.1 is a user-friendly utility that enhances the NeXT
Workspace.  The price is affordable and more info on how to purchase the
software is available in the demo copy itself.

I have problems uploading my program to sonata.cc.purdue and
nova.cc.purdue.edu.  (When I type "put Desktop1-1.tar", the uploading process
just hang there and never seems to complete).  Can someone advise me how to
submit an application to the ftp sites?

For now, to get a fully functional Desktop v1.1 demo, please email
[e-mail] or send conventional mail to :

    Teck-Cheng Sieu
     P.O. Box 367
    Berkeley, CA 94701-0367

All current users of Desktop 1.0 are entitled to free upgrade to Desktop 1.1.



Lastly, I hope you would like it.