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| 1320.1 | Volume 1 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:32 | 613 |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update Volume 1, No. 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------+
|Purpose|
+-------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management to disseminate
information about VMS DECwindows and Digital's DECwindows program. Recognizing
a need for greater public awareness of DECwindows, we've published this
Update to provide the Digital community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's DECwindows effort.
To be added to the DECwindows interest list, contact Paul Steeves (STAR::)
This VMS DECwindows Update covers the following DECwindows topics:
Program Description
Product Overview
Major Milestones
List of Components
Locations of Specs and Plans
Available Documentation
Migration Documentation
International Status
DECwindows Clearinghouse
Application Capture
Early Release Program
The Windowing Seminar
Field Test Status
DECUS Talks
Interface Prototype
Trademark Info
+-------------------------+
|DECwindows ---The Program|
-------------------------+
DECwindows is not a single product, it is a program that coordinates
a number of products that together make up the DECwindows environment.
VMS, UEG, PCSG, SDT, International Engineering, and others are all working
together to build the DECwindows environment.
Overseeing program level issues are:
Richard Treadway: DECwindows Program Manager (SPTNIK::)
Scott McGregor: DECwindows Architect (SPTNIK::)
Richard and Scott use two regular meetings to work issues at the program
level --- the DECwindows Review Board (DRB) meeting and the DECwindows
Architecture Review Board (ARB) meeting. Contact them if you have an
appropriate agenda item for either meeting.
The following people are responsible for the various DECwindows platforms:
VMS
===
Project Leader: Peter George
Product Management: Paul Steeves
Steve Marchesano
(all on STAR::)
Ultrix
======
Project Leader: Ken Reilly / Omur Tasar
Product Management: Mike Herman
Craig Lamont
(all on SMURF::)
PCSG
====
Project Leader: Gailyn Casaday
Product Management: Bob Regan
(both on SPCTRM::)
+----------------+
|Product Overview|
+----------------+
For the uninitiated, a quick overview of the product...
DECwindows software provides a complete environment for developing and
interacting with graphically oriented applications. DECwindows is built
upon the industry-standard X Version 11 Window System (tm) to provide users
of VMS workstations, Ultrix workstations, and MS/DOS PCs with:
Coherent state of the art user interfaces
A common network-transparent application programming environment for
windowing, graphics, and user interface services
A base set of core applications
A library of 3rd party applications
VMS DECwindows
==============
VMS DECwindows is the VMS implementation of the industry standard
X11 windowing system. X11 is a client/server architecture
that uses a standardized network protocol to communicate between the client
and server.
The standarized protocol permits windowing to occur transparently
across the network. In this system, clients make standardized windowing
and graphics requests and the servers correctly implement the request
for the display hardware on which they reside.
The VMS DECwindows client-side software consists of a Programming
environment and a User environment. The following sections describe each in
more detail.
The Programming Environment
===========================
The programming environment offered by DECwindows consists of:
The standard Xlib programming library --- contains routines that handle
window management, perform graphics output, and manage input from devices.
VMS will implement unique extension mechanisms that allow the server to
use specific VMS features. For example, AST library extensions
allow VMS users to receive notification of X input events using standard
VMS AST mechanism.
The DECwindows toolkit programming library -- VMS-implemented superset of the
standard Xtoolkit programming library. The Xtoolkit subset provides
mechanisms for building complex user interface objects.
Toolkit extensions minimize the effort needed to write
new software and encourage a consistent user interface
policy by using the Xtoolkit to implement such standard user interface
objects as menus and scroll bars.
The DDIF toolkit programming library -- provides a mechanism for easing
the creation, access, and modification of Digital Document Interchange
Format (DDIF) files while ensuring that files created by applications
are valid.
Support for using these DECwindows libraries from many of the standard
VMS programming languages.
The User Environment
====================
The user environment offered by DECwindows consists of:
Window Manager --- provides user control over windows through the
functions listed below:
o Move
o Resize
o Iconify/Deiconify
o Manage icons
o Pop/Push
Window border and banner decoration provides the title bar and
control buttons necessary for the user interface to the windowing
functions.
Session Manager --- provides the top-level user interface to
a DECwindows workstation. It consists of the following components:
o Application activation mechanism --- allows VMS images and
processes to be invoked and created from the session manager.
o Control panel --- provides a mechanism for the user to es-
tablish and maintain workstation attributes
o Help --- provides the user with on-line assistance and guidance in
using the DECwindows system.
o Print screen capability --- provides a user an application interface
for the storage and printing of image data for an arbitrary screen
rectangle at screen resolution.
o Session control mechanism --- Allows the user to log into the
workstation, not terminals on the workstation. Permits
default desktops and user interface options set up at login time.
VMS User Executive (VUE) --- a new operating system interface for VMS
DECwindows systems. It is an alternative to DCL and its traditional
terminal-oriented system interface.
VUE takes as its starting point the MS-Windows Executive and
MacIntosh Finder applications. It is extended in ways that take
advantage of VAX and VMS and that increase its functions and
usability. VUE is a DECwindows Application Style Guide conforming
application.
The Clipboard ---- is a mechanism to facilitate the exchange of
data between windows on the workstation screen. It provides a
location where "cut" data can be archived and later retrieved.
DECterm --- VT320 terminal emulator.
Out-Of-The-Box Applications --- simple applications bundled with base
VMS DECwindows product: calendar, calculator, cardfiler, simple text editor,
simple graphics editor, and so forth.
VMS operating system utilities --- DEBUG, Mail, TPU, EVE.
Server Support
==============
The VMS DECwindows server supports the following hardware:
VAXstation II
VAXstation II/RC
VAXstation II/GPX
VAXstation 2000
VAXstation 2000/GPX
+-------------------------------+
|VMS DECwindows Major Milestones|
+-------------------------------+
The following table describes the current VMS DECwindows development
schedule:
Date Milestone Components
=====================================================================
16-MAR-87 Internal baselevel X11 alpha server on VMS
VS II and VS 2000 support
Xlib on VMS
Initial window manager
Initial terminal emulator
11-MAY-87 BL1 code freeze X11 alpha+ server on VMS
25-MAY-87 BL1 ships
13-JUL-87 BL2 code freeze x11 beta server on VMS
27-JUL-87 BL2 ships
03-AUG-87 Specs available DECtoolkit
Style Guide
10-AUG-87 BL3 code freeze VSII/GPX support
24-AUG-87 BL3 ships VAX bindings for xlib
VMS Xlib Ref. Man.
VMS Style Guide
24-AUG-87 Specs available All
14-SEP-87 BL4 code freeze DECtoolkit subset 1
28-SEP-87 BL4 ships VMS DECtoolkit Ref. Man.
VS2000/GPX support
VT100 terminal emulator
02-NOV-87 BL5 code freeze X11 final server on VMS
16-NOV-87 BL5 ships DECtoolkit subset 2
Tablet as pointing device
VT220 terminal emulator
DDIF toolkit
Initial session manager
Notepad editor
14-DEC-87 IFT/FT1 code freeze DECtoolkit subset 3
06-JAN-88 IFT ships Complete documentation
5-FEB-88 FT1 ships Initial UIL compiler
Cut and paste
Tuned VT320 emulator
Programmer interface Complete session manager
FT Complete window manager
Calendar
DECpaint
Desktop Accessories
Mail
Book Reader (VOILA)
07-MAR-88 FT2 code freeze Clipboard
28-MAR-88 FT2 ships Complete UIL compiler
VMS User Executive
Fully functional DDIF converters and viewers
and tuned DEBUG
TPU
EVE
Postscript Previewer
09-MAY-88 FT3 code freeze Bug fixes only
30-MAY-88 FT3 ships
27-JUN-88 SDC code freeze Final SDC kit
18-JUL-88 SDC kit submitted
+---------------------------------+
|VMS DECwindows Bundled Components|
+---------------------------------+
A number of DECwindows libraries and applications will be bundled and
delivered as part of the DECwindows Version 1.0 product. These "bundled
components" are being developed by several different organizations
within Digital. The following list contains the names and project leaders
of all DECwindows bundled components:
Component Libraries:
o DECwindows toolkit -- Leo Treggiari (SDT)
o DECwindows toolkit Intrinsics -- Charles Haynes (UEG)
o DDIF Toolkits -- Marty Jack (SDT)
o UIL Compiler -- Steve Greenwood (SDT)
Components:
o Calendar -- Bob Wyman (SDT)
o DEBUG (VMS) -- Brad Becker (SDT)
o DECterm -- Ed Parsons (TBU)
o DECpaint -- Dan Latham (SDT)
o Desktop Accessories -- Paul Reilly (SDT)
o DDIF Converters -- Dick Gumbel (SDT)
o DDIF Viewers -- Stew Hoover (SDT)
o EVE -- Jim Burrows (SDT)
o Fonts -- Jim Flowers (TBU)
o MAIL (VMS) -- Jim VanGilder (BOSE)
o Notepad -- Joel Gringorten (UEG)
o Postscript Previewer -- Susan Angebranndt (UEG)
o VOILA -- Joe Kraetsch (VMS)
o Window Manager -- Hania Gajewska (UEG)
+---------------+
|Specs and Plans|
+---------------+
Public information about VMS DECwindows is located in the public
directory:
BULOVA::BULOVA$DISK:[PUBLIC.DECWINDOWS]
In that directory you will find several subdirectories:
DOCUMENTATION.DIR;1 - documentation plans and preliminary copies
PHASE0.DIR;1 - Phase 0 documents
PHASE1.DIR;1 - Phase 1 documents
PLANS.DIR;1 - Project plans for all VMS DECwindow components
SPECS.DIR;1 - Specifications for all VMS DECwindow components
X.DIR;1 - X-specific documents
+------------------------+
|DECwindows Documentation|
+------------------------+
The master documentation plan for the VMS DECwindows documentation
resides in the [PLANS] directory listed above.
o DECwindows Documentation Project Leader -- Peter Laquerre (ORION::)
o VMS Project Leader -- Cathy Frean (STAR::)
o Ultrix Project Leader -- Al Mento (SMURF::)
Currently Available
===================
The following PRELIMINARY drafts of VMS DECwindows books are available
in the public [DOCUMENTATION] directory:
A draft of the 'VMS DECwindows Application Programming Style
Guide'. This document describes the standard user interface for DECwindows
applications, defines the appearance, behavior, and usage of the user interface
components, and includes a sample DECwindows application.
A draft of the 'VMS DECwindows Xlib Routine Reference Manual'.
This document contains descriptions of both the VAX and C bindings
for the Xlib programming routines.
A draft of the 'VMS DECwindows Toolkit Routine Reference Manual'.
This document contains the full description of the VAX and C bindings for the
DECwindows toolkit widget creation programming routines.
These documents are located in BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION],
under the following names:
APP_STYLE_GUIDE_BL5(Style Guide)
XLIB_REFERENCE_BL5(Xlib Routine Reference)
DWTLIB_REFERENCE_BL41(DECwindows Toolkit Routine Reference)
X11 Documents
=============
In addition, you can find copies of the latest MIT X11 documentation
(describing the X protocol, Xlib, and Xtoolkit) in the following directory:
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[X]
The current relevant contents of the directory are:
READ_ME_FIRST.DAT (Listing and brief description of files in this directory)
X11_KEYSYMS_REL1.LPR (Listing of keysym codes)
X11_PROTOCOL_REL1.LPR (X11 Protocol Spec)
X11_ENCODING_REL1.LPR (Encoding spec for symbols referenced in protocol spec)
XLIB_REL1.PSC (MIT Xlib spec)
XLIB_REL1_INDEX.PSC (Index to MIT Xlib spec)
XTOOLKIT_REL1.PSC (latest MIT Xtoolkit spec)
XTOOLKIT_REL1_INDEX.PSC (index to toolkit spec)
UIS to DECwindows Migration
===========================
A preliminary draft of 'A Guide to Migrating UIS Applications to X'
exists to help in the porting of UIS applications.
It resides in:
BULOVA$BULOVA$DISK:[PUBLIC.DECWINDOWS.DOCUMENTATION]UIS_TO_DW.MEM
+------------------------+
|International DECwindows|
+------------------------+
In recent weeks an international enginnering team has been formed to
ensure that DECwindows is a successfully internationalized product.
It consists of the following key members:
J�rgen Bettels as International Engineering DECwindows Architect
John Hurd as International Engineering DECwindows Program Manager
Jean Claude Monney as International Engineering Marketting manager
J�rgen will have full responsibility for defining an architecture designed to
address the requirements and implementation of DECwindows in Europe. He will
also be a member of the DECwindows Architecture Board and the DECwindows
Review Board.
John's responsibility is to ensure that the US DECwindows effort is coordinated
with the international effort and that the DECwindows Version 1 is a truly
international product. One goal is to have 5 languages in V1 and at least
1 simultaneous language release. He is also a member of the DECwindow
Review Board.
Jean Claude's responsibilities include forming the european marketing
team, coordinating the X-11 pre-release distribution to strategic accounts,
and developing a plan to include training, ISV and CSO activities, PR and
advertising.
This team has documented critical problems and presented them to the
DECwindows Architecture Review Board.
The file CURRENT_INTERNATIONAL_STATUS.MEM in the [PLANS] public directory
describes the current status of these important internationalization issues.
+------------------------+
|DECwindows Clearinghouse|
+------------------------+
The DECwindows Clearinghouse exists to ensure the consistency of user
interfaces across all DECwindows operating system platforms. The Clearinghouse
serves as a central point of reference for information about DECwindows
interfaces already under development. It is also available to assist all
Digital Layered Product groups who are planning development of software
compatible with DECwindows.
The Clearinghouse is coordinated by the SQM group, contact Paul Hague
(SQM::HAGUE) for futher information.
+-------------------------------------+
|Application Capture - The ISV Program|
+-------------------------------------+
The Desktop Applications Development Group's Independent Software Vendors
Program is a major undertaking to work with software vendors to develop, port,
and integrate their software on Digital's current and future Desktop
platforms.
The goals are to provide a wide range of quality solutions, applications, and
tools to the end user community. Also, to create a win-win situation for our
third party developers and ourselves. We can achieve both goals through our
cooperative efforts.
The Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Program will provide a broad spectrum of
support activities including:
* Technical support
* Training
* On-line assistance
* Conversion support
* Pre-release hardware & software
* Performance testing
* Distribution
* Advertising to Digital base
(Add abstract of program here.)
Contact: Mike Mancuso (CURIE::MANCUSO)
Group Marketing Manager
Desktop Applications Development Group
+-------------------------+
|X11 Early Release Program|
+-------------------------+
One of the important considerations for success of the DECwindows program
is having a robust standard workstation development environment for the
VAX/VMS and Ultrix operating systems available in a timely fashion.
The goal of the X11 Early Release program is to make the X Window
System software development environment available and supported in a
timely fashion to as many qualified application developers as
possible.
The Early Release program is designed to be a precursor to the ISV program.
The smaller scale of this program permits it to be mobilized
more rapidly.
Contact: Charlie Giorgetti (HARBOR::) for more information.
+----------------------------+
|DECwindows Windowing Seminar|
+----------------------------+
In an effort to build early customer interest in DECwindows reaffirm Digital's
position as a leader in worksystems technology and standards, SSG's Base Prduct
Marketing (BPM) group plans to deliver a Windows and Worksystems Seminar in 16
cities throughout the US. Each two-day event will include:
o Day 1 -- Field training for Sales, Sales Support, and PSS.
o Day 2 -- Executive-level and non-disclosure presentations
for customers.
The Windows and Worksystems seminar is be coordinated by Gail Grant.
The current version of the plan resides in:
BULOVA$BULOVA$DISK:[PUBLIC.DECWINDOWS.PLANS]WINDOW_SEMINAR.MEM
Contact: Gail Grant (VIDEOT::GRANT)
+----------+
|Field Test|
+----------+
Field test of DECwindows is currently scheduled to begin
in the late January time frame. VMS field test sites have already
been polled for participation in field test and site selection
and licensing is now underway.
+-----------+
|DECUS talks|
+-----------+
A number of talks will be given during Fall DECUS that
discuss aspects of DECwindows.
Note that although these are given by two different SIGs, the GAPSIG and
the UNISIG, the topics will be of interest to anyone interested in X.
The DECwindows implementation of X-11 is common across platforms, so
the future directions talk given by VMS in the GAPSIG will be of interest
to ULTRIX users and the technical talks given in the UNISIG will be of interest
to VMS users. The current schedule of all DECwindows-related talks follows.
Watch the Update for details during the week of DECUS.
=========================================================
Day Talk Time Room
MON VMS Workstation Future Directions 2:00 Pacific
TUES DECwindows Overview 9:00 Pacific
X 3D: A 3D Extension for X 10:00 Pacific
X Window System 1:00 Pacific
Writing an X Application 2:00 Pacific
X User Interface Toolkit 3:00 Pacific
THURS Translation Mgmt in the DECtoolkit 10:00 Redondo
X and Its Use By DECwindows 2:00 Redondo
FRI Internals of the X Resource Manager 2:00 Redondo
=========================================================
+---------------------------+
| DECwindows Prototype Demos|
+---------------------------+
Digital engineers have put together several prototypes of
the DECwindows environment. A demonstration of some of these prototypes has
been recorded on a videotape entitled "DECwindows Prototype Presentation,"
which is available through the Spit Brook library.
For more information about prototyping, contact Charlie Frean
(CLT::FREAN)
+--------------------------+
|X Window System Trademarks|
+--------------------------+
The correct name and spelling is "X Window System". This is a trademark held
by MIT, and references to the system should indicate this. For short, we
prefer simply "X". MIT claims trademark on "X Windows" as well, although we
rather dislike that name and prefer that you not use it. When referring
specifically to Version 11 of the system, the long form is "X Window System,
Version 11", with the short forms "X11" and "X Version 11".
from -- Robert W. Scheifler, Director, MIT X Consortium
|
| 1320.2 | volume 2 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:36 | 746 |
| ************************************************************************
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DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update March 24, 1989 Volume 2, Number 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
Next VMS DECwindows release phase documents available
VMS 5.2 - what it means to DECwindows
Programming documentation update service
Potential second login trouble
Interoperability Testing begins
VAXpc NOT shipping with Desktop-VMS V1
Desktop-VMS SPD
Future Topics
Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PHASE 0" DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW
Although VMS DECwindows is not a product-it is a component of
the operating system-the subsequent releases of functionality
will be following a phase-like review process.
To that end, "Phase Review" documents are being made available
in the following public directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[PHASE0]
The documents included are:
-Business plan
-Product requirements document
-Servicability document
-Preliminary documentation statement
To whet your appetite, the following descriptions of intended
new functionality are excerpted from the business plan:
Internationalization
For this release, all the text in the user interface will be
implemented in separate, easily translatable UIL files. This
will help to diminish the time for translation by each of the
Local Engineering Groups (LEGs).
In addition, a switching mechanism will be provided so that
users may switch the interface (on a session-wide basis) between
any number of languages (provided they have installed those
language variants).
Monitor Independence
Monitor independence is the ability of the windowing system and
all the bundled applications to behave intelligently regardless
of the size of the monitor on which they display. (For this
release, 512 x 342 is assumed to be the worst case monitor.)
Multi-head support
Multi-head support permits a user to display DECwindows on more
than one display screen but only a single keyboard and mouse.
The X Window System inherently supports the notion of multiple
screens. Much of this support shipped in a latent state in the
initial release.
TCP/IP Support for the Connection Product
The first release of VMS DECwindows supported two network pro-
tocols - DECnet and a local, shared-memory transport. Due to
resource limitations, it was not possible to support TCP/IP
in the initial release. This omission has created a tremendous
market demand that VMS DECwindows support TCP/IP as a network
protocol in the next release.
VMS does not provide native support for TCP/IP in the way that
it does for DECnet. VMS customers who are using TCP are either
using Digital's Connection product or a third party product
(i.e. Wollongong). Each of these TCP/IP implementations is
different. This means that when VMS DECwindows supports TCP
/IP - it supports the Connection TCP/IP. For DECwindows to work
with other implementations, each implementation must write its
own support. The third parties need information from Digital to
do that.
For this release VMS intends to do the following:
o Make the VMS DECwindows transport interface public in the
next functional release. This means third parties could add
their own transports. (Note that this interface is not stable
and a warning to that effect will accompany the publication
of the interface.)
o Recruit field test sites that want to write their own trans-
ports. This might include Wollongong.
o Complete, test, and deliver the transport support for DECwin-
dows using the Connection product.
Performance Enhancements
Performance enhancements to the base system and component ap-
plications will continue to be made, with advice from the VMS
performance group.
Bugfixes
Naturally, numerous bugfixes will be included in this second
release of DECwindows functionality. While critical bugfixes are
incorporated into the VMS maintenence and point releases (i.e.
V5.2), the less critical fixes are delivered in this release.
Closure of "Phase 0" is scheduled to take place on March 29 at
ZK3.
VMS 5.2 - WHAT IT MEANS TO DECWINDOWS
Note that the next functional release of VMS DECwindows is NOT
the next point release of VMS.
VMS Version 5.2 is currently in field test and is scheduled to
ship to the SDC in June, BEFORE the next functional release of
DECwindows.
HOWEVER, there are *some* changes to the DECwindows environment
that will ship with Version 5.2.
1 The Debugger that is shipping with VMS 5.2 will make a DECwin-
dows interface available for the first time.
2 The following bugfixes have been made:
o Decw$startup.com no longer checks to ensure that the VMS
system version is "V5.1".
o The file sys$manager:systartup_v5.com unconditionally invokes
decw$startup.com. This allows DECwindows clients to be run on
any VMS system.
o Increasing the vertical size of DECwindows Mail's main win-
dow in the pane interface previously may have resulted in
commands operating on the wrong messages, and in some cases
caused access violations. This problem is now fixed.
o DECwindows Mail aborted with access violations if no message
was selected during Extract..., Print..., Reply and Forward
operations. This problem is now fixed.
o The DECwindows server could grow larger and larger until VIR-
TUALPAGCNT is exhaused if a client uses the CopyGC request.
o A problem has been corrected where the DECwindows server in
some cases fails to paint window backgrounds correctly on
VAXstation 3520 and 3540 systems.
o Certain drawing operations were not immediately started by
the driver for GPX systems. The new gadriver.exe improves the
performance of XGetImage and XPutImage operations.
o Changing the dash pattern in a GC via XSetDashes was previ-
ously ignored on GPX systems. This problem is now fixed.
o PolyLines whose end points are greater than 4095 apart were
not drawn correctly by the GPX DECWindows server. This prob-
lem is now fixed.
o XDrawText requests failed to draw text with certain strings
and fonts which have a very large maximum character width to
a partially occluded window.
o The DECWindows server could grow larger and larger until
VIRTUALPAGCNT is exhausted if a client used bad coordinates
when specifying a clip region in a GC.
o The DECwindows server could corrupt window displays when
using alu function GX_AND_INVERTED to a one bit deep pixmap.
o The session manager could occasionally create one fewer
than the selected number of terminal emulator windows during
startup.
o Applications calling the decw$term_port routine inadvertently
had all timer requests cancelled.
o The DECwindows server could grow larger and larger until
VIRTUALPAGCNT is exhausted if a clients drew to a pixmap
using a clip region in the GC. This problem has been fixed.
o The DECwindows server could go into an infinite loop if a
client did not clear the undefined bits in the flag field
of the XColor structure during a StoreColors request. This
problem has been fixed.
o The DECwindows toolkit routine XtInitialize no longer aborts
if it is called more than once. The second and subsequent
calls, however, are no-ops and do not perform any initializa-
tion.
o The DECwindows server could sometimes disconnect clients
prematurely when, after a short retry, the server assumes
that the client is not functioning properly. This problem has
been fixed by increasing the time interval between retries.
o The session manager could abort with an access violation on
the second and subsequent attempts to use the printscreen
function. This has been fixed.
o If the DECwindows startup command procedure determines that
it is necessary to run AUTOGEN and the user elects to have
this done automatically, AUTOGEN is now run with feedback if
valid feedback data exists.
o The terminal fonts supplied with DECwindows currently use
a hybrid of the DEC Multinational character set even though
the font names say they use the ISOLatin1 character set. This
discrepancy will be resolved in a future release of VMS by
changing the encoding of these fonts to be true ISOLatin1.
o The DECwindows Server is internally currently limited to a
maximum of 32 clients. (Note that all DECterms started by the
session manager count as a total of only one client). How-
ever, there are other limitations which may further restrict
the number of clients which can connect to a server.
One such additional limitation is Enqueue Quota which the
server is running with. Any client which connects using the
Local transport mechanism will use up two lock queue entries.
In addition, there may be other locking going on. Thus, if
the server has an Enqueue Quota of 30, a maximum of 15 local
clients will be allowed.
If you need a larger enqueue quota on the server, you can
modify the sysgen parameter PQL_DENQLM (the default enqueue
limit for any process which does not explicitly specify the
enqueue limit when it is created).
PRORGAMMING DOCUMENTATION UPDATE SERVICE
As you all know from reading previous newsletters, the VMS
DECwindows documentation kit is separately orderable. There
have been many inquiries about how you get update service for
that kit. We now have an answer for those questions, although
you can't take advantage of this information until after April
10th.
The VMS DECwindows Programming Documentation Update service part
number will be:
QT-001AM-KZ at a price of $35/month or $420/year.
NOTE: This part number is currently incorrect on the price file
as "VMS Ext Doc update service" priced at $83/month or $996
/year.
The CORRECT part number and price are not effective as yet -
this will occur April 10 - so do not order this service until
AFTER April 10.
POTENTIAL SECOND LOGIN TROUBLE
Single user licenses have always permitted a second login for
system management and service reasons (like if your screen
process is wedged and you need to login and shoot something).
Under DECwindows, a PAK needs to be sized at 200 license units
to allow that behaviour. However, some VAXstations shipped since
Version 5.0 have been issued PAKs that are sized at 100 license
units.
If a customer you deal with runs into this problem, they should
contact the Customer Support Center to obtain a temporary ser-
vice PAK (TSP) to enable unlimited use temporarily, until they
receive the correctly sized License PAK, -distribution of which
is triggered when they contact the CSC.
This problem has now been corrected and VAXstations are shipping
with the appropriate PAKs.
INTEROPERABILITY TESTING BEGINS
The VMS performance group has volunteered to address the *short
term* interoperability testing issues (primarily VMS to Ultrix -
both VAX & MAX - interoperability).
The appropriate equipment is currently being requisitioned and a
testing plan is being finalized.
Note that *long term*, ongoing testing of other servers is NOT
the goal of this group. However, the DECwindows Program Office
is currently looking for a group to own the long term issue.
VAXPC NOT SHIPPING WITH DESKTOP-VMS
VAXpc for VMS will NOT ship with Desktop-VMS Software Version
1.0. The decision not to ship VAXpc with V1.0 was made based
upon a delay in the VAXpc schedule. The plan is to ship the
online documentation for VAXpc anyway as part of the Version
1.0 Desktop-VMS CD, and to offer the VAXpc product on the next
version of Desktop-VMS.
VAXpc will be available on TK50 shortly after the release of
Desktop-VMS Version 1.0. Desktop-VMS users will be able to load
VAXpc using this media.
DESKTOP-VMS SPD
The following is the SPD that will ship with Desktop-VMS
Software Version 1.0:
------------------------------------------------------------
PRODUCT NAME: Desktop-VMS Software, Version 1.0 SPD 25.F4.00
DESCRIPTION
System Overview
Desktop-VMS Software is an easy-to-use, VMS operating system
environment for the VAXstation 3100, offering simplified system
installation and system management.
It is delivered as a preintegrated, preinstalled VMS system
on compact disc that includes the following system software
components:
o VMS Operating System (Version 5.1-B, including VMS DECwin-
dows)
o DECnet-VAX End Node (Version 5.1)
o VAXcluster Software (Version 5.1)
o Desktop-VMS "ease-of-use" Software
Desktop-VMS Software offers the following features:
o Easy system installation
o Simplified VAXcluster configuration
o Easy-to-use VMS DECwindows user interface
o Simplified, "menu select" system management
o Easy document access through online documentation
o Extensive online help
o Preinstalled, layered applications for the desktop
VMS Operating System
The VMS Operating System is a component of Desktop-VMS Software,
and therefore delivers the full power of VMS to the Desktop-
VMS Software user. In addition to the easy to use DECwindows
Fileview user interface, full access to VMS and utilities is
available through the traditional DCL interface.
VMS DECwindows User Interface
VMS DECwindows provides users with a "point-and-click" inter-
face to the VMS Operating System and applications. Users in-
voke applications and perform tasks by selecting functions from
graphical menus, rather than relying on typed commands. DECwin-
dows also enables users to run multiple applications in multiple
windows simultaneously, improving productivity.
VMS DECwindows is the pre-integrated windowing software for
the Desktop-VMS environment. VAX Workstation Software (VWS) and
VWS applications are not supported. Refer to the VMS Operating
System V5.1 SPD for a complete description of VMS DECwindows.
System Installation
Installation of Desktop-VMS Software is simple because the
components that make up the system, VMS Operating System,
DECnet-VAX, VAXcluster Software, and Desktop-VMS "ease-of-use"
software are already integrated and installed on the compact
disc, and licensed under a single Desktop-VMS license.
System installation is as easy as powering on the workstation,
inserting the Desktop-VMS Software compact disc, and answering a
set of simple configuration questions.
Desktop-VMS Software also offers simplified VAXcluster configu-
ration. Users can add "satellite" workstations into a VAXcluster
by answering an additional set of configuration questions. An
installation "worksheet" is provided that enables the user to
gather all pertinent information before actually starting the
installation. To configure a VAXcluster, users simply enter
information from the worksheet in response to configuration
questions.
System Management
Desktop-VMS Software provides users with a DECwindows interface
to commonly used system management functions. Through graphical
menus, users see only those functions necessary to manage the
Desktop-VMS Software environment.
Desktop-VMS system management includes menus for performing such
functions as:
o Managing users
o Setting up printers
o Backup and Restore
o Local tape and floppy management
o Installing layered products
o Managing a VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster
Desktop-VMS Software provides a pregenerated, optimized sys-
tem for ease of use. Many system resources, such as user vol-
umes and SYSGEN parameters are set up automatically for the
user. The system management tools that are delivered as part of
Desktop-VMS Software were designed to manage this pregenerated
environment, and should be used to perform system management.
Using traditional VMS management commands and utilities to make
modifications may compromise the integrity of the Desktop-VMS
Software environment.
Layered Applications
In addition to the Desktop-VMS Software system, the Desktop-
VMS Software compact disc includes pre-installed software for
selected DECnet System Services (DSS) Products. The DSS product
family provides users with the ability to treat remote network
resources as if they were local. These products are included on
the Desktop-VMS compact disc as layered products, and include:
o VAX Distributed File Service (DFS) - Provides local access to
remote VMS disk resources.
o VAX Distributed Queuing Services (DQS) - Provides local
access to remote VMS printers.
While these products are included on the Desktop-VMS Software
compact disc, the Desktop-VMS product does not include licenses
for these products. Customers who purchase a license for these
products, will receive a Product Authorization Key (PAK) that
will enable them to access the software. Hardcopy documentation
can also be ordered separately. Refer to the "Ordering Informa-
tion" section of this SPD for product ordering information.
Refer to the respective product SPD (available online via the
DECwindows Bookreader) for more detailed information about these
products.
Documentation
Desktop-VMS Software documentation is available in both hardcopy
and online formats. Access to online documentation is provided
by the DECwindows Bookreader, which comes with Desktop-VMS Soft-
ware. Using the Bookreader, users can browse through documenta-
tion by paging through a selected manual or by selecting entries
from the manual's index or table of contents.
Hardcopy Documentation
The VAXstation 3100 offers standard system packages that include
Desktop-VMS Software media and hardcopy documentation. Desktop-
VMS Software kits can be ordered separately; however, these kits
do not include hardcopy documentation.
Hardcopy Desktop-VMS manuals can be ordered separately. The
following table lists the Desktop-VMS Software hardcopy manuals:
o Desktop-VMS Basic System Guide (Model 30 User)
o Desktop-VMS Advanced System Guide (Model 30 Standalone)
o Desktop-VMS Management Guide (Model 40)
o Desktop-VMS Management Guide (VAXserver 3400)
For information on ordering Desktop-VMS Software documentation,
refer to "Ordering Information" section of this SPD.
Note: Hardcopy documentation for the DSS product set must be
purchased separately.
Online Documentation
The following manuals are delivered as online documentation on
the Desktop-VMS Software compact disc:
o All of the Desktop-VMS hardcopy manuals (listed above)
o VMS General User's Manual
o VMS System Manager's Manual
o VMS License Management Utility Manual
o VMS DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide
o VAXpc for VMS User's Guide*
The Desktop-VMS Software license includes a license for execu-
tion of any software documentation included on the Desktop-VMS
Software CD. The online documentation is intended for use with
the DECwindows Bookreader application supplied by DIGITAL. Hard
copy printing of online documentation products is limited to the
screen segment print capabilities included in DECwindows.
* The VAXpc for VMS User's Guide is included with the Desktop-
VMS CD to enable users, who install VAXpc in the Desktop-VMS
environment, to access the documentation using the DECwindows
Bookreader.
VAXpc for VMS software is a DECwindows applications program that
emulates an IBM (R) PC/AT computer, enabling VAXstation users to
access PC applications.
While VAXpc for VMS software is NOT included with Desktop-
VMS Software Version 1.0, it will be available on traditional
software distribution media. Contact your local DIGITAL office
for ordering information.
GROWTH CONSIDERATIONS
The minimum hardware/software requirements for any future ver-
sion of this product may be different from the minimum hardware
requirements of this version.
Hardware Configuration Requirements
Desktop-VMS Software supports standalone (VAXstation 3100 Model
30 Starter) or server (VAXstation 3100 Model 40) VAXstation 3100
workstations configured with a compact disc reader and at least
one, 105 MB hard disk. At installation, Desktop-VMS Software
allocates one disk as the system volume, and any remaining disks
as a user volume set. Other VAXstation 3100 configurations,
such as the VAXstation 3100 Model 30 diskless workstation, can
run Desktop-VMS Software as satellites in a VAXstation 3100
VAXcluster. The VAXstation 3100 Model 40 boot server running
Desktop-VMS Software supports from 7-10 VAXstation 3100 satel-
lites depending on the amount of server memory and disk storage
(see memory and storage requirements below).
In addition, Desktop-VMS Software supports the VAXserver 3400
configured with a compact disc reader and at least one hard
disk. The VAXserver 3400 is used as a boot node and file server
in a large (15-20 satellite) VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster.
Note: Desktop-VMS Software support is limited to a VAXcluster
of VAXstation 3100 systems (may include a VAXserver 3400 boot
server). This version of Desktop-VMS does not support clustering
of other VAX systems.
Memory Requirements
VAXstation 3100 Model 30 systems come configured with a minimum
8 MB of memory. This amount of memory is sufficient for running
Desktop-VMS Software on standalone or satellite workstations.
The minimum amount of memory required for a VAXstation 3100
Model 40 system being used as a boot server in a VAXstation 3100
VAXcluster running Desktop-VMS Software is 8 MB; however, 16 MB
of memory is recommended for larger VAXcluster configurations.
For VAXserver 3400 systems being used as a boot server in a
VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster running Desktop-VMS Software, 12 MB
of memory is recommended.
Disk Storage Requirements
The Desktop-VMS system requires 60 MB of hard disk storage. Each
diskless VAXstation 3100 satellite requires an additional 18
MB of server storage for page/swap files and 5-10 MB of server
storage for user files.
Each VAXstation 3100 satellite that has a local page/swap disk
does not require page and swap files on the server; however,
like the diskless satellite, it does require 5-10 MB of server
storage for user files.
Operating Requirements
In the Desktop-VMS environment, the Desktop-VMS compact disc is
an integral part of the operating environment and must remain
resident in the compact disc reader while the system is running.
The Desktop-VMS compact disc may be removed for short periods
of time, for example, to copy layered product save sets from
another compact disc, but it must be replaced in order to run
the full Desktop-VMS system. If regular use of other compact
discs are a requirement, configurations should be configured
with an additional compact disc reader.
SPD References
Each of the component products listed below is described in
detail in a separate Software Product Description (SPD).
o VMS Operating System, Version 5.1-B (including VMS DECwin-
dows) (SPD 25.01.31)
o DECnet-VAX, Version 5.1 (SPD 25.03.25)
o VAXcluster Software, Version 5.1 (SPD 29.78.01)
o DECnet System Services (DSS) Version 1.1:
- VAX Distributed File Service, Version 1.1 SPD (28.79.01)
- VAX Distributed Queuing Service, Version 1.1 (SPD 28.80.01)
These SPDs are provided online on the Desktop-VMS Software com-
pact disc. They can be read using the DECwindows Bookreader and
reside in the book entitled, "Software Product Descriptions."
SOFTWARE LICENSING
This software is furnished under the software licensing provi-
sions of DIGITAL's Standard Terms and Conditions. For more in-
formation about DIGITAL's licensing terms and policies, contact
your local DIGITAL office.
ORDERING INFORMATION
o Software License: QL-VV8AC-BB
o Software Media: QA-VV8AA-H8
o Software Documentation:
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Basic System Guide Model 30 EK-259AA-OM-001
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Advanced System Guide Model 30 EK-260AA-OM-001
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Management Guide Model 40 EK-261AA-OM-001
VAXserver 3400 Desktop-VMS
Management Guide 640QS EK-263AA-OM-001
Note that the Desktop-VMS compact disc includes online documen-
tation that describes the Desktop-VMS environment. Refer to the
"Documentation" section of this SPD for more information.
DECnet System Services (DSS)
VAX Distributed File Service (DFS) Software License: QL-VEQA*-**
VAX Distributed Queueing Service (DQS) Software License: QL-VENA*-**
Software Product Services: QT-VV8A*-**
DISTRIBUTION MEDIA
Desktop-VMS Software is distributed exclusively on Compact Disc.
SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES
A variety of service options is available from DIGITAL. For more
information, contact your local DIGITAL office.
SOFTWARE WARRANTY
Warranty for this product is provided by DIGITAL with the pur-
chase of a license for the product as defined in the Software
Warranty Addendum to this SPD.
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.3 | Volume 3 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:37 | 1080 |
| ************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update May 27, 1988 Volume 1, Number 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Primary Contributor(s): Peter George
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::FOLEY;
please include name of group in which you work and node on which
you receive mail; individual requests will NOT receive a reply
(due to the volume of requests received); please assume that once
you have made your request, your name will be added to the
appropriate lists
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential
Publication: sporadic ...hopefully, progressing to monthly
+-------+
|PURPOSE|
+-------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders to ensure that names and dates that
impact your project have not changed since publication of this Update.
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
News Briefs
International Info
DECUS
Future Topics
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------+
|NEWS BRIEFS|
+-----------+
**DEC Participates in Major Industry Announcement
=================================================
Attached is a news release that was issued Tuesday, May 17, at a press
conference in New York City. At this conference, the formation of the
Open Software Foundation was announced. Digital is an initial
sponsor of the Foundation.
Agenda participants included:
Tom Vanderslice, Apollo
Ken Olsen, Digital
Jacques Stern, Groupe Bull
John Young, Hewlett-Packard
John Akers, IBM
Klaus Luft, Nixdorf
Claus Kessler, Siemens
Appearing later in this update is an extensive background and a set of
questions and responses pertaining to the Foundation and Digital's
participation.
The announcement was issued by the Foundation through its New York public
relations firm, Cohn & Wolfe.
Questions related to Digital's participation in the Foundation
should be referred to Ed Canty @MRO (DTN-297-5164, 617-467-5164).
Questions related to Digital's general software strategy
should be referred to Chuck Malkiel @ZKO (DTN-381-0477, 603-493-7162)
**A DECUS Highlight - Online Doc CD and Reader
==============================================
The VMS Software Business Technology group ran a DECUS demo that
featured a compact disc with VMS DECwindows online documentation
running with the new version of the VMS DECwindows Book Reader.
For more information on this successful demo and the Book Reader,
contact Joe Kraetsch or Marian Weisenfeld. Both can be reached via
STAR::.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|A MAJOR MILESTONE|
+-----------------+
*BL8 Hits the Street!
=====================
On May 6, 1988, the availability of BL8 of VMS DECwindows was
announced by Peter George, Paul Steeves, and Marty Jack.
The intent of this baselevel of VMS DECwindows is to provide
application developers an opportunity to begin development of their
applications and to begin to familiarize users with the DECwindows
environment. Note: this baselevel kit and related documentation and project
information are COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. They must not be distributed
or shown to non-Digital employees without the express written consent
of VMS product management.
Note that the full functionality of VMS DECwindows will not be
delivered until Field Test 2. Be aware that some interfaces may change
at that time and that the user environment will not be complete until
then. You may have to recompile and relink any applications you develop
with this field test when you receive Field Test 2.
To run this software you must be running VMS V5.0 Field Test 2
software (including the FT2.1 and FT2.2 updates). For information about
Version 5 FT2, see the notesfile VAXWRK::V5FT_VMSNOTES. FT2 information
is in note #226. FT2.1 information is in note #286.
For information on Baselevel 8, you can contact Peter George, Marty
Jack, or Paul Steeves, all of whom can be reached on STAR::.
It bears repeating that this project, baselevel kit, and documentation
are strictly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. DEC employees are not permitted to discuss
the contents of this or any other DECwindows kits - or any of the
specifications with people outside the company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------------------------+
|HELPFUL HINTS FOR APPLICATION DEVELOPERS - PART 1|
+-------------------------------------------------+
On Friday, May 11th, an XLIDDY case study was presented. XLIDDY tracks
all the communication events between DECwindows clients and the server,
together with time stamps. Together with its analysis tools, XLIDDY
may show you that you're asking the server to do things that are very
different from what you thought you were asking it to do.
The audience for this case study/seminar were developers who:
o Understand overall design of their DECwindows product
o Have experience delving through layers of DECwindows and X
o Have experience with communications protocols
o Are concerned with performance issues
The topics for the seminar included:
o Goals of DECwindows application performance
o XLIDDY description and usage
o XLIDDY case study
This seminar was videotaped, and the tape was placed in the ZK library.
You can contact John Henning (4GL::HENNING) for information about the tape.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------------------------+
|HELPFUL HINTS FOR APPLICATION DEVELOPERS - PART 2|
+-------------------------------------------------+
The following is an abstract from mail sent by Peter George.
It details DECwindows resource file guidelines and contains input
from Jake VanNoy. Note that these guidelines are VMS-specific.
1. All base kit application names should be of the form
DECW$descriptor, DDIF$descriptor, or CDA$descriptor, where descriptor
is a string that the application developer and Peter George have
agreed upon.
2. All DECwindows system resource files should reside in the new
SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$RESOURCE] system directory.
3. Long term, the static definition of an application's user interface
should be stored in a UID file whose name is of the form
application.UID. This file should be located in the directory
pointed at by the logical named DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS, which, by
default, is pointed to DECW$RESOURCE.
4. Short term (Version 1 only), some applications will user X resource
files to store their user interface definitions. In this case, the
XRM file should be named application.DAT and stored in
DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS.
5. Default settings for user customization parameters (such as the
screen saver period that is settable via the session manager) should
be stored in the application.DAT file located in DECW$SYSTEM_DEFAULTS.
This file should be read-only and represent the default system
settings of these parameters.
6. Applications that support user customizing, saving, and restoring
of setup attributes should use an analogous application.DAT file,
stored in the DECW$USER_DEFAULTS directory (SYS$LOGIN by default)
for that purpose. If present, this file should be read at
application startup and used to override the default system settings.
'SAVE' and 'RESTORE' customization options should write and read
this file by default. If support for additional customization files
is appropriate, the default location and file type for these files
should be DECW$USER_DEFAULTS:.DAT. The file names of these additional
files should be left totally to the discretion of the user.
7. Applications should be "well-behaved" if resources in the
DECW$USER_DEFAULTS:application.DAT file do not exist. This allows
the application to start up the first time it is invoked by a new
user without giving special attention to getting the application.DAT
file into the DECW$USER_DEFAULTS directory.
8. Application resource names in all resource files should be qualified
by the application name.
9. In no case should applications depend on users editing the
application.UID, application.DAT, or SYS$LOGIN:DECW$XDEFAULTS.DAT
files as vehicles for user interaction. We know that Xlib does not
gracefully handle syntax errors in XRM resource files, and we know
that many clients do not gracefully handle inconsistencies in
resource files. Additionally, it is inherently unfriendly to require
that unsophisticated users learn to modify these files to run our
applications. Therefore, we will NOT document or support any user
modification of these files and we will NOT document any of the
resources used by DECwindows applications in Version 1.
Note that points 2, 3, and 9 will require minor modifications to the
DECwindows toolkit and our installation procedures. Otherwise, I believe
that most applications are already following these guidelines and,
therefore, will have little problem with them. If you are not, or if you
have any questions about any of this, please contact Peter George.
Resource file clarifications:
1. The file naming conventions are entirely upcase (or, more accurately,
on VMS, case-insensitive). References of the form DECW$descriptor
were not meant to imply mixed case.
2. In order to allow the same file to be used on both VMS and Ultrix,
applications are encouraged to use * for the top-level resource
name in their XRM files. This is still fine; however, please make
sure the application asks for its resources using the correct
application name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------+
|NEW GADGET PROPOSAL|
+-------------------+
A proposal to extend menu widget functionality has been released. For
information on this proposal, please contact Michael Collins (KOBAL::).
In summary, the objectives of the proposal are as follows:
o Reduce creation time: all entries in a menu are fetched by the
same DRM operation as fetching the menu widget
o Reduce memory usage: entries require substantially less storage
o Reduce window count: entries in a menu do not have a window
The proposal applies to all variants of menus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------+
|DECWINDOWS FONTS|
+----------------+
The following is an excerpt from a memo (3-May-88) sent by Jim Flowers
and Ted Chausen, of the Corporate Font Program. In its entirety, the
memo provides detailed information on the FT2 fonts for
DECwindows. (This excerpt is significantly shorter than the original
memo.) Currently, these fonts are implemented in BL8 of VMS DECwindows.
If you require additional information on the FT2 fonts, please send
your inquiries to Ted or Jim.
The FT2 release of DECwindows on the ULTRIX and VMS servers contains
the first pass implementation of the full V1.0 DECwindows font set
(except where noted below) for both 75 and 100dpi color/monochrome
displays. This initial font library of over 450 fonts provides
(i) Adobe WYSIWYG screen fonts for the the 29 DEC-context PostScript (r)
fonts resident on our printers and previewer, (ii) special DECwindows
menu and label fonts, (iii) special DECterm terminal emulator fonts in
both large and normal sizes, and (iv) interim versions of the DECmath
fonts/charsets for use by Voila.
The following displays are supported:
o 19-inch VAXstation 75dpi monochrome
o 19-inch GPX 75dpi color
o 15-inch VAXstation 100dpi monochrome
o 15-inch GPX 100dpi color
o DECmate 75dpi monochrome
o IBM PS/2 VGA 75dpi color & compatibles
NOTE: Font naming conventions:
The font names follow the conventions outlined in the V1.1 DLFD spec.
It is important to use these font names, rather than file names,
since file name support will be disabled before FT2 ships.
DECwindows applications specifying default fonts in their Xdefault
files should also use this font naming convention, substituting
wildcard characters for fields to be filled in at startup by the
application.
NOTE: QARs
Realize that these fonts are not final, and the above problems
(contact Ted/Jim for list of problems) will be
fixed in future releases. We are currently putting in place a
DECwindows font QAR database and working with DSG TASTE group to
formally manage the font QAR process. In the near term, continue to submit
font QARs to the DECwindows database.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------+
|FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE|
+-------------------------+
Richard Treadway recently made available information on proposed
DECwindows books that are expected to be available through Digital Press.
The following is an excerpt from his mail, edited as necessary
for this Update.
For more complete information, contact John Osborn at Digital Press.
Soon to be on the The Best Seller List
======================================
o X Window System: C Library and Protocol Reference
The is an enhancement of the official Version 11 project
documentation written by principle engineers of the MIT/Project
Athena working group. The manuscript has been updated and
extensively edited. It will be fully indexed and illustrated.
Page estimate: 600, softbound
Estimated publish date: October, 1988
o Learning to Use the X Window System
An introduction to X Window concepts and tools for system
designers, system managers programmers by the developer of the
X Window 3-D graphics standard. This is expected to be the
definitive text when published.
Page estimate: 350, softbound
Estimated publish date: September, 1989
o Advanced X Window Programming
An introduction to advanced facilities of the X Window system
for programmers.
This project is being redefined in light of work being done on
preceding book.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------+
|PRINTING PROGRAM, ETC.|
+----------------------+
The attached is an excerpt from a memo (4-May-88) sent by Marge Hicks and
Howard Lev of the Desktop Systems Group. The memo discusses the opening
of Phase 0 for the Printing System Program, a program that will have
some relationship to DECwindows. Please contact either Marge or Howard for
further details.
(Note: some minor edits were made to the contents of this excerpt)
Phase 0 of Round-89 of the Printing System Program is open.
Please remember that the Printing System Program is a multi-
year project with additional rounds of implementation planned
for calendar year 1990 and 1991.
A review of phase 0 requirements will be held on May 27, 1988 in the
Acton conference room PK03-1 pole 7G from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
Round-89 will ship with a future version of VMS V5.n
(tentatively scheduled for late winter FY90) (Priority - P1) and
ULTRIX V3.x (>V3.0, no schedule yet) (Priority - P1). Support for
Print Clients in OS/2 and Macintosh must occur at the next
convenient release of these operating systems (Priority - P1).
MS-DOS will use the VMS Services for PC's (PCSA) in order to sub-
mit jobs to a Print Service (Priority - P1).
There are two primary thrusts of Round-89: 1) to design and
implement the internal interfaces that will allow the print-
ing system to be built and expanded over the years, and 2)
to implement a distributed queuing system using a remote
procedure call and data transfer protocol (Priority - P1).
The key to both of these thrusts is the Print Service In-
terface (PSI).
The latest ECMA draft standard (to be called DPS for Distributed
Printing Services), but entitled Print Service Description and Print
Access Protocol Specification is available. It is about 120 pages.
It is dated May 1988 and is called Second Draft, 2nd revision.
Send mail to Elaine VIDEO::Rieter and ask for the ECMA Print Service
Standard.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------------+
|FIELD TEST SUPPORT|
+------------------+
The following information is an abstract from the DECwindows/VMS
support plan, revised April 6, 1988, by Andy Mermell.
Members of the CSSE Software Serviceability Engineering team include:
DECwindows/VMS:
Andy Mermell CSSE32::MERMELL
Ian Philpott MONSTR::PHILPOTT_DW
DECwindows/Ultrix:
Jean Pinard GURU::PINARD
CSSE product planning DECwindows/VMS
Carol Bates CSSE32::BATES
CSSE product planning DECwindows/Ultrix
Tom Chmielewski GURU::TOMC
Customer Support Center Planning
Atlanta CSC: Shyrlee Farley, DECLNE::SFARLEY
Colorado CSC: Bonnie Mitchell, BSS::MITCHELL
Europe: Thong Pham, SHIRE::THONG
GIA: Ron Godin, AKOV12::GODIN
Field Test Administration
US: Telisa Derosier, ELMO::DEROSIER
Europe: Lorraine Sloan, JOLLY::SLOAN
Training:
Note that VMS V5 update training and the "ISV program training"
video tapes will be important material to supplement the field
test support training course.
Field Test Support Training seminar was given Feb. 22 - 25 in ZKO.
It was attended by support specialists from Atlanta, Valbonne,
Colorado Springs, Westboro, and COG. It was video taped and the tapes
can be ordered from Field Service Ed. Services. The order number
is EY-8869E-VU. Please check first with Cheryl CSSE::CAREY or
Andy CSSE32::MERMELL regarding price and availability.
Release training is being negotiated with CSSE.
Post-FCS training is detailed in the Training Forum training plan by
Carol Bates and Marilyn Fritz.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------+
|ALL-IN-1|
+--------+
The following is a summary is a summary of the ALL-IN-1 Workstation
Services
o Extends ALL-IN-1 to deliver DECwindows and workstation support
o Interoperates with ALL-IN-1 VT services
o Builds on and contributes to DECwindows leadership
o Integrates VAX workstations, PCs and VTs
Attached is an excerpt from the proposed copy for ALL-IN-1 from a
DVN broadcast:
"Simultaneous with our DECwindows Product Announcement, we will also
announce the ALL-IN-1 Phase II Program. In this program, ALL-IN-1 will
grow into a family of products including VT Services and Workstation
Services.
Workstation Services extends ALL-IN-1 by delivering a DECwindows based,
PVAX targeted package which will work with VT Services........ With
ALL-IN-1 Phase II, customers can protect and leverage their VT
investment while gracefully growing into the new leadership of DECwindows.
For more information on ALL-IN-1, the Phase II program, and their
Workstation Services, please contact Tom Austin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|VAXELN STATUS|
+-------------+
VAXELN is a software product for the development of dedicated, realtime
applications. The VAXELN Toolkit is a layered product that runs under VMS.
Development of a VAXELN application is done on the VMS host system. The
application image is loaded via Ethernet into a target system. VAXELN
applications do not require a disk; they can run on a diskless target system.
The VAXELN Engineering Group is currently working on DECwindows support, to
be announced in a future release. As we see it now, this release will follow
shortly after VAXELN V3.2, which is scheduled to submit to the SDC in OCT-88.
VAXELN will be supplying both client and server software. The applications
we plan to offer in the first release are a terminal emulator and a window
manager. Client software will include Xlib and a Toolkit. The hardware we
plan to support in the first release includes VAXstation II/GPX and VAXstation
2000/GPX; a subsequent release will support black and white monitors.
Additional information can be found in the TLE::VAXELN notesfile or by
contacting:
Paula Long THRUST:: Project Leader
Mark Naylor THRUST:: Engineering Supervisor
Drew Comstock THRUST:: Product Manager
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------+
|EPIC TEAM INFO|
+--------------+
Members of the EPIC team who can provide information for EPIC
products are as follows:
o Teamdata (EPIC/Info table editor) - (Pete Savage)
o EPIC/Calc (Carol Young)
o Viewers (Mary Ann Slavin)
o EPIC/Writer (Seth Cohen)
o EPIC/Chart (Ann Wong)
o Linguistics (Dan Houle)
o DDIF toolkit (Dick Gumbel)
o EPIC Equation Editor (Peter Davis)
o PC EPIC/Writer (Paul Wong)
Note: this list may not be complete. For additional information, contact the
names listed above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|CORPORATE ISV PROGRAM|
+---------------------+
John Bennett, of the Corporate ISV Program. recently announced that of the
140+ third parties that received technical training on DECwindows, prior
to April 1988, 100 have indicated that they plan to support DECwindows.
Over 80% of the existing or targeted marketing partners of the product
marketing groups have said that they will support DECwindows.
If you would like to know more about the data that John has compiled thus
far, please contact John directly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------+
|INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING UPDATE|
+--------------------------------+
The following international DECwindows status was submitted by Mike Cole,
project manager for the IE Third Party Applications Group. His status
was dated May 20, 1988. Please contact Mike, at IPG::COLE, for
additional information.
HIGHLIGHTS
o Training programme is now completed
o 1st wave DECwindows software distribution complete
o Support structure tested
o DECwindows Showcase idea
o Engineers from 21 software producers in various industries have now
been trained at the 4th (and final) DECwindows Early Release
Training course, delivered in Valbonne (France). This course was
taken from the Corporate Worksystems Marketing developed model.
The previous courses were held at Reading (UK) and Munich (Germany).
Including this last course, the total of DECwindows-trained
personnel now stands at 90 engineers from Third-party companies.
Demand showed the need to prepare and deliver 2 additional modules:
Compound Document Architecture (for DDIF) and "Programming using
UIL".
o Phase 1 of DECwindows/VMS FT1 kit distribution has been completed.
Twenty-five kits have been manufactured and shipped from Reading
under license. The kits (DECWINDOWS/VMS, VMS V5, 7000 pages of
documentation and 3 TK50 media, per kit) were couriered to 25
companies in 7 countries.
o The support process has been implemented, and tested, for handling
DECwindows technical queries. A computer conference has been
established for the specialists supporting the third-party companies,
backed up by a telephone hot-line for emergencies. Technical queries,
at this stage, are mainly concerned with 'how-to' use.
o The initial phase of the third-party developer data-base has been
completed, and the Profiles of all the companies taking part in this
programme are now available.
o The number of requests for help with demonstrations and seminars is
increasing, sources of the course examples being in demand. This
is leading us to produce a DECWINDOWS Showcase, a compilation of
applications and scripts, to demonstrate the facilities, and promote
the features of, the DECWINDOWS environment to European Application
Developers.
Mike Cole, Third-party Applications Group, International Engineering,
Reading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------+
|DECWINDOWS DECUS TRIP REPORT|
+----------------------------+
The following is an abstract from the DECwindows DECUS trip report,
written by Paul Steeves (VMS Product Management), and Jake VanNoy
(VMS Engineering) - both of whom attended DECUS, representing
VMS DECwindows. The trip report was dated 26-May-1988.
For further details on DECUS, please contact either Jake or Paul
on STAR::. The trip report has been modified for inclusion in this
update.
"DECwindows was a huge success at DECUS in Cincinnati last week!
.....we decided to install BL8.0 and demo it live..............
We had two workstations, and 3500 and a 3200 diskless that was booting
from the 3500. Both had 16 meg of memory.
For all 5 days, from the opening to the closing of the exhibit hall,
the DECwindows demos had has many people as can huddle around a
workstation at one time. The were seldom less than 5 people, and often
12 to 15. Paul Steeves, Phil Auberg and I took turns showing off the
software, sometime running both workstations when more than 1 of us was
around.
I spent most of my time showing off VUE, Calendar, the Bookreader,
Session Manager customization, and the PostScript Previewer. I also
used Mail, the OOTBs, Notepad and Paint to show off other features of
the system when questions were asked. Things didn't run perfectly. The
most fragile part of the system seemed to involve using selection between
applications. However, customers at DECUS are so grateful to see futures
that they are very forgiving when a bug shows through.
Four talks were given by VMS and CLT, and several were given by UEG.
Phil Auberg gave a DECwindows Overview talk that had close to 1000 people
in the main ballroom (the biggest of the lecture rooms).
My Style Guide talk was right after Phil's and there were still 500 or so
people. These two talks were at 6:00 and 7:00 Monday night. We felt that
having that many people through the dinner hour was tremendous.
The VUE talk was Tuesday at 4, and several hundred showed up for that
as well. Mike Collins gave a toolkit talk after the VUE talk, but I was
dragged away by customers with questions and was unable to attend.
UEG also gave several talks related to X and DECWINDOWS.
I believe the customers left with a real feeling that there is a
tremendous amount of momentum building inside DEC around DECwindows. I
hope we can go back this fall and show them more applications,
including layered products. This will go a long way towards showing the
increasing importance of workstations to DEC. Traditional customers are
beginning to show interest in moving away from terminals, we need to
capitalize on this very quickly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|LETTERS TO THE EDITOR|
+---------------------+
This section includes mail from Update readers. It is intended to
respond to questions or issues which one or more readers have raised and
that may be of general interest to numerous readers. The names of authors
will be kept anonymous. The letters will be modified if necessary.
**Other Newsletters?
====================
From: ANOTHR::UPDATE_READER 08-May-1988 2049
To: STAR::FOLEY
CC:
Subj: DECwindows Newsletter...
I have interest in both VMS and Ultrix DECwindows developments. I
understand you can only add me to mailings for VMS. Is a similar
newsletter coming out for ULTRIX?
***
From: BANSHE::FOLEY "VMS Product Management" 9-MAY-1988
On newsletters....I do not believe that their are similar plans for Ultrix.
At least, I have heard no mention of one. Ours is entirely an independent
effort. You have a couple of sources available for Ultrix info, though.
You can send mail to SPTNIK::TREADWAY. Richard keeps an interest list
for issues that span both platforms. Also, you can contact Ultrix
product management directly and ask to be added to any relevant
interest lists. Send mail to FLUME::LAMONT.
*ULTRIX Systems
===============
From: ANOTHR::UPDATE_READER 03-May-1988 1043" 3-MAY-1988
To: STAR::FOLEY
CC:
Subj: Those of us on ULTRIX systems
Your newsletter crashes our system. Please consider changing the header.
Also, would you consider simply sending out a pointer to a file that
contains the newsletter, rather then sending out the entire newsletter?
(This would give you an opportunity to format the letter.)
***
From: BANSHE::FOLEY "VMS Product Management" 9-MAY-1988
Yes ....and no.
I will change the header in future Updates.
Regarding the pointer, I'd rather not give a file location. Many people
have trouble copying files over the net; the current process eliminates
the overhead involved in copying. Also, I'd rather not get involved in
formatting this Update -- at this time, anyway. This is intended to be
an informal when-I-get-the-chance-to-work-on-it effort.
Thank you for your suggestions.
*Error in Previous Update
=========================
From: ANOTHR::UPDATE_READER 28-Apr-1988 1436
To: STAR::FOLEY
CC:
Subj: VMS DECwindows Update from 4/29
I believe the reference to the documentation on BULOVA:: is incorrect.
The update says:
> If you are interested in VMS DECwindows plans and documents, information
> is located in the public directory:
>
> BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[DECWINDOWS]
>
> NOTE: this directory contains several subdirectories.
It appears that DECW$PUBLIC = BULOVA$DISK:[PUBLIC.DECWINDOWS.] so
DECW$PUBLIC:[000000] is actually the root.
***
From: BANSHE::FOLEY "VMS Product Management" 9-MAY-1988 07:08:44.22
I stand corrected. Thank you.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------------------+
|OPEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION ANNOUNCEMENT|
+-------------------------------------+
The following is the press release, in its entirety, for the OSF
announcement.
NEW FOUNDATION TO ADVANCE SOFTWARE STANDARDS
DEVELOP AND PROVIDE OPEN SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT
NEW YORK, NY -- May 17, 1988 -- Seven leading computer companies
today announced an international foundation to develop and provide
a completely open software environment to make it easier for
customers to use computers and software from many vendors.
The Open Software Foundation (OSF) will develop a software
environment, including application interfaces, advanced system
extensions and a new operating system, using X/Open and POSIX
specifications as the starting point. POSIX is an operating system
standard, closely related to the UNIX system, that specifies how
software should be written to run on computers from different
vendors.
Initial funding for OSF is being provided by the following
sponsors: Apollo Computer Inc., Groupe Bull, Digital Equipment
Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, International Business
Machines Corporation, Nixdorf Computer AG and Siemens
Aktiengesellschaft. OSF membership is available to computer
hardware and software suppliers, educational institutions,
government agencies and organizations around the world.
The foundation has a management organization, staff, and a funding
commitment in excess of $90 million to begin immediate operations.
Its initial development will be based on technologies offered by
the members and its own research, to be carried out worldwide.
"The creation of a standard software environment is one of the most
important issues facing the computer industry today," said John L.
Doyle, chairman of the foundation board of directors.
"Establishing this international foundation fulfills the critical
need for an open, rational and equitable process to help establish
the standards our customers demand and to protect their long-term
software investment."
Foundation Principles
OSF is incorporated as a non-profit, industry-supported research
and development organization. It will define specifications,
develop a leadership operating system, and promote an open,
portable application environment.
Principles of the foundation include:
o Offerings based on relevant industry standards:
o Open process to actively solicit inputs and technology;
o Timely, vendor-neutral decision process;
o Early and equal access to specification and continuing
development;
o Hardware-independent implementations;
o Reasonable, stable licensing terms;
o Technical innovation through university/research
participation.
To support its portable application environment, the foundation
will provide software that makes it easier for users to mix and
match computers and applications from different suppliers by
addressing the following needs:
o Portability -- the ability to use application software on
computers from multiple vendors;
o Interoperability -- the ability to have computers from
different vendors work together;
o Scalability -- the ability to use the same software
environment on many classes of computers, from personal
computers to super computers.
To achieve maximum acceptance for the new software environment, the
foundation will provide all members early and equal access to the
development process.
The foundation will follow a direction consistent with the
international X/Open Common Application Environment, the U.S.
National Bureau of Standards Application Portability Profile, and
equivalent European and international standards. Where standards
do not exist, the foundation will work with standards groups to
help define them.
Membership
Foundation members will contribute ideas on both technical and
policy matters. They will be informed of foundation activities on
a regular basis and periodically polled on specific issues.
Membership is open to everyone.
Research Institute
A research institute is being created to fund research for the
advancement of applications portability, interoperability standards
and other advanced technologies for future foundation use. An
academic advisory panel will provide guidance and input to the
institute. The institute's research will be conducted worldwide.
Software environment guidelines
The foundation's open software environment will allow vendors to
add value through compatible extensions. To encourage its
widespread use, it will run on a wide range of single and
multi-processor computers.
The foundation's software environment includes a set of application
programming interfaces to make it easier to write applications for
a variety of systems. The initial set of interfaces will support
POSIX and X/Open specifications, and will be extended to include
areas such as distributed computing, graphics, and user interfaces.
The foundation will base its development efforts on its own
research as well as on technologies which will be selected and
licensed from member offering. Technologies being considered by
the foundation include:
o Apollo's Network Computing System (NCS);
o Bull's UNIX system-based multiprocessor architecture;
o Digital's user interface tool kit and style guides for the
X Window System;
o Hewlett-Packard's National Language Support (NLS);
o Nixdorf's relational database technology;
o Siemens' OSI protocol support.
To provide a clear and easy migration path for application
developers and end users, the foundation's system will include
features to support current System V- and Berkeley-based UNIX
applications. The operating system will use core technology from a
future version of IBM's AIX as a development base.
Specifications supported by the foundation will be publicly
available, and a set of verification tests for all appropriate
facilities will be identified or created. The foundation will
license its open system software internationally.
####
X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Co., Ltd.
*Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Standard
1003.
UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T in the U.S. and other
countries.
Network Computing System is a trademark of Apollo Computer Inc.
X Window System is a trademark of Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
AIX is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------------+
|WALL STREET RESPONSE TO OSF|
+---------------------------+
The following is a copy of a 'technical' stock research paper that comes
out from one of Wall Street's top Computer Industry Analysts.
SALOMON BROTHERS, INC.
THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY - Dawn of a New Era
Summary
On May 17, four domestic computer vendors - IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation
(DEC), Hewlett-Packard (HP), and Apollo Computer - and three European computer
manufacturers - Groupe Bull, Siemens AG, and Nixdorf Computer AG - announced
the formation of the Open Software Foundation (OSF). Incorporated as a non-
profit, industry-supported organization, the OSF consists of a software
development company and a research institute.
The purpose of the OSF is to define specifications, develop and maintain soft-
ware, and make available an open, portable application environment to all
interested parties. The environment includes an operating system, programming
languages, a user interface, graphics libraries, networking services, and a
data base management system. By addressing the following needs of computer
users, the OSF will make it easier to mix and match computers and applications
from different suppliers:
- Portability - the ability to use the same application software on computers
produced by different vendors.
- Interoperability - the ability to have computers from different vendors work
together.
- Scalability - the ability to use the same software environment on different
classes of computers.
Background:
We view the formation of the OSF as a seminal event in the evolution of the
computer industry. We believe that the underlying force that led to its
creation is the widespread desire of computer users to create multivendor
computer networks. Originally, each computer was assigned to a specific
role. At that time, the need to link various computers was not anticipated,
thus, the lack of compatibility was not viewed by either users or vendors as
a serious shortcoming. Currently, the creation of networks has become a
nearly universal user objective, and as a result, incompatibility has become
a major problem. The purpose of thee OSF is to develop products that,
through adherence to a set of standards, will solve this problem.
Although the networking trend provides the background to the OSF's formation,
we believe that the precipitating event was the formation of an alliance
between AT&T and Sun Microsystems last October. This event threatened to
transform the UNIX operating system from an open system into a proprietary
operating system, which would strengthen the competitive positions of AT&T
and Sun at the expense of the founders of the OSF - all of whom license UNIX
from AT&T. Under the terms of the alliance, Sun and AT&T are jointly respon-
sible for the future development of the UNIX System V operating system and the
hardware platform on which UNIX will be developed will be based on Sun's
SPARC architecture.1 These terms, along with AT&T's investment in Sun, spurred
the managements of the OSF companies and many industry analysts - including
ourselves - to include that Sun and AT&T would benefit from their earlier,
more intimate knowledge of UNIX's evolutionary path and that future versions
of UNIX would be optimized for the SPARC architecture. Repeated attempts by
OSF sponsors - particularly HP - to persuade AT&T to allow companies other than
Sun to participate in the UNIX development process were unsuccessful. AT&T's
rebuffs set the stage for the creation of the OSF.
Implications:
Given the trend toward multivendor networks and the AT&T-Sun alliance, we
believe that the formation of the OSF is significant for the following reasons:
- Membership is open to all computer hardware and software suppliers, educa-
tional institutions, Government agencies, and other interested organizations,
and the implementations of the standards selected by the OSF will be hardware
independent. The open attitude exhibited by the OSF contrasts markedly with
the closed nature of the AT&T-Sun alliance.
- The intent of the OSF is far broader than that of the AT&T-Sun alliance:
The AT&T-Sun alliance proposes to establish AT&T's implementation of UNIX
System V as an industry standard operating system. The OSF intends to create
an industry-standard software environment that provides for the coexistence of
multiple operating system - both proprietary and nonproprietary. All large
users, including those now using UNIX-based systems, have a substantial invest-
ment in proprietary systems; thus, OSF goals more closely match the real needs
of users.
- In our view, AT&T's decision not to join the OSF indicates that it will be
difficult, if not impossible, for the company to sustain its carefully culti-
vated image as the champion of open systems. It appears to us that its refusal
suggests that it is motivated by a desire to gain control of the UNIX market,
not by a belief in open systems.
- If user's perceptions of AT&T's motivations start to change, so will their
perceptions of Sun's, because of thee closeness of the relationship between the
two companies. Hence, we expect that Sun will attempt to distance itself from
AT&T, although it is difficult to imagine how they will accomplish this. Sun
needs to be perceived as being on the front line of open systems, not at AT&T's
lackey.
- HP's involvement means that AT&T and Sun will not be able to dismiss the OSF
as window dressing for IBM and DEC. Because of HP's impeccable pro-UNIX and
open systems credentials, neither AT&T, nor Sun, will be able to argue that the
purpose of the OSF is to give the appearance of support for open systems, while
allowing DEC to forestall movement in that direction and, thereby, to extend the
dominance of their proprietary systems. We do not believe that HP will be
accused of duplicity.
- The formation of the OSF may signal the start of the long-anticipated battle
between IBM and AT&T. If so, we expect IBM to be the winner. The OSF will
develop a UNIX-based operating system that will use core technology from a
future version of IBM's proprietary implementation of commercial applications
than is AT&T's System V. We do not expect the System V to have a full comple-
ment of commercial capabilities before the mid-1990's, at the earliest.
- The OSF's creation of AIX-based implementation of UNIX means that the goal of
AT&T and Sun of unifying UNIX by establishing System V as the only source-
level version of UNIX will fail. Instead, there will be two widely used source-
level versions, each of which will have a multiple number of binary-level
versions. The resulting segmentation of the UNIX market will work to the
advantage of the DOS - as well as OS/2-based personal computer companies - by
limiting the attractiveness of the UNIX market to independent developers of
application software.
- As investors recognize that the formation of the OSF means that proprietary
systems will coexist with UNIX-based systems, rather than being displaced by
them, the valuations of the stocks of IBM and DEC - as well as those of other
companies with proprietary systems that join the OSF in the future - will rise.
The creation of the OSF signifies that the risk of the total commoditization
of the computer industry has peaked.
1 For futher details, see The UNIX Operating System - Myths and Realities,
Sanjiv G. Hingorani, Salomon Brothers Inc. March 28, 1988.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for the next update include:
o A list of VMS DECwindows Version 1 features
o Packaging and licensing information
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
o Scheduling information
o Letters to the editor
Your contributions to the update are welcome and requested.
Please send them to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, node name, and group name.
[End of Update]
|
| 1320.4 | volume 4
| STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:39 | 1498 |
| ************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** S P E C I A L E D I T I O N ! *****
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update June 13, 1988 Volume 1, Number 4
SPECIAL EDITION
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Primary Contributor(s): Peter George, Paul Steeves
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::FOLEY;
MUST include name of your group and VAXMAIL node where you
can receive mail; individual requests will NOT receive reply;
please assume that once you have made your request, your name
will be added to the appropriate lists
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
[Ed. Note: for those of you who have submitted subscription requests
and note that this newsletter did not reach you directly, please be
assured that your name will be added to the list for the next Update.
There simply was not enough time to add the numerous additional names
for this release. You DO NOT have to send another subscription
request.]
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
News Briefs
A Major Milestone
The Schedule
Application Information
Application Performance
Seminar: Finding Memory Leaks
Printing Program, Etc.
For Your Reading Pleasure
Packaging Info, Etc.
Letters to the Editor
Future Topics
Newsletter Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------+
|NEWS BRIEFS|
+-----------+
**DECwindows DVN Video Tape Available
=====================================
The following information was received via a CASE Interest List. If
you would like to be added to this list, please send mail to SSGBPM::HORNBACH.
Any Digital employee can order a copy of the DECwindows DVN Tape.
To do so, send mail to EXIT26::MANION. In your memo, you will need
to include:
Name
Location code
Phone number
Cost Center
Badge #
Node Name
Format of tape - 1/2", 3/4", Beta
American standard or PAL
Quantity
How to ship - FED X, Interoffice mail
Please allow about two weeks for the tape. This tape is for INTERNAL USE
ONLY, please do do show to customers in part or whole. If will be marked
as COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. We are planning to produce an extract of about
15 minutes for customer use. We are also planning to distribute a demo
tape for customer use. Both of these shorter tapes will be available for use
with customers under a PID agreement. Contact Scott Adams for more
information.
**PSP Quarterly Review
======================
The next quarterly review of the Printing System Program will be held
on Wednesday, 15-Jun-1988 from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM in the Merrimack
conference room in MK01-2.
The fall quarterly will be held Wednesday, 14-Sep-1988, so mark your
calendars now.
Contact VIDEO::LEV for more information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|A MAJOR MILESTONE|
+-----------------+
Attached is an excerpt from the memo announcing VMS DECwindows
Baselevel 8 for VMS V5.0 SDC.
DIGITAL INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: VMS DECwindows Internal DATE: June 10, 1988
Field Test Sites FROM: Paul Steeves and
Peter George
DEPT: VMS Development
EXT: 381-1621
LOC: ZK03-4/T61
ENET: STAR::STEEVES
SUBJECT: VMS DECwindows Baselevel 8 for VMS V5.0 SDC
Baselevel 8SDC of VMS DECwindows is now available for systems
running the SDC release of VMS Version 5.0. This software
is exactly functionally equivalent to the baselevel 8 kit
that was distributed for the FT2 release of VMS Version 5.0
last month. Therefore, no new documentation has been provided.
The notes provided with baselevel 8 still apply.
Just to repeat... baselevel 8 and baselevel 8SDC are exactly
functionally equivalent. However, baselevel 8 runs only on
VMS V5.0 FT2 systems and baselevel 8SDC runs only on VMS V5.0
SDC systems.
Note that this baselevel kit and all related documentation and
project information are COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. They should not be
distributed or shown to non-Digital employees without the ex-
press written consent of VMS product management.
The intent of this baselevel of VMS DECwindows is to pro-
vide application developers an opportunity to begin devel-
opment of their applications and to begin to familiarize
users with the DECwindows environment.
Please note that the full functionality of VMS DECwindows
will not be delivered until field test 2. Be aware that some
interfaces may change at that time and that the user en-
vironment will not be complete until then. You may have to
recompile and relink any applications you develop with this
field test when you receive field test 2.
Also note that the performance of this baselevel is less
than that which is expected for field test 2 and the fi-
nal product.
For information on Baselevel 8, you can contact Peter George
or Paul Steeves, both of whom can be reached on STAR::.
It bears repeating that this project, baselevel kit, and documentation
are strictly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. DEC employees are not permitted to discuss
the contents of this or any other DECwindows kits - or any of the
specifications with people outside the company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------+
|THE SCHEDULE|
+------------+
The following is an excerpt from a memo authored by Peter George. The
memo details schedule information for VMS DECwindows. It bears
repeating that this information is proprietary information that is for
internal use only. Further, if you are working on a project that
has VMS DECwindows dependencies, please consult with VMS Engineering
(STAR::GEORGE) or Product Management (Foley or Steeves, on STAR::)
before you schedule your final deliverables.
This memo updates the VMS DECwindows version 1 development schedule
published as part of the "VMS DECwindows Version 1.0 Project Plan" on
September 1, 1987. The new schedule is the result of recent review
and evaluation of the VMS DECwindows project by the VMS DECwindows
project management team and the contributing sub-project managers.
The review was held after all remaining version 1 functional,
performance, and quality oriented work items could be accurately
scheduled and with the benefit of several months of field test
feedback.
The VMS DECwindows project management team is committed to following
this updated schedule. Where necessary, product features or
performance may be reevaluated and redefined to achieve this goal. In
addition, components that do not reach VMS base system product quality
on this timetable may be removed from the final product.
Note that the final SDC submission date is a target that still must be
negotiated with the SDC. While it is expected that the kit will be
ready by VMS for SDC submission by the end of this calendar year, SDC
feedback on plausible first revenue ship dates, particularly as they
relate to kit submission dates during the winter holidays, has yet to
be factored in.
VMS DECwindows Version 1 Schedule:
Date Event
---- -----
June 17 All DECwindows programming interfaces frozen
July 1 Version 1 code freeze - all planned functional and
performance improvements complete for version 1
July 8 Internal performance checkpoint - first comprehensive
indicators of version 1 performance are available -
evaluation of which software components have adequate
version 1 performance begins
July 15 FT2 QAR checkpoint - problem report databases are
reviewed - evaluation of which software components have
adequate version 1 quality begins
July 29 Internal field test 2 baselevel ships - review of
documentation for external field test 2 is complete
September 2 External field test 2 ships - planning of version 1.n
follow on release begins
October 7 Internal BL11 baselevel ships
October 21 SDC QAR checkpoint - problem report databases are
reviewed - evaluation of which software components have
adequate version 1 quality nears completion
November 12 External field test 2.1 update ships
December * Version 1 submitted to the SDC (as noted above, to be
negotiated with the SDC)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------------+
|APPLICATION INFORMATION|
+-----------------------+
On June 1, a new UIL gadget proposal was made available by Marc Zehngut.
If you have questions about the proposal, please contact Marc (CLT::).
Some general abstracts from this document are included below, to serve
as an overview. Again, for details, please refer to the original
document.
"Recent discussions have led to some changes in the relationship
between widgets and gadgets in the toolkit. Previously, gadgets and
widgets were two distinct categories of objects, with some
similarities and a limited degree of interchangeability. Currently,
the model is that gadgets and widgets are much more similar than they
are distinct. Some types of user interface objects will have both a
widget and a gadget variant, and these variants will be, for the most
part, interchangeable. This change in perspective will be reflected
in the syntax of the UIL language."
The document includes sections on:
o Changes to the UIL syntax
o Examples
o Random information
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------------+
|APPLICATION PERFORMANCE|
+-----------------------+
On June 3, 1988, John Henning of CLT released a memo on DECwindows
application performance concerns. An excerpt from that memo follows.
For further information, please contact John directly on CLT::.
DECwindows performance is being rapidly improved at the lower levels of
the system, including optimizations to memory usage, client/server
roundtrips, the window manager, and many other optimizations. However,
a DECwindows workstation is not just a base system - it's the base plus
many applications running simultaneously. If any application makes
large demands on the system, all applications will suffer.
The purpose of this memo is to remind you of several sources of
information about what applications can do to improve their
performance, and to invite EACH application to respond with specific
plans for improving their application. Please bear in mind that the
period for making performance improvements is rapidly drawing to a
close. Although the freeze date is not yet definite, for the sake of
getting some stake in the ground, please respond under the assumption
that Bundled Application Code Freeze will occur July 1.
[Ed. Note: responses were needed by FRIDAY, JUNE 10.]
Some suggested methods for applications to improve their performance
are (priority order):
1. Use GADGETS wherever possible instead of WIDGETS, to save on memory
and CPU usage. See BULOVA::DECWINDOWS notes 551 and 552 for
information on how to use them.
2. Define a scenario for measuring your application, and do the
measurements. A rich, complex benchmark exercising all of your
product would be very good, but if you're pressed for time (!) a
simple, easy-to-repeat benchmark is much better than none at all.
The SUE lab is available for your testing - contact Alana Brassard
for details (CLT::BRASSARD). Measure yourself relative to the
standard usability time budgets (see BULOVA::DECWINDOWS note 287),
and form your own time budgets as appropriate.
3. Create a memory budget and stick to it. Some suggested guidelines
for memory usage are attached to this memo.
4. If you're making ANY calls on XLIB, or if you're making use of
various fonts, use XLIDDY to understand your client/server
interactions. Information on XLIDDY may be obtained by checking
out the XLIDDY tape from the ZK library.
5. Understand how you use the CPU. PCA can be helpful here. XLIDDY
can also help, by identifying periods when either the client or the
server is silent (and presumably crunching away). This use of
XLIDDY can be useful whether or not you call XLIB.
6. If you've got nothing to say, keep quiet. Don't blink a cursor in
an idle window without input focus; don't send lots of updates to
unmapped windows, and so forth.
7. If you're creating lots of objects (widgets, gadgets, or whatever)
at application startup, consider deferring creation of some of
them. For example, you might want to create your top level menu,
but defer creating dialog boxes until the first time they are used.
Of course, be aware that if you defer creation, the first time the
object is used later on it will take longer; so perhaps at
application startup you might choose to create just the 2 dialog
boxes that you consider most likely to be used.
8. There's lots of other suggestions to consider in the videotape of
the April performance seminar. Check it out from the ZK library by
asking for TK 7882.I6.V55, "Performance Seminar for DECwindows
Application Developers".
Some guidelines for memory usage by DECwindows applications on VMS:
Each application should create its own memory budget and stick to it.
The following are merely suggestions, and it is expected that
individual applications may vary. But on the assumption that a
thumbnail sketch of guidelines is better than none at all:
1. Assume that you are on a 6MB system, and that by the time you're
done booting the workstation and bringing up VMS, OPCOM,
CACHESERVER, CLUSTERSERVER, DECW$WINMGR, etc, that there are 3 MB
left for applications.
2. If the user wanted to run 6 applications simultaneously, and all
applications needed identical amounts of memory, that would mean
that each application would have a memory budget of 1/2 MB. But
for heaven's sake if you can possibly pick a budget smaller than
1/2 MB, please do, since there are some applications around that
will need more than that amount.
3. If you pick 1/2 MB as your memory budget, that would mean you
should run well in a working set of 1024 pages, INCLUDING all the
layers below yourself that you may invoke, such as DECW$DWTLIBSHR,
DECW$XLIBSHR, VAXCRTL, LIBRTL, DCLTABLES, and so forth. Look at
your link map if you're not sure which other layers you use.
4. As a very rough guideline, you might plan that if your working set
is W pages, you will be unlikely to fit into W pages if your
Virtual Page Count is more than 3*W. So if your working set budget
were 1024 pages, your Virtual Page Count budget might be 3072
pages. Check it with SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS.
Once you have your memory budget, both for working set and for virtual
page count, you can set about meeting that budget. Some suggestions:
o The first tool to use to understand your memory usage is the link
map (/FULL). Look especially for sections that are non-sharable,
and ask why they aren't shareable.
o If you've done PCA or other analysis and know that certain routines
are going to be used frequently, and typically used together, look
at the map to be sure you've got them clustered together in the
image. If certain data psects will typically be used together, be
sure they are together also. This allows VMS to fault in the
related items in a single operation.
o Watch the process behavior over time with SHOW PROCESS/CONTINUOUS,
and determine whether it tends to grow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|FINDING MEMORY LEAKS|
+--------------------+
The following is an excerpt from a memo announcing a performance
seminar discussing memory leaks and how to find them. The excerpt is
included here because a video was made, which other DECwindows
application developers may elect to order from the Spit Brook library.
************************************
* Finding Memory Leaks *
* A DECwindows Performance Seminar *
************************************
"Several seminars and memos sent to DECwindows applications have stressed
the importance of "finding memory leaks". Unfortunately, this is easier
said than done.
Mark Bramhall, VAX TPU Architect, has written a memory tool which
intercepts calls to LIB$GET_VM and LIB$FREE_VM and collects information
about the calls. Mark will explain the tool in the seminar on
Wednesday, including a live demo.
Some features include histograms of size of packets versus number of
calls for that size, and, for each packet allocated, the calling PC and
it's caller's PC. (Could be generalized to give more than just 2 levels.)
THE INTENDED AUDIENCE FOR THIS SEMINAR:
Interested developers should have some or all of the following
characteristics:
o Understands overall design of your DECwindows component
o Understands intended memory management for your component
o Knows VMS DEBUG
o Knows your product's LINK MAP
The videotape of this seminar will be placed in the ZK library
under the title "Finding Memory Leaks".
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------+
|PRINTING PROGRAM, ETC.|
+----------------------+
On May 31, Howard Lev sent mail indicating that Printing System Program
Phase 0 closure meeting would be Friday, June 10 in PK03. If you require
more information on the meeting or the available requirements document,
please contact Howard Lev on VIDEO::. Additionally, a Printing System
Program notes file is available:
HUMAN::PRINTING_MODEL
I believe Note number 222 includes PSP issues with bearing on
Phase Review.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------+
|FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE|
+-------------------------+
Soon to be on the The Best Seller List
======================================
The current X Toolkit intrinsics specification is available.
Please do not ask this editor for a copy; I do not have any available,
online or otherwise. Your best bet is to contact your favorite
DECwindows engineer who is working with and/or dependent upon the
intrinsics.
The contents for the spec is as follows:
X Toolkit Intrinsics - C Language X Interface
X Window System
X Version 11, Release 2
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 - X Toolkit Overview
Chapter 2 - Widgets
Chapter 3 - Widget Classes
Chapter 4 - Instantiating Widgets
Chapter 5 - Callbacks
Chapter 6 - Composite Widgets
Chapter 7 - Pop-up Widgets
Chapter 8 - Shell Widgets
Chapter 9 - Utility Functions
Chapter 10 - Event Handling
Chapter 11 - Resource Management
Chapter 12 Translation Management - Handling User Input
Appendix A - Resource File Format
Appendix B - Translation Table File Syntax
Appendix C - Conversion Notes
The X Window System is a trademark of MIT.
Copyright c 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Digital Equip-
ment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------------------+
|VMS DECWINDOWS PACKAGING STRATEGY|
+---------------------------------+
The following is the packaging, licensing, and pricing strategy
proposed by VMS DECwindows Product Management and authored
by Paul Steeves. It should be clearly understood by all readers
that this is a proposal; the strategy as noted within has
not had final approval by all critical parties. Open issues remain
with some key groups. As such, groups with requirements and issues
impacted by the DECwindows strategy should make their
concerns known to product management, unless they have already
done so.
Further, this information is proprietary information. As such, it may
not be given, under any circumstances, to customers. This policy
is and will continue to be strictly enforced.
Given that the information that follows is not in final form,
it should not be used by others to complete critical plans and
or to schedule and plan final deliverables.
If you have questions or concerns, you are strongly encouraged
to send mail to either (or both) Cathy Foley or Paul Steeves on
STAR::.
*******
DECwindows Packaging, Licensing, and Pricing Strategy
DECwindows Packaging, Li
This document summarizes the
packaging/licensing/pricing plans for VMS DECwindows.
These plans have changed considerably since the Phase
1 business plan was published.
PACKAGING
PACKAGING
PACKAGING
To understand the VMS DECwindows packaging strategy,
one must first understand several points:
o VMS DECwindows is considered an integral component
of the VMS system
o DECwindows has a need to update its functionality
(Version 2, etc.) more frequently than VMS proper
currently does (DECwindows 9 months, VMS 18
months).
o The VMS schedule for updates is a consideration in
the overall strategy of DECwindows packaging.
It will also help to understand the following terms
(used in this document to avoid the use of the
client/server terminology which often confuses
discussions):
o The DECwindows Run-time Environment -- permits
any DECwindows application to execute (formerly
referred to as the client-side)
o The DECwindows User Environment -- provides the user
environment (VUE, OOTBs, etc) and the tools used
to write DECwindows applications (UIL, definition
files, etc), and the DECwindows Servers and fonts.
In the short term, VMS DECwindows will be packaged
as a separate piece of media. It will contain all
the DECwindows software and some VMS images that need
1
replacement in order for DECwindows to work properly
with the base system (for example, MAIL).
At the next convenient VMS update, all of the VMS
pieces previously shipped on DECwindows media and
some of the DECwindows software will be integrated
into the VMS kit. Note that, at this point, there
will still be separate DECwindows media. The pieces
of DECwindows software that will be integrated on
the VMS kit are those that make it possible for a
DECwindows application to run (the DECwindows run-time
environment). In this way, any VAX that installs VMS
has the ability to run (not necessarily display) a
DECwindows application -- whether it is a workstation
or not. In addition, workstation graphics device
drivers will ship as part of the VMS kit -- this
permits us to consolidate "limited hardware releases"
with VMS.
Keeping a separate DECwindows kit permits updating
the DECwindows functionality independent of the VMS
schedule. This is important because there will be a
need to add DECwindows functionality in a much more
timely way than the current VMS schedules permit. (The
functionality contained on this kit is referred to in
this document as the DECwindows environment.)
The following timeline illustrates the DECwindows
packaging strategy:
2
2
2
V5.0 Maintenance V1 DECwindows Next VMS
functional
+-----------+ release
| VMS |
Workstation |Components |\
Customers |-----------| \ +----------+
|DECwindows | \ |DECwindows|
+-----------+ \ +----------+
\
\
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
VMS | | | | | |
Customers | V5.0 | | V5.+ | | V5.f |
| | | | | |
+-------+ +-------+ +-------+
What is Shipping --
What is Shipping --
What is Shipping --
must know that the following is shipping as part of
VMS DECwindows V1.0:
o Modified VMS components - Examples include LOGINOUT
(for workstation oriented user authorization), RMS
(for DDIF file support), and Mail (for character
cell support of DDIF documents).
o Supplemental VMS components (utilities) - Examples
might include new workstation-oriented TPU/EVE.
o Startup command procedures - Examples include
DECW$STARTUP.COM which initializes the DECwindows
software.
o DECwindows RTLs - Includes Xlib, the DECwindows
Toolkit, and the DDIF toolkits. Support for
the DECnet network transport mechanisms is also
included.
o Workstation graphics device drivers
3
o DECwindows Servers - Includes the DECwindows
servers, and the video fonts. Support for the
DECnet network transport mechanisms is also
included.
o DECwindows user environment - Provides the
DECwindows interface to VMS and includes VUE, the
session manager, the window manager and DECterm.
o DECwindows programming environment - Includes the
various DECwindows-specific development tools, such
as the UIL and font compilers and the language-
specific structure and entry point definition files
for the various programming languages.
o DECwindows personal productivity applications -
Examples include calculator, calendar, clock,
decpaint, and notepad.
o Postscript Viewer--Permits onscreen viewing of
postsript files.
Short Term Packaging --
Short Term Packaging --
Short Term Packaging -
necessary to ship all the pieces listed above on one
piece of media that is separate from the VMS kit and
media. On the DECwindows kit, the run-time environment
and the DECwindows environment would be separately
installable. (This permits the run-time environment to
be installed on a non-workstation VAX without having
to create a new piece of media.)
Under this short term scheme:
o A NEW WS customer orders a "high-level" Q
number that includes the current VMS kit and the
DECwindows kit.
o A DECWINDOWS MIGRATION customer orders a Q number
that only includes the DECwindows kit -- and
installs both the run-time and DECwindows User
Environment.
4
4
4
o A LARGE VAX RUN-TIME customer orders a Q number
that only includes the DECwindows kit -- and
installs the run-time environment only (the user
environment is of no use without a display device).
In the latter two cases, the assumption is made
that the customer already has the proper version of
VMS running. The following diagram illustrates this
scheme.
New Customer orders: Run-time or UIS orders:
Q-nn1 ----------------------+ Q-nn2 --+
| |
+-----------+ | |
| VMS | | |
|Components | Q-nn2 <-----+----------------+
|-----------| | (just the DEC windows piece,
|DECwindows | | and only install the portion(s)
|Environment| | they want)
|-----------| |
|DW run-time| |
+-----------+ |
|
+--------+ |
| | |
| Latest | Q-nn3 <-----+
| VMS |
| |
+--------+
Post V1.0 Integration Packaging --
Post V1.0 Integration Packaging --
convenient VMS release after DECwindows Version 1.0,
we will integrate the DECwindows run-time environment
into the VMS system. Note that, we will still ship the
DECwindows Environment on a separate piece of media.
The components from the earlier (V1.0) list would be
split across the kits as follows:
5
As part of the VMS kit:
o Modified VMS components
o Supplemental VMS components (utilities)
o Workstation CPU support
o Startup command procedures
o DECwindows RTLs
o Workstation graphics device drivers
As part of the DECwindows kit:
o Startup command procedures
o DECwindows Server
o DECwindows user environment
o DECwindows programming environment
o DECwindows personal productivity applications
o Postscript Viewer
Under this long term scheme:
o A NEW WS customer orders a "high-level" Q
number that includes the current VMS kit and the
DECwindows kit.
o A DECWINDOWS MIGRATION customer orders a Q number
that only includes the DECwindows kit -- and
installs the DECwindows Environment.
o A LARGE VAX RUN-TIME only needs the current VMS
system (gets the run-time environment by default).
6
6
6
The following diagram illustrates this scheme:
New Customer orders: DW Migration orders:
Q-nn1 ----------------------+ Q-nn2 --+
| |
Q-nn2 <-----+----------------+
+-----------+ | (just the DECwindows display piece)
|DECwindows | |
+-----------+ |
|
+--------+ |
| | |
| Latest | Q-nn3 <-----+
| VMS |
+--------+
H-KITS
H-KITS
H-KITS
The following lists the proposed H-KIT offerings for
VMS DECwindows Version 1.0. (In keeping with the
overall philosophy of making it easy for customers
to move to DECwindows, the price of all H-kits will be
kept to a minimum.)
New Workstation H-kit --
New Workstation H-kit --
New Workstation H-ki
H-kit offered to new workstation customers (Q-nn1,
above):
o VMS media
VMS
DECnet
LAVc
o VMS Documentation--VMS Base kit
General User Volume
System Manager Volume
7
Overview of VMS Documentation
Mini-Ref (syntax reference)
5.0 New Features Manual
Installation manual - (comes w/ media)
o DECwindows media
Modified VMS components
Supplemental VMS components (utilities)
Startup command procedures
DECwindows RTLs
Workstation graphics device drivers
DECwindows Servers
DECwindows user environment
DECwindows programming environment
DECwindows personal productivity applications
Postscript Viewer
o DECwindows Documentation--DECwindows User kit
VMS DECwindows Release Notes
VMS DECwindows Installation Guide
VMS DECwindows User's Guide
VMS DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide
VMS DECwindows Technical Summary
DECwindows Migration H-kit --
DECwindows Migration H-kit --
DECwindows
the H-kit ordered to migrate a workstation from UIS to
DECwindows (Q-nn2, above):
o DECwindows media--same as above
o DECwindows Documentation--same as above
o Migration Documentation--Currently there exists a
document produced by the Worksystems group. It is
not in a state that is considered publishable--it
requires examples and more work. At this point, the
UIS group (who now owns responsibility for this
document) does not have a document plan for how
they will produce a useful book.
8
8
8
If this document is not vastly improved upon, the
migration kit will consist of just the DECwindows
media and DECwindows documentation.
o Display Postscript License -- This license gives
updated customers the ability to run Display
Postscript, and the associated number permits us
to track royalties due to Adobe (see the Display
Postscript Licensing section for details).
DECwindows Run-time Upgrade H-kit --
DECwindows Run-time Upgrade H-kit --
the contents of the H-kit ordered to upgrade a
non-workstation VAX to be able to run DECwindows
applications (not shown above):
o DECwindows media--same as above
It is assumed that any customer who wants a non-
workstation upgrade will have a DECwindows workstation
(to display the application output). Therefore, no
documentation is included in this type of upgrade.
This kit is only necessary until the time at which the
run-time environment is integrated with VMS proper.
Separate GZ-Kit for programming documentation --
Separate GZ-Kit for programming
is the contents of the separate GZ-kit that must be
ordered to get the documentation needed to program
in the DECwindows Environment. It is assumed that the
default case is a non-programming user, so, any one
who wants the programming documentation, must order it
separately.
DECwindows User Interface Style Guide
VMS DECwindows Toolkit Routines Reference Manual
VMS DECwindows Xlib Routines Reference Manual
VMS DECwindows Guide to Xlib Programming
VMS DECwindows Guide to Toolkit Programming
VMS DECwindows Device Driver Manual
VMS Compound Document Architecture Manual
9
There will also be a separate GZ for the User kit, for
customers who want to order extra user documentation.
As with all documentation, books are individually
orderable by part number.
Media Types --
Media Types --
Media Types --
BPI magtape and TK50.
The strategy for including other media has not been
finalized.
RX33s--Ellen Gleason (MBU) is determining what impact
not shipping on this media type has on the customer
base (if any).
CD--The DECwindows program anticipates that the SBT
program will eventually effect a CDROM distribution
strategy that consolidates all of the DECwindows
software and ONLINE documentation files with other DEC
software, and that the various media/kits described
above can then be considered for retirement.
LICENSING
LICENSING
LICENSING
There will be no separate license for DECwindows.
The right to run DECwindows software will be included
under the basic VMS Version 5.0 license. Further, the
right to run DECwindows will be retroactive for the
Version 5.0 installed base.
The following are reasons for this decision:
o It makes achieving the goal of DECwindows on all
VAXstations much more likely.
o It makes migration from UIS to DECwindows easier
and more desirable.
o It propagates the message that DECwindows is an
integrated part of the system -- the interface to
the rest of VMS.
10
10
10
Display Postscript Licensing --
Display Postscript Licensing --
Displa
cost license associated with the ability to display
formatted Postscript files at the workstation screen.
The purpose of this license is strictly for tracking
the royalty due Adobe. The license will be associated
with the workstation hardware -- so a unique Q number
will appear on the hardware bill of materials. As
mentioned above, this license will also be included in
the update and migration kits, to track the royalty
in the installed base. Under this plan, we would
pay Adobe its royalty (approx. $30) for each VMS
workstation with the ability to display Postscript.
Associating with the workstation hardware avoids any
confusion about paying a royalty on non-workstation
VAXes (which can't display Postscript).
Logistics --
Logistics --
Logistics --
As desc
section of this document, new workstation customers
will order DECwindows using a high level Q number that
includes the VMS media and the DECwindows media. So,
in the VAX Systems and Options Catalog new entries
will be created to reflect the new DECwindows part
number. Note that this package will NOT include the
VWS license, and so, will be approximately $250.00
cheaper than a similar VWS system.
In the short term, we must make it easy for customers
who still want VWS to order it. (Many customers may
need VWS until the applications they depend on port
to DECwindows.) To this end, we will continue to
offer a VAX Systems and Options Catalog selection
with the VWS license as part of the system kernel, at
least short term. In the Post-V1 time frame we will
consider making the VWS license optional. In either
case, customers must order the VWS H-kit separately,
as they do today.
11
When new workstation customers order a DECwindows
workstation they get:
o WS hardware
o Associated licenses (VMS (includes
DECwindows),DECnet,LAVc)
o Whatever H-kits they order--typically the VMS/DW
H-kit (media and documentation)
When new workstation customers order a VWS workstation
they get:
o WS hardware
o Associated licenses (VMS (includes
DECwindows),DECnet,LAVc,VWS)
o Whatever H-kits they order--typically the VMS/DW
H-kit (media and documentation) and the VWS H-kit.
In the case of a UIS-to-DECwindows migration, where
a customer already has the proper version of VMS, the
customer will order the DECwindows-only H-kit using a
unique Q number. They receive DECwindows software and
documentation.
As described above, the documentation is divided into
two doc sets--the user set and the programming set.
The user set ships as part of the DECwindows H-kit.
The programming set is separately orderable using a GZ
number. The user kit will also be separately orderable
through a GZ.
12
12
12
PRICING
PRICING
PRICING
There is no separate price for VMS DECwindows.
DECwindows is included in the price of VMS. Not
charging for DECwindows keeps the total system
price down thereby helping us establish price
competitiveness on our lowend workstations.
VMS DECwindows will yield incremental revenue for
Digital by selling more VMS systems and VAX hardware.
The greater the penetration rate of VMS DECwindows the
greater the leverage. Having no price associated with
DECwindows will increase the penetration rate.
UPDATING SERVICE CUSTOMERS - MIGRATING UIS CUSTOMERS
UPDATING SERVICE CUSTOMERS
Because the ability to run DECwindows will be
retroactive with the VMS license, VMS service
contract customers will be entitled to DECwindows as a
continuance of their service.
VMS workstation customers are obviously first
priority for an update. Note that updating this set
of customers updates all the VWS customers who have
VMS service contracts. This strategy also permits VMS
service contract customers to install the run-time
environment on their non-workstation machines using
the same kit.
We will not update all VWS service customers. VWS
is a continuing product, any service contract a VWS
customer has entitles them to future versions of
VWS, not to DECwindows. A VWS customer that wants
to migrate to DECwindows must separately order
DECwindows. I have made allowances for such an H-kit
in the earlier packaging section.
13
A non-service VWS customer who migrates will pay the
price of an H-kit in order to migrate. To make that as
painless as possible, the price of the migration H-kit
will be kept to a minimum.
Run-time Update --
Run-time Update --
Run-time Update --
Version 5.0 customer is "entitled" to the run-time
software that is on the separate distribution. A short
term distribution problem exists from that point until
integration with VMS proper when every VMS customer
will get the run-time environment by default.
Obviously, we do not want to attempt shipping to
each VMS customer because only a small subset of
customers will need it. It seems a safe assumption to
assert that any customer who wants to run DECwindows
applications on their non-workstation VAX is also a
workstation customer (the only way to display those
applications). those customers can use the workstation
distribution media to install the run-time environment
on the non-workstation.
One case in which a customer might need separate
distribution is when they would prefer magtape
distribution for the large VAX as opposed to the
workstation TK50 distribution. This issue needs more
investigation.
SUMMARY OF BENEFITS
SUMMARY OF BENEFITS
SUMMARY OF BENEFITS
o Establishes DECwindows as the default windowing
interface to VMS.
o Encourages migration from VWS.
o Integrates the DECwindows runtime ability on every
VMS system.
o Permits timely updates to DECwindows functionality.
14
14
14
o Consolidates limited hardware releases to one piece
of media for VMS workstations.
15
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|LETTERS TO THE EDITOR|
+---------------------+
This section includes mail from Update readers. It is intended to
respond to questions or issues that one or more readers have raised and
that may be of general interest to numerous readers. The names of authors
will remain anonymous, unless otherwise requested by author. The letters
will be modified and abbreviated if necessary.
**Newsletter Suggestions
========================
From: BRSIS2::BRSIS2::MRGATE::"ANOTHR::UPDATE_READER"
To: MRGATE::"STAR::FOLEY"
CC:
Subj: VMS DECWINDOWS Update
Cathy,
A very useful publication and a good summary of much dispersed
info! Keep it alive!
Add me on your list please.
Suggestion 1: include an I18N section - see notesfile
QUARRY::I18N (e.g. Profile Widget & Services, Language Switching)
Suggestion 2: move the constant sections like Editor...
Purpose... to the end (with a 1-line pointer at the beginning).
***
From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS Product Management" 10-JUN-1988 08:32:22.46
>I will certainly add your name to the list. I appreciate your
>comments as well -- my replies follow, preceded by *.
A very useful publication and a good summary of much dispersed
info! Keep it alive!
>**Thank you! I will do my best.
Suggestion 1: include an I18N section - see notesfile
QUARRY::I18N (e.g. Profile Widget & Services, Language Switching)
>**This I would gladly do, but do not have the time to dig it out of
>a notesfile. Much of the info I include is sent directly to me.
>If you think it's good stuff, please send me a copy and I'll run it by the
>folks here and, if they approve, I'll put it in.
>I really do welcome and strongly encourage input from the reading audience.
Suggestion 2: move the constant sections like Editor...
Purpose... to the end (with a 1-line pointer at the beginning).
>**I agree and disagree with you. I'll explain: sections like
>Letter's to the Editor can certainly go at the end. I put the other
>stuff (about distribution, etc.) up front -- mainly as a notice to people
>who may be tempted to release this info to customers. My dist. list
>is very large -- I must ensure that people understand (and remember) the
>confidentiality of the newsletter. If they don't, I simply won't be
>able to send out the info or I will have to substantially reduce the
>size of the list (and it is not too difficult to guess who I will have
>to remove from the list).
**DECwindows FT1 on VMS V5.0 SDC Software?
==========================================
From: ANOTHR::UPDATE_READER
To: STAR::FOLEY
CC:
Subj: VMS V5.0 SDC S/W and DECwindows FT1
.
.
.
Can we run our DECwindows FT1 software on the VMS V5.0 SDC software?
.
.
***
>From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS Product Management"
>No. You can only run FT1 on the VMS V5 Field Test software (including
>the updates to it). FT2 of DECwindows will run on V5.0 SDC.
>Our rebuild of BL8 (not the BL8 shipped previously) will also run on
>V5.0, but is available for DEC internal baselevel folks only.
**ULTRIX Info: Contact SSGBPM::ULTRIX
=====================================
From: STAR::SSGBPM::ULTRIX "Dianna Ellis Ultrix Liaison Program"
To: STAR::FOLEY
Subj: ULTRIX information for you
Someone here in our marketing organization gave me a copy of your
DECwindows newsletter. I liked it and wanted to inform you of what
we are doing for ULTRIX in this capacity because I noticed your letters
to the editor had some ULTRIX specific questions.
I manage the ULTRIX Liaison Program under Gail Grant's Field Readiness
Group and I send out newsletters, etc for all ULTRIX products as well.
However I have just hired someone to fill the position of DECXwindows
ULTRIX/VMS & VMS o/s. She would be doing a newsletter as well for
the DECXwindows program. If you get any more inquiries as to what we
are doing for ULTRIX, would you please give them my node SSGBPM::ULTRIX
for more information. I don't expect to have our first newsletter until
July, but its coming........!!!
***
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for future updates include:
o A list of VMS DECwindows Version 1 features
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
o Scheduling information
o Letters to the editor
Your contributions to the update are welcome and requested.
Please send them to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail node name,
and group name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|STATEMENT OF PURPOSE|
+--------------------+
[Ed. Note: this section was moved from beginning of newsletter to the
end. For previous readers, it contains no new information.]
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders to ensure that names and dates that
impact your project have not changed since publication of this Update.
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
[End of Update]
|
| 1320.5 | Volume 5 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:40 | 666 |
| From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS Product Management 10-Jul-1988 1043" 10-JUL-1988 12:08:09.28
To: @VMSDECWIN_INTEREST
CC: @WSBASELEVEL,FOLEY
Subj: VMS DECwindows Update, Volume 1 Number 5
************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update July 11, 1988 Volume 1, Number 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions: to receive Update: send request to STAR::FOLEY;
MUST include name of your group and VAXMAIL node where you
can receive mail; individual requests will NOT receive reply;
please assume that once you have made your request, your name
will be added to the appropriate lists
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: available as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
[Ed. Note: subscription requests submitted after June 30th have not
been incorporated into the distribution list, but will be incorporated
for the next version of the Update.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
Miscellaneous Staffing Information
Pseudo Workstations
Application Copyright Information
Software Manufacturing Notes
More on OSF
DWICS Phase 0
PHIGS Phase 1
ISO OSI Directory Standard
Just for Fun (Misc. DEC Statistics)
Future Topics
Newsletter Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------------+
|MISCELLANEOUS STAFFING INFORMATION|
+----------------------------------+
**VMS Product Management Changes
================================
Recently, Phil Auberg and Eileen McDonough of VMS Product Management published
staffing changes that reflect a shift in some VMS product management
responsibilities. The result is that Eileen's product management group is
responsible for VMS support on systems in High Performance System (HPS),
Mid-range System Business (MSB), and the MicroVAX PBU. Phil Auberg's group
is responsible for DECwindows, VMS workstations, and the Personal VAX project.
If you require further information, please contact either Eileen or
Phil on STAR::.
**VMS DECwindows Engineering Management
=======================================
Vivek Marya has accepted the position of VMS DECwindows manager, reporting
to Rick Spitz. Vivek has full organizational responsibility for the VMS
DECwindows engineering group. Vivek can be reached on STAR::.
**New DECtoolkit Supervisor
===========================
Steve Grass is now the DECtoolkit (and SDT Widget Set) supervisor.
Send mail to Steve (CLT::GRASS) for additional information.
**DECtoolkit Intrinsics Project Leader
======================================
Paul Asente is the new project leader for the DECtoolkit intrinsics.
Paul will be responsible for completing delivery of the intrinsics for
DECwindows V1.0, as well as for future intrinsics work.
Previously, Charles Haynes was the previous intrinsics project
leader. Charles will now be leading an Ultrix debugger development project.
**System Level DECwindows Performance Analysis
==============================================
John Buford has assumed the role of project leader for DECwindows
system-level performance analysis. In this capacity, John will lead the
effort in characterizing the VMS DECwindows system performance by creating
and carrying out a top down performance analysis plan and communicating his
findings and recommendations to the engineering community.
**A Designated Contact for SDT Field Test Concerns
==================================================
Ann McQuaid (node VIA::) has been identified as the DRI for coordinating
DECwindows field test of SDT products.
**Base Product Marketing
========================
Ann Grecoe recently joined SS Base Product Marketing. As a member of
the marketing Field Readiness Program, Ann is the appropriate contact
for questions around VMS and VMS DECwindows liaison efforts. Her
responsibilities will include the Partners and Liaison Programs.
For more information, contact Ann on SSGBPM::.
Paul Hergt also recently joined the marketing group. As a member of
this group, his responsibility is around DECwindows, with a focus on
internal marketing (primarily to PMG, IMG and Channels). For more
information on what Paul will be doing, please contact him on SSGBPM::.
**International Engineering - ISSG
==================================
It was recently announced that Mike Oughton has joined ISSG.
Mike is responsible for managing the provision of internationalization
information at Phase 0 and Phase 1 for products that include VMS,
DECwindows, all SDT products except CAG, and Storage System products.
For more information, please contact Mike directly.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------+
|PSEUDO WORKSTATIONS|
+-------------------+
Jake VanNoy has authored a specification on VMS DECwindows
pseudo workstations. If you have questions like the following,
you may want to contact Jake for a copy of his specification,
which deals with these and other related topics.
o How should my application know whether to start up with DECwindows
or a character cell interface?
o How will VMS support multiple transports?
o How will VMS support multi-headed systems and remote sessions if
they rely on system wide logical names?
Send mail to STAR::VANNOY.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------+
|APPLICATION COPYRIGHT INFO|
+--------------------------+
Lindsey Kiang, Jake VanNoy and Michael Good have developed the following
guidelines for copyright information. The following is an excerpt
from a memo authored by Michael Good. If you have questions, please contact
Michael Good (CLT::), Jake VanNoy (STAR::), or Lindsey Kiang
(WITNES::).
"Lindsey Kiang, Jake VanNoy, and I have come up with the following
proposed resolution for the copyright issue:
1) Lindsey will provide the wording for a copyright notice to be
displayed toward the bottom of the start session screen (the
screen with the Digital logo and login box). This notice will
cover the DECwindows look and feel and the interface for
Digital products. It will mention to look at the About entry
under Help for further copyright information about individual
applications.
2) Each DECwindows application should have an About frame in Help
which provides copyright and version information. This is required
for Digital's own applications. The notice should include:
� Digital Equipment Corporation. 19xx. All Rights Reserved.
3) In addition, it is recommended that an application display
copyright information in the title bar of the window when
the application is started. The notice should be displayed
until a user action occurs. For example, DECterm's copyright
notice would be:
DECterm: � Digital Equipment Corporation. 19xx. All Rights Reserved.
If there is not sufficient room for all this, it could be
abbreviated:
DECterm: � Digital Equipment Corp. 1988. All Rights Reserved.
If there is not sufficient room for this, it could be further
abbreviated:
DECterm: � Digital Equipment Corp. 1988.
This notice would be displayed until the user did something in the
application, such as clicking the mouse or typing a key. At that
point the notice would be displayed with the standard title
information for the application. The full version of the notice
should always be included in the application's About frame.
Some applications may be too small to display even the minimum
copyright notice in their title bar. In this case, the initial
display for the application could display a copyright notice
for a set period of time (3 to 5 seconds). The notice would appear
in the main startup window, not in a separate copyright window.
If no room is available for a notice to be displayed on startup,
the application may omit a startup copyright notice and rely on
the workstation startup and About frame notices for copyright
protection.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------+
|SOFTWARE MANUFACTURING NOTES|
+----------------------------+
The attached is an excerpt from notes for a software manufacturing
meeting held on June 14 with representatives from Software
Manufacturing, the DECwindows program, and PVAX and VMS DECwindows.
The memo was authored by Alf Oliveira. The following excerpt covers
VMS DECwindows-specific notes from the meeting. For further
information on software manufacturing details and other milestones,
please contact Alf on SKYE::
"Following are notes of the Software Manufacturing Schedule Planning Meeting
held 14 June 1988.
1. GENERAL
__________
Software Manufacturing's support goals for DECwindows and PVAX programs
stated as :
- shipment of quality products as designed
- FCS mapping to Program Schedules/Announcements
- simultaneous worldwide FCS
There was agreement to adoption of the following SW Mfg support-enabling FCS
milestones as basis for joint planning and management of product schedules:
LATEST TIMING
MILESTONE WKS-FCS
------------- -------------
NPF Header Information -20(a)
Kits Specified -12(b)
Preliminary Print Spec -10(c)
Products Parts/Structure -9(d)
Last Doc -> SW Mfg -6(e)
SPD Masters -5
Media Masters -5
Verified Media -4(f)
FCS 0
Notes
-----
(a) Includes - Product name
Version
Planned Submission/FCS
Distribution media types
Business/Area distribution info
4 Quarters volume forecast by media type
(b) Finalized Options,incl Licenses;Option #s requested
(c) 4 Wks before Repro to SW Mfg
(d) Includes - Component parts finalized
Component Part #s requested
Page counts/color content fixed
Media counts and details fixed
(e) Subject to previously agreed Doc schedule
(f) Marks availability of manufacturable product = Submission
2. DECwindows
______________
2.1 VMS
-------
The following initial planning schedule was agreed :
MILESTONE DATE
----------- -----------
NPF Header Information 16 Sep 1988
Kits Specified 11 Nov 1988
Preliminary Print Spec 25 Nov 1988
Product Parts/Structure 2 Dec 1988
Last Doc -> SW Mfg 23 Dec 1988
SPD Masters 30 Dec 1988
Media Masters 30 Dec 1988
Release Notes 6 Jan 1989
Verified Media 6 Jan 1989
Closing of Field Test 2 identified as pre-requisite to completion of
Documentation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------+
|MORE ON OSF|
+-----------+
The attached is an abstract of a report on the OSF session held at
the USENIX (UNIX User's Group) convention. The original report, from
George Champine, has been condensed for inclusion in this Update.
This report reviews the Open Software Foundation (OSF) session held at
USENIX in San Francisco on June 22, 1988.
The session was chaired by Alex Morrow of IBM and OSF. His opening
statement was that the OSF corporation, announced May 17 in New York, is
a non-profit organization whose purpose is to develop Unix-based
software in an open forum. He introduced the following people.
Henry Crouse of Digital, President and Chief Executive Officer
Ira Goldstein of HP, Director of Research
John Paul of Nixdorf, Director of Development
Alex said that his position was Director of Strategic Relations, and was
responsible for marketing.
These people were termed the "start team". They will stay in place for
2-6 months. By the end of 1988 the permanent employee replacements for
these people will be in place.
Each sponsor is contributing 4-5 people to get things rolling quickly.
The team is already well blended, and corporate identity has been
submerged in favor of OSF objectives.
Henry Crouse
------------
Henry compared the startup of OSF with its committed $100 M in resources
to the startup of Digital and its $70 K in resources.
He announced that Philips Corporation had joined as the eighth sponsor.
OSF has opened an office in Brussels to represent OSF in Europe. He
also stated that the initial version of all of the development and
operations plans have been completed and approved.
The seven principles of OSF are:
1. Offerings based on relevant industry standards
2. Open process to solicit inputs and technology
3. Timely vendor-neutral decision process
4. Early and equal access to specifications and development
5. Hardware independent implementations
6. Reasonable, stable licensing terms
7. Technical innovation through university research participation
The three high level goals of OSF are:
o Portability
o Interoperability
o Scalability
An important goal is to develop technology for mass distribution of
software independent of hardware technology, with the advantages of an
Application Binary Interfaces (ABI) standard without the hardware
restrictions.
Henry restated the OSF position that everything would be done in an open
environment.
Alex Morrow
-----------
The objective of OSF is to develop software. It is not a standards
group and it is not a users group. OSF has three constituencies:
o Hardware manufacturers
o Applications software developers
o Users
Alex is responsible for determining the requirements of the members.
John Paul is responsible for developing products on a timely basis. Ira
Goldstein is responsible for developing the broad vision of future products
by involving universities.
Ira Goldstein
-------------
OSF must lay the foundation for computing in the 1990s from the wealth
of technical opportunities that have been identified. The Research
Institute of OSF has been created to work with universities to meet this
need. There is a world wide computing structure coming into place. The
potential benefits and technical challenge are both large. The Research
Institute must identify how operating systems and environments will
change with:
o Gigabit networks
o Parallel computing, tightly and loosely coupled
o Visualization technology
The Research Institute must also determine how to deal with computer
diseases (viruses).
A large amount of intellectual work needs to be done. OSF is world wide
in perspective as is the Research Institute.
The plans are as follows:
1. Support work on campuses
2. Coordinate grants with sponsors
3. Collaborate with other organizations
In summary, it is necessary to move the focus from individual computers
to the study of aggregate systems in networks. The Research Institute is
designed to make the solution to that need real by utilizing the best
work on the campuses.
John Paul
---------
It was stated during the May 17 announcement that the initial products
would come out in about 18 months. That schedule still looks reasonable.
However, the products are not just source code, but also include specs,
snapshots of prototypes, and validation suites.
An initial high priority activity will be the selection and development
of the user interface. One will be selected which is based on X and
which has a style guide. It must provide distributed services.
Specifications will flow out steadily during the first 18 months and
beyond.
The initial product will use version 3 of AIX from IBM. It is highly
modular and includes functionality from System V, Berkeley 4.2 and 4.3,
and is POSIX conformant. It includes a recoverable file system
including after-image journaling. It also supports real-time, multiple
national languages, system management, and ODD level C2 security
capability. OSF will pick and choose among the modules in AIX. Members
will start learning about AIX this summer, and the first AIX-based specs
will be available by the end of June.
Other modules offered include New Wave, Open Dialogue, and DECwindows
from sponsors. Software has been offered by non-sponsors as well.
As part of the development process, OSF will publish a "Request for
Technology" world wide for each of the needed technology elements. Both
the technical and legal requirements will be provided in the Request.
Examples of responses to Requests for Technology might be Open Look or
MS windows.
The responses to the requests will be published and will be evaluated in
a public forum. There will be public technology selection meetings
lasting 3-5 days (like user conferences) which will include
presentations, debates, and working sessions. The final decision,
however, will be made by the development team. The decision will be
published along with the reasons for the decision. The decision will
be implemented and a validation suite developed.
The offerings will begin this summer with Requests for Technology,
specs, and prototypes. The intent is to develop products in front of
the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|DWICS PHASE 0|
+-------------+
The attached memo is from Ross Faneuf, regarding a Phase 0
announcement for DWICS. If you require additional information, please
contact Ross directly on CLT::FANEUF.
DWICS is the acronym for the DECwindows Interactive Construction Set.
*DWICS is an internal product name and should be treated as proprietary.
"The Phase 0 document for DWICS (DECwindows Interface Construction Set)
is complete, and is available in
(LN03 version)
CLT::DWICS$:[DWICS.PUBLIC]PHASE0.LN03
CLT::DWICS$:[DWICS.PUBLIC]PHASE0_CONTENTS.LN03
(Plain text version)
CLT::DWICS$:[DWICS.PUBLIC]PHASE0.MEM
(SDML source)
CLT::DWICS$:[DWICS.PUBLIC]PHASE0.SDML
The Phase 0 exit meeting for DWICS has been scheduled:
DWICS Phase 0 exit meeting
22 July 1988 10:00 - 11:30
OILIER conference room, ZK2-2 near pole R-A
Your comments on the document and/or attendance at the exit meeting
are solicited.
DWICS is intended as an interactive editor for constructing DECwindows
interfaces. Similar to UIL, DWICS will allow users to specify the form of
their application interface separately from it's function, using .UID files as
both input and output. In contrast to UIL, which provides a declarative style
of user interface definition, DWICS will provide a
what-you-see-is-what-you-get style of interface definition.
DWICS is also intended as the basis (whether directly or by extension) of
support for other DECwindows interface specification or modification
functions. This may include support for interactive translation of interfaces
(internationalization), incorporation of DWICS-like interface construction
facilities in application generators, and maintenance of UIL-generated
interfaces.
*DWICS is an internal product name and should be treated as proprietary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|PHIGS PHASE 1|
+-------------+
The attached is an excerpt from the Phase 1 Review memo for PHIGS
Version 2.0. If you have questions regarding the memo or the scheduled
meeting, please contact Jim Flatten (DSSDEV::).
PRODUCT: VAX PHIGS V2.0
GROUP: Core Applications Group
PHASE: Exit of Phase 1
PRODUCT MANAGER: Jim Flatten
PROJECT LEADER: Jeff Saltz
DATE: July 15, 1988
TIME: 3:00 - 5:00
LOCATION: Pascal Conference Room (ZKO2-3)
1 PRODUCT ABSTRACT
VAX PHIGS (the Programmers Hierarchical Interactive Graph-
ics System) is a sophisticated, 3D graphics support sys-
tem that controls the definition, modification, and dis-
play of hierarchical graphics data. VAX PHIGS is device in-
dependent, that is, the same program can generate graph-
ical output on different devices without modification to
the source code. VAX PHIGS manages the organization and dis-
play of graphical data stored in a conceptually central-
ized database. VAX PHIGS runs under the VMS operating sys-
tem.
VAX PHIGS V1.0, which shipped February 1, 1988, was Dig-
ital's first implementation of the proposed ANSI/ISO PHIGS
standard and supports the VAXstation II, VAXstation II/RC,
VAXstation II/GPX, VAXstation 2000, VAXstation 3200, VAXs-
tation 3500 AND VAXSTATION 8000 running the VAX VMS oper-
ating system. VAX PHIGS V1.0 also supports most of the hard-
copy devices supported by VAX GKS V3.0, such as the HPGL
series of plotters and Digital's compatible sixel devices.
VAX PHIGS V2.0 will include new functionality, and support
for new devices and operating systems. Plans for VAX PHIGS
V2.0 include:
1. ULTRIX operating system support
2. DECwindows support
3. Firefox workstation support
4. Application structure traversal (immediate mode)
5. Performance optimizations
6. Better quick updates
7. Posting to views
8. Curves and surfaces
9. Direct color
10.DDIF output support
11.CGM output support
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------+
|ISO OSI DIRECTORY STANDARD|
+--------------------------+
The OSI draft Directory Services (Name Service) standard is out for
public review due Sept 17. (The name of the standard is "The Directory").
It is the specification of the directory service for OSI. Its primary
function is name to address mapping.
Lee Seeton (LEE2::) is DEC's rep to X3T54, the X3T5 task group that is
responsible for this SC21 standard. He will take DEC comments to his
X3T54 meeting, 18 July in Seattle.
For additional information, please contact Tom Hastings on VIDEO::.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------+
|JUST FOR FUN|
+------------+
The attached data was received through numerous mail forwardings. It
contains no DECwindows information. Rather, it is a collection of
miscellaneous DEC data that appears here just for, well, ...no reason.
DEC FACTS
o 10% of DEC's people are in engineering
o 26% of DEC's people are in manufacturing - this number is declining
by 5% every 3 years
o Sales, service and marketing = most of corporation
o 38% of people are outside USA
o 123,762 people
o 50% of our revenue comes from outside of the USA
o We are #38 in FORTUNE "500" Co.
o DEC is based in 80 or 90 countries
o 1/2 of all of DEC has been in the company under 5 yrs
o Average age of DEC employees is 37
o In U.S., 1 out of every 4 DEC employees is in their 30's
o 7% of U.S. has 1 husband, non-working wife and 2 children
o College grads are not in 20's but 30"s, many are women
o 33,00 people in Massachusetts work for DEC; DEC is largest employer in
Mass.
o 12,000 people in N.H. work for DEC
o 50,000 in New England work for DEC
o 70,000 in the U.S.A. work for DEC
o Some California employees want phones in their cars and would
like to work from their homes because the average speed on highways,
to and from work, is only 33 mph because of excessive traffic;
therefore, much valuable time is lost in the comute
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for future updates include:
o A list of VMS DECwindows Version 1 features
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
o DECworld and DECUS info (VMS DECwindows will be
in demos at both events)
o Scheduling information
o VMS DECwindows public review (target date: mid-August)
o Letters to the editor
Your contributions to the update are welcome and requested. It is
expected that your contributions will have been reviewed and
approved prior to their submission for this Update. Further, the
content should be appropriate for a large audience.
Please send contributions to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXMAIL node name,
and group name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|STATEMENT OF PURPOSE|
+--------------------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders to ensure that names and dates that
impact your project have not changed since publication of this Update.
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
[End of Update]
|
| 1320.6 | Volume 6 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:41 | 338 |
| From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS Product Management 17-Jul-1988 2310" 18-JUL-1988 01:02:13.84
To: @VMSDECWIN_INTEREST
CC: @WSBASELEVEL,FOLEY
Subj: VMS DECwindows Update, Volume 1 Number 6
************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
***** S P E C I A L E D I T I O N *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update July 17, 1988 Volume 1, Number 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions: to receive Update: send request to STAR::FOLEY;
MUST include name of your group and VAXMAIL node where you
can receive mail; individual requests will NOT receive reply;
please assume that once you have made your request, your name
will be added to the appropriate lists
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: available as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
[Ed. Note: subscription requests submitted after July 5th have not
been incorporated into the distribution list, but will be incorporated
for the next version of the Update.]
This Update has been sent out to you early because it includes
information on DECwindows and/or MIT X events that you may wish to
attend and for which you will have to make plans.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
DECwindows Trade Fair
MIT Athena Newsletter
A Request for Input
Future Topics
Newsletter Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|DECWINDOWS TRADE FAIR|
+---------------------+
+---------------+
| D I G I T A L | I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
+---------------+
TO: Distribution DATE: 6-July-1988
FROM: Dave Quigley
DEPT: SDT Prod. Mgmt.
DTN: 381-2343
NET: TLE::QUIGLEY
The DECwindows-Enterprise Fair
August 23-24
Nashua, New Hampshire
I. SCOPE:
The DECwindows-Enterprise Fair is being facilitated to expose the magnitude of
the DECwindows product effort to representatives in the Corporation who work
within field support, sales support, and/or marketing organizations. This event
is designed to provide for these individuals a basic concrete visual-learning
experience, highlighting the power and significance of Digital's DECwindows
Program effort as it applies to Digital's Desktop Strategy.
II. DEFINITION:
The DECwindows-Enterprise Fair will be a two-day event starting on Tuesday,
August 23 and ending on Wednesday, August 24th. The overall theme behind this
event is Digital's Desktop Strategy. DECwindows will be the driving force behind
all the images presented. As major components to the Desktop Strategy we will
also be presenting, (some of which, for the first time) DECwindows
implementations on Digital's new hardware, CASE toolsets, Office Productivity
products, and AI product set.
III. OBJECTIVES:
* Show the full range of internally developed DECwindows applications
and tools on the hardware and software platforms that will
be marketed in 1989
> Over 40 planned products or advanced development
projects
> Personal VAX and PC Integration Platforms
> DECwindows FT2 Performance and Functionality
* Promote understanding of and enthusiasm for Digital's Desktop Strategy
* Identify opportunities for Marketing and Sales Programs to
implement Digital's Desktop Strategy
IV. FIRST-PASS LOGISTICS:
A. Where/When:
As mentioned earlier, the Fair will take place on Tuesday, August 23rd
and Wednesday, August 24th. The exhibition will be set in an old Mill
in downtown Nashua, New Hampshire (once known as the Millyard
Shopping Mall).
The first day of the fair is organized to support executive tours,
special marketing projects, and Workstation training. Specialized
field Sales Management activities would also be serviced on Day 1.
The second day is designed to be open to any Digital employee whose
job is somehow related to Digital's Desktop business. Whether it is a
secretary or a marketing manager, we fully expect to see wide range
of representatives from engineering, marketing, and support
organizations.
More detail on times and fair specifics will be sent out to groups
or individuals requesting additional information.
B. Who Exhibits:
Digital Product Groups who are building products with a DECwindow's
user interface are welcome to participate.
If you represent one of the above groups and are interested in
participating in this exciting opportunity to demonstrate your
product's DECwindows integration, please send me a note on
(TLE::QUIGLEY) with your product name, and contact name.
C. SPECIAL REQUEST TO Marketing Organizations:
The success of this project lies not only in the structure of
executing this exhibition (which the operations team will cover), but
more importantly on how Digital's corporate-wide marketing
organizations make use of this opportunity. We sincerely would like
to encourage any type of creative marketing integration with the basic
structure of the event. If you are a marketing representative or
manager and have some ideas or would just like to begin discussions
on how your organization could become involved in this event, please
feel free to contact me. Clearly, this is be the one big chance that
we will ALL have to easily capture the significance of what Digital's
Desktop Strategy is all about.
Please feel free to contact Dave Quigley for more information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|MIT ATHENA NEWSLETTER|
+---------------------+
Athena Newsletter Number 23
July 1, 1988
Overview
--------
Athena is a joint project between MIT, Digital, and IBM to install a large
Unix-based workstation network at MIT for the purpose of supporting
education and research. At present, 700 workstations, 12 printers, and
50 file servers are being supported for about 5000 users. The system
includes a number of software servers that provide network-transparent
access to a number of services, including authentication, mail, file,
notification, print, and naming.
It is planned that the system will grow eventually to 10,000 workstations
with the present architecture.
Distributed Systems
-------------------
A copy of the technical report entitled "Issues of Scale in Large
Distributed Operating Systems" by Cliff Neuman of Univ. Washington (former
Athenian) is now available. He talks about dealing with scale in the sense
of numbers of users and machine, geographical distance, and organizational
diversity. Factors discussed are naming, authentication, file systems.
Also how to make a user's view as painless as possible in the face of large
scale issues.
Systems discussed are Emerald, V, Athena, Andrew, Grapevine,
Dash, Amoeba and some work done at DEC SRC. He also talks about
Bind, Hesiod and the Global Name Service in conjunction with large
scale naming.
Copies can be obtained by sending mail to Stephanie at RDVAX::ERPTEMP2
and requesting the report by Cliff Neuman. She can also be reached at DTN
225-6573.
X Window System
---------------
There is growing interest in Xhibition '88, to be held at MIT August 22-25.
This is the first trade show devoted to the X Window System, and will
consist of trade exhibits as well as courses and seminars. The keynote
speaker will be from Open Software Foundation, speaking at 7:00 P.M. on
August 23.
The conference is targeted for two audiences-
Technical:
This is intended for engineers needing more current information about
the X window system. It includes courses on Xlib, Xt, and Andrew.
Additionally there are technical seminars on subjects such as Display
Postscript, HP widget set, Client-window manager, Communications,
Live Video, X3D-PEX, Using the Resource Manager, Open Dialogue, image
processing, and Tiled Window Managers.
Strategic:
This is intended to be less technical and presented to Managers,
Marketing, Sales, and other people interested in why X is important,
how it is changing the industry, as well as the fundamentals
of how X functions, and what its limitations are.
The price schedule for registration before July 31 is:
Total package: $595
Seminars and show only: $300
One class $300
Two classes $475
Show only $ 75
If you would like a copy of the brochure, contact Stephanie at
RDVAX::ERPTEMP2 or at DTN 225-6573.
For more information call Xhibition at 617-482-3596. Their address is
Dame Associates Inc.
51 Church Street
Boston, MA. 02116
Multimedia workstations
-----------------------
Georgia Tech has become an active participant in the multimedia workstation
effort at Athena. Dany Guindi, a member of their staff, will be joining
the Visual Courseware staff at Athena for the next few months to complete
the X.11 video server for the Parallax boards. This server will then be
available to M.I.T., Georgia Tech, and the general video community.
Personnel
---------
After serving as director of Athena for five years, Prof. Steve Lerman is
returning to his teaching position in Civil Engineering at M.I.T. The new
Director of Athena is Prof. Earll Murman of the Aero/Astro department at
M.I.T. The change will be effective on September 1.
Also starting September 1, Steve Lerman will begin a long-planned one year
sabbatical. During this year Steve will consult half-time for Digital on
education computing, reporting to Jack McCredie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|REQUEST FOR INPUT|
+-----------------+
VMS DECwindows Product Management is currently looking for information
on internal applications that are being written for, or ported to,
the VMS DECwindows platform. Product Management is specifically
interested in applications that will run on Baselevel 8 (or a more
recent baselevel) and that would be suitable for demos at conferences
or similar events in the August/September timeframe.
We would greatly appreciate your assistance in this area. If you
have an application that is suitable or know of someone else who
might, please contact either Cathy Foley or Paul Steeves (both can be
reached on STAR::).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for future updates include:
o A list of VMS DECwindows Version 1 features
o Follow-on layered product information
o DECworld and DECUS info (VMS DECwindows will be
in demos at both events)
o VMS DECwindows public review (target date: mid-August)
o Letters to the editor
Your contributions to the update are welcome and requested. It is
expected that your contributions will have been reviewed and
approved prior to their submission for this Update. Further, the
content should be appropriate for a large audience.
Please send contributions to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXMAIL node name,
and group name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|STATEMENT OF PURPOSE|
+--------------------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders to ensure that names and dates that
impact your project have not changed since publication of this Update.
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
[End of Update]
|
| 1320.7 | Volume 7 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:42 | 1516 |
| From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS Product Management 15-Aug-1988 1310" 15-AUG-1988 17:35:32.04
To: @VMSDECWIN_INTEREST
CC: @WSBASELEVEL,FOLEY
Subj: VMS DECwindows Update, Volume 1 - Number 7
************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update August 15, 1988 Volume 1, Number 7
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Primary Contributor(s): Peter George
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::FOLEY;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
[Ed. Note: Distribution list includes requests received before Aug. 2nd.]
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
News Briefs
A Major Milestone
IFT2 Acknowledgments
IFT2 Kit Size
So You Want IFT2?
For Your Reading Pleasure
More Mailing Lists
Phase 0 Opens for VAXELN V3.3
OSF RFT for Windowing and User Interface
New CLT Org Chart
New DEC Vice Presidents Appointed
SDT Staffing Notes
A DECwindows Showcase
Letter to the Editor
Future Topics
Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------+
|NEWS BRIEFS|
+-----------+
**VMS DECwindows Public Review
==============================
The VMS DECwindows public review has been scheduled for Friday,
August 26th, at 2:30 PM in the ZKO3-1 Cauchy Conference Room.
This meeting is open to all Digital employees who have an interest in
the VMS DECwindows V1.0 product. Topics for this meeting will
range from engineering and documentation information to software
manufacturing and testing plans. Documents will be available
online approximately two weeks beforehand. Updated hardcopy of these
documents will be available at the meeting.
All discussions in the meeting are company confidential. All
materials distributed are classified as containing proprietary
information. Materials are for employee use only, not for sales
purposes or customer usage.
Groups and/or individuals who have issues with the documents,
the project status, the business information, etc., are requested
to raise their issues with product management (STAR::FOLEY) and
engineering (STAR::GEORGE) before the meeting, allowing for
clarifications and responses.
**Introduction to DECwindows Course at Spit Brook
=================================================
Attached is an excerpt from mail received regarding internal
DECwindows training.
A One Day Introduction To DECwindows
This seminar is intended to give technical and nontechnical persons the
introduction to X-windows and DECwindows that will enable them to effectively
communicate in these now very important areas. Seminar topics include:
An introduction to common computer graphic terms.
What is the X-window system?
What is DECwindows?
What advantages does DECwindows offer?
DECwindows the program, the product.
Why does Digital need DECwindows?
The DECwindows user environment.
VMS User Executive (VUE).
Ultrix User Executive (UUE).
Core DECwindows applications.
The DECwindows style.
Demonstration of DECwindows.
LOCATION: ZKO, Nashua, New Hampshire
DATES:
17 August 88 FULL
8 September 88 FULL
19 October 88
20 October 88
5 January 89
24 May 89
To register, send mail to Michelle UCOUNT::Ilyadis of the ZKO
training department. This is for Digital employees only.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|A MAJOR MILESTONE|
+-----------------+
Attached is an excerpt from the memo announcing VMS DECwindows
IFT2 availability.
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: VMS DECwindows Internal DATE: 29-July-1988
Field Test Sites FROM: Paul Steeves and
Peter George and
Marty Jack
DEPT: VMS
EXT: 1-1621
LOC: ZK03-4/T61
ENET: STAR::STEEVES
SUBJECT: VMS DECwindows Internal Field Test 2 Baselevel
AVAILABILITY
AVAILABILITY
AVAILABILITY
The internal field test 2 baselevel (IFT2) of VMS DECwin-
dows is now available for your use. Note that this base-
level kit and all related documentation and project infor-
mation are COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. They should not be dis-
tributed or shown to non-Digital employees without the ex-
press written consent of VMS product management.
Our primary purpose in distributing this baselevel is to
test our software internally before sending it to our ex-
ternal field test sites. In addition, this release provides
a more functional and stable basis for application devel-
opment and a more complete user environment than earlier
baselevels.
This baselevel contains all the functions that we plan to
ship in version 1.0 of VMS DECwindows. Its performance is
also a reasonable approximation of version 1.0 performance.
Quality and usability, on the other hand, are both known
to require work.
Page 2
Be aware that some interfaces may change between now and
final SDC submission. Therefore, you should expect to re-
compile and relink any applications that you develop when
you receive subsequent baselevels. The good news, however,
is that we expect the rate of change from here on out to
be much, much less that it has been between previous base-
levels.
NOTE
NOTE
To run this software you must be running VMS V5.0 SDC
To run this software
software, no more, no less. That means that this soft-
software, no more,
ware will neither install nor work on pre- or post-
ware will neither inst
SDC versions of VMS V5.0 such as V5.0-FT2, V5.0-FT2.1,
SDC versions of VMS
or V5.0-1. Also note that this software replaces many
or V5.0-1. Also note
base VMS components. You should plan to reboot any
base VMS components. Yo
machine or cluster on which this software is installed
machine or cluster
once the installation procedure completes.
once the installation procedure
KIT LOCATION
KIT LOCATION
KIT LOCATION
The IFT2 software savesets and a copy of this cover let-
ter are available in the directory:
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[KITS.IFT2]
They are also available from other locations on the net-
work. Please consult the DECWINDOWS notes file on node BULOVA
for more details about these locations.
The savesets should be installed using the standard VMSIN-
STAL procedure. During installation, you will be prompted
to select which of the savesets and components of the kit
you want to install. To copy all the savesets to your own
system for local installation, use a variation of the fol-
lowing command:
$ COPY BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[KITS.IFT2]DECWIFT2000.* -
destination-directory
Page 3
Once again, remember to be sure to reboot your systems af-
ter completing the installation.
DOCUMENTATION
DOCUMENTATION
DOCUMENTATION
The release notes and associated documentation describing
this baselevel and its installation are located in the di-
rectories:
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.IFT2_LN03]
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.IFT2_POST]
Most of the documentation consists of preliminary drafts
of FT2 manuals that are still undergoing review. As such,
it is still unstable. However, it is very important that
you read the release notes and installation guide before
attempting to install or use this software. They will spell
out the restrictions and limitations of this baselevel for
you.
In addition, you can find VMS DECwindows specifications in
the directory:
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[SPECS]
ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
Some of the VMS DECwindows documentation is available in
an online format suitable for reading with the VMS IFT2 DECwin-
dows Bookreader. The online manuals can be copied from the
following directory:
BULOVA::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.ONLINE]
The following five books are available for online reading:
o VMS DECwindows Technical Summary
o VMS DECwindows UI Style Guide
Page 4
o VMS DECwindows Device Driver Manual
o VMS DECwindows Toolkit Reference Manual
o VMS DECwindows UIL Reference Manual
Each online manual is comprised of a text file and asso-
ciated online graphic files. To copy all of the files re-
quired to read each manual, use the DCL command COPY, spec-
ifying the file names (numbers and wildcard characters) ex-
actly as shown:
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Book Title
VMS DECwindows Technical Summary 4727*.*
VMS DECwindows UI Style Guide 4730*.*
VMS DECwindows Toolkit Reference Manual 4731*.*
VMS DECwindows Device Driver Manual 4735*.*
_______________________________________________________
VMS DECwindows UIL Refer
By default, the Bookreader will look for these files in the
directory on your system named DECW$BOOK. (DECW$BOOK is a
logical name for the directory SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$BOOK].)
If you copy the online documentation files to another disk
or directory, you must redefine the logical name DECW$BOOK
to point to that new location.
QAR SYSTEM
QAR SYSTEM
QAR SYSTEM
A QAR system has been set up on TRIFID to allow you to re-
port problems you have with VMS DECwindows. Please be sure
to enter VMS-specific DECwindows QARs in the internal database
DECWINDOWS-IFT. (Please be sure not to the use the DECWINDOWS-
FT database. It is reserved for customer use.)
Page 5
For internal access to the DECWINDOWS-IFT database you may
use the QAR account:
Name: QAR_INTERNAL
Password: QAR
When you enter a QAR, please be sure to explicitly state
the name of the field test (or intermediate baselevel) you
are running, the release of the VMS operating system you
are running it on, and the type of workstation you are us-
ing (e.g., VAXstation 2000/GPX).
CONFIDENTIALITY
CONFIDENTIALITY
CONFIDENTIALITY
Once again remember, this project, baselevel kit, and doc-
umentation are highly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. Do not discuss
the contents of the field test or any of the specifications
with people outside the company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|IFT2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS|
+--------------------+
The following memo was written by Vivek Marya. The information
that is included below provides an overview of the VMS DECwindows team.
It is included here for references purposes.
+++++++++++++++++
+ d i g i t a l + I n t e r o f f i c e M e m o r a n d u m
+++++++++++++++++
To: Bill Heffner From: Vivek I. Marya
Kurt Friedrich Dept: VMS Development
Bill Keating Enet: STAR::MARYA
Bob Lindenberg Dtn: 381-0573
Sue Gault Loc: ZK03-4/W23
Peter Conklin Date: July 15, 1988
Subject: VMS DECwindows development team reaches version-1 FT2 code freeze
A tremendous effort by the VMS DECwindows project team leads to this
key milestone. Working through a long and difficult period and
constantly facing new challenges this team maintained a clear product
focus and continued to make head-way. As they continue with the same
momentum toward SDC release and plan further work on improvements and
enhancements to the product it is important to recognize their hard
work and dedication that has brought us so far along on this very
important strategic program. This note summarizes and introduces you
to some of their work coverage and their recent accomplishments in
each area.
Project coordination/management:
* Peter George, Marty Jack
These people are the primary project coordinators. They keep track of
the builds and coordinate input from all of the components into the
master pack. Several other members of the team have contributed in
this effort from time to time. Since FT1 (March) they have built and
shipped about a dozen internal baselevels.
VMS DECwindows Server and Transport:
* Bill Adams, Bob Bury, Gene Belch, Monty Brandenberg, Colyn Case,
Burns Fisher, Chris Franklin, Teresa Hughey, Marty Jack, Pam Levesque,
Bill Matthews, Pete Nishimoto, Mike Rosenblum, Edith Tan, Tom
Woodburn, Thomas Vaughan, Dave Winchell (UEG), Steve Zalewski
A large part of the effort involving all of the server developers has
lately been devoted to further improving the performance. This effort
has resulted in significant improvements in all parts of the server.
For most windowing and graphic operations the DECwindows common server
is now significantly faster than the standard MIT server.
Work was done in the areas of windowing, memory management, transport,
font improvements and enhancements, monochrome frame buffer handling,
support and optimizations of GPX requirements, server security, error
handling, event compression, resource management, and driver support
for various hardware requirements (including Firefox). Emphasis on
optimizing memory usage has led to significant reduction.
Improvements were made in the "MI" (machine-independent) code. A
shared memory transport was implemented to optimize performance in the
single-node case. Investigations carried out as part of the
performance task force led to key insights about our dialog-box-up
performance.
VMS DECwindows Human Interface:
* Tom Benson, Karen Brouillette, Alastair Gourlay (IPG), Jackie
Granfield, Steve Klein, Vince Orgovan, Jake VanNoy
This group carries a very broad responsibility. Their work spans
several areas of user interface including some of the components
"above the wire". Their responsibilities include the Session Manager,
the VMS User Executive (VUE), the X-library, and the support in
Loginout. Their recent focus has been on completing several
functional and quality work items in these areas.
This group is also responsible for the DECwindows Style Guide and
Internationalization support. They recently completed International
keyboard support for V1.0. The DECwindows Style Guide and VUE were
two of our presentations at the U.S. Spring DECUS where we also
sensed keen interest in DECwindows.
Members of this group have also been active in performance
investigations from a system point of view.
Software Development Technologies (SDT):
* Brian Axtell, Chuck Beckett, Vick Bennison, Jay Bolgatz, Mark
Bramhall, Alana Brassard, Barbara Brazemore, John Buehler, Jim
Burrows, Linda Busdiecker, Dave Butenhof, Marc Carigan, Harris Chasen,
Marios Cleovoulou, Mike Collins, Bob Crowling, Steve Davidson, Peter
Davis, Ross Faneuf, Neal Finnegan, Charlie Frean, Michael Good, Roger
Goun, Steve Grass, Steve Greenwood, Dick Gumbel, John Hainsworth, Per
Hamnqvist, John Henning, Stew Hoover, Marty Jack, Sandra Jones,
Johnathan Joseph, Pat Justus, Sharon LaClair, Dan Latham, Bill
Laurune, Lory Lee, Steve Lionel, Dennis McEvoy, John Middleton, Kelly
Mulheren, Dan Mullen, Angela Napolitano, Michael O'Bryan, Jeff
Orthober, Rich Reichert, Paul Reilly, August Reinig, Billie Robinson,
Kathy Robinson, Lauren Sacco, Tom Scarpelli, Mary Ann Slavin, Tom
Spine, Roy Stone, Jeff Tancill, Barry Tannenbaum, Eliot Tarlin, Leo
Treggiari, Jim VanGilder, Tony Vlatas, Chris Walsh, John Whiteside,
Chauncey Wilson, Dennis Wixon, Bob Wyman, Linda Zaharee, Marc Zehngut
Our team members in SDT cover a very wide ground. Their main areas of
work include the DECToolkit, applications, DECwindows Resource Manager
(DRM), and the User Interface Language (UIL). They also provide a
focus on the human factors aspects as part of our System Usability
Engineering effort.
Applications bundled with the VMS DECwindows kit include, for example:
Clock, Puzzle, Paint, Calendar, Cardfiler, DDIFlib, DDIF viewers,
TPU/EVE, Mail, and Calculator.
Some of their recent work has involved addition of gadgets resulting
in very visible performance improvements, some new widgets, DDIF
toolkit upgrade, addition of SVN interface for mail, and addition of
several capabilities to the DDIF viewer.
They have been active in the performance area as well and recently
wrote and disseminated guidelines for performance improvements in
applications.
Ultrix Engineering Group (UEG):
* Sue Angebranndt, Hania Gajewska, Joel Gringorten, Loretta Guarino,
Charles Haynes, Phil Karlton, Dave Winchell
The UEG group has made several key contributions to this project.
Among these are the "MI" code, PostScript Viewer, the Window Manager,
Notepad, and the Intrinsics. There has also been some joint effort
with the Human Interface Group in addressing performance of the Window
Manager. We expect to continue work with them in further improving
our windowing performance.
Terminal Business Unit (TBU):
* Walter Ashe, George Cacioppo, Scott Clarke, Tina Demetriades, Jim
Flowers, Pat Hefferman, Amy Iorio, Mike Leibow, Bob Messenger, Eric
Osman, Ed Parsons, Tom Porcher, Peter Sichel
The TBU group has made some fine contributions giving the project
DECTerm and 100 dpi and menu fonts. They have recently been focusing
on further improving the performance of DECTerm.
Software Quality Management (SQM):
* Performance Analysis - John Buford, Tom Cafarella, Celena Dulac,
Ratan Notaney, Tom Stonecypher
* Test Systems Development - Jeff Ghannam, Larry Jones, Dave Marra,
Erik Morse, Pat Bunnell Smith, Bob Thomson, Todd Trimble, Peter
Vinsel, Rick Weeks
* Software Quality Group - Rick Bonneau, Wendy Granger, Paul Hague,
Jim Harlow, John McCafferty, John Prestidge, Karen Watson
The performance group continually provides us insights that help in
making better trade-offs and in focusing certain development effort on
specific areas that need performance improvements. Performance
coverage ranges from measurements of server primitives to X-protocol
traffic across the wire and up to an overall system level evaluation.
They have also helped us focus on specific areas such as DECTerm.
Another notable contribution made by this group is their spear-heading
a performance task force. This effort helped the team in gaining a
better understanding of FT1 performance leading to several
investigations that concluded with some pointers for improvements.
The performance group also delivered a seminar sharing guidelines for
designing high-performance DECwindows applications.
A performance characterization effort is underway for the current
baselevel. Although we have significantly improved our performance in
several areas in recent baselevels we are not done yet. There is more
to do to improve our system-level performance. Work on performance
improvements must continue as a key part of our future effort.
TSD helps us address another vital dimension of quality. Their
automated test rigs with hundreds of tests help shake-down the product
in certain areas very thoroughly. Tests have been written to exercise
each of the 350 X-Library routines and VMS bindings for the XLib
interface. They have also assisted in the redefinition of the VMS
binding set parameters, provided developers with testing tools such as
the pixel expander program, and have been involved with the MI people
in their implementation effort.
SQG has the responsibility for product registration issues and for
testing of the product for installability, compatibility, etc. They
recently published a set of requirement/guidelines for layered
products for DECwindows, and built an integration lab to carry out
inter-platform evaluation.
SQM covers a very vital function in our product development.
VMS DECwindows Documentation:
* Susan Bonde, Linda Castonguay, Regina Collins (SDT), Susan Denham,
Susan Deschenes, Cathy Frean, Jay Hamer, Chris Harris, Art Hebert
(SDT), John Holohan, Katie McCormick, Kevin McDonough, Ann Murphy
(TBU), James Parker, Bob Pezzini, Don Polglase, Val Rodgers (SDT),
Paul Yankowskas, Ann Waldron, Carolyn Wurm
The Documentation Group has continued its contributions to the product
through timely and high quality documents. Several new books were
added since FT1 and the FT2 documents are currently in review.
Documentation is, indeed, an arduous task, and it takes a dedicated
set of people such as these to carry it out so well.
VMS DECwindows Product Management:
* Phil Auberg, Cathy Foley, Paul Steeves
We have three very dedicated people addressing product management
issues. Their responsibilities span very broadly. Recent emphasis
has been in the areas of packaging, licensing and pricing,
communicating important DECwindows product related information through
an UPDATE newsletter, handling of field test requirements, handling
VMS participation at DECUS and DECworld, handling of phase reviews,
etc. They stay on top of the issues in their area and flag items of
potential concern for VMS and for the corporation related to the
DECwindows program.
DECwindows Program Office
* Roger Heinen, Scott McGreggor, Richard Treadway
The program office continues to help us maintain high-level goals and
provide guidance on global issues. Their direction and help in this
regard is extremely valuable and allows us to focus on VMS
platform-specific goals and our development effort. A significant
recent event was the DECwindows presentation at the state-of
the-company, which also reminded us where it all began, "the Heald
Pond".
Other contributors:
* Gary Allison and Stu Davidson have been involved in making changes
to RMS in support of DECwindows requirements; Jim Ferguson and Joe
Kraetsch have been working on Voila; and, John Weber has worked on the
Image Services Library.
A large and complex project such as this needs effective leadership.
As the VMS DECwindows project leader Peter George has provided that
leadership. He has done an outstanding job of planning and
coordinating the project, providing needed direction, constantly
making important trade-offs, and keeping the project on track.
Considering the vastness of this project, it is, indeed, very
impressive to see how skillfully Peter has handled this
responsibility.
The management function that stands behind all this provides
motivation, overall strategy and direction. They provide an
environment where their people are happy and effective in their work.
Their contributions clearly go far beyond what is normally visible.
Those who have been closely connected with this project are: VMS -
Rick Spitz (VMS DECwindows platform), Jean Proulx (Low-End Systems),
Mike Pennington (RMS), James Bartlett (CDROM and OnLine doc.); SDT -
Shapoor Shayan, Cathy Butler, Scott Smith, and Steve Grass; UEG - Omur
Tasar and Smokey Wallace; TBU - Richard Glantz and Rick Landau; BOSE -
Craig Jackson; SQM - Dan Doherty, Chuck Dermody, and Mike Sowers;
Writers - Lee Fogal and Frank Willison (SDT).
It is the joint effort involving all of these people and others that I
may have failed to mention that has led to this milestone and that
continues to keep the momentum. It is, undoubtedly, this kind of
performance that makes an impact, and a team such as this that makes
it all happen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|IFT2 KIT SIZE|
+-------------+
The following table lists the VMS DECwindows kit size for IFT2.
Note that these numbers will change with later baselevels and Field
Test releases, although the changes are not expected to be
significant.
Components Files Blocks
---------------------------------
Common 100 500
Server 500 1500
Libs 1000 30000
Apps 1500 20000
---- ---- ------
Total 3100 52300
Fonts 500 5500
---- ---- ------
Total 3600 57500
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------+
|SO YOU WANT VMS DECWINDOWS IFT2?|
+--------------------------------+
If you would like to use the VMS DECwindows IFT2 software, you can copy it
from one of several alternate locations. To do this, please contact the
person listed at one of the locations listed below.
It is worth mentioning again, however, that this software is available
for your own use. It is not intended for and, therefore, must not be
used for, customer or other external demonstrations. This software
contains proprietary features. Appropriate action will be taken
with individuals who ignore this restriction. If you have a need
for customer demonstrations, conference demonstrations, and so forth,
you must contact either Cathy Foley or Paul Steeves (both on STAR::),
the VMS DECwindows product managers. They will advise you on
the appropriate course of action.
CXO - Col. Springs, Co --- (NOETIC::KOLBE)
DCO - Washington, DC --- (UFP::Murphy)
LKG - King St. Littleton, Ma. --- (AXEL::FOLEY)
LM04 - Marlboro, MA --- (WON::WOODWARD)
MKO1 - Merrimack, NH --- (ATSE::DAVIDSON)
NYO - New York, NY --- (SDSVAX::SWEENEY)
REO2 - Reading, Eng. --- (MARVIN::WARWICK)
SHR - Shrewsbury, Ma. --- (MPGS::Harley)
ZKO - Nashua, NH --- (CSSE32::DUTKO)
ZKO2 - Nashua, NH --- (PSW::WINALSKI)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------------------+
|FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE|
+-------------------------+
Software Business Technologies program plans are now available.
Attachedis an excerpt from a memo that notes the location for the
plans. If you have questions, please contact the authors of this
memo.
DIGITAL INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: Distribution DATE: 25-July-1988
FROM: Marian Weisenfeld
Paula Zenitz
DEPT: VMS Product Management
EXT: DTN 381-1469
LOC: ZKO3-4/T61
ENET: VMSDEV::WEISENFELD
VMSDEV::ZENITZ
SUBJECT: Software Business Technologies Program Plans
Consolidated Software Distribution
& Online Documentation
The following SBT Program plans are available for your review:
o Consolidated Distribution of Software on CDROM
o Online Documentation
The plans are formatted both for LN03 and line printer out-
put, and can be copied from the SBT public directory on BULOVA.
The file names are as follows:
BULOVA::PUBLIC$:[SBT] CONDIST-PROGRAM-PLAN.LN03
BULOVA::PUBLIC$:[SBT] CONDIST-PROGRAM-PLAN.TXT
BULOVA::PUBLIC$:[SBT] ONLINE-DOC-PROGRAM-PLAN.LN03
BULOVA::PUBLIC$:[SBT] ONLINE-DOC-PROGRAM-PLAN.TXT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------------+
|MORE MAILING LISTS|
+------------------+
Robert Scheifler recently sent this mail regarding MIT X Consortium
mailing lists. If you have an interest in these mailing lists, please
read on.....
Six mailing lists (all on expo.lcs.mit.edu) have come out of the workshop:
fontwork for discussing the font naming proposal and related matters
imagework for discussing image processing
xinput for discussing the input device extension
xbuffer for discussing the multi-buffering extension
mltalk for discussing the compound string proposal and other
multi-lingual issues
wmtalk for discussing the ICCCM
...
These are all Consortium-only mailing lists. Initial messages have been
sent individually to each of these lists. If you didn't receive such a
message, you aren't on that list. Requests to add or delete from a
mailing list should be sent to <listname>[email protected].
Advisory committee members, please ensure that the appropriate people
are on each list.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------------------+
|PHASE 0 OPENS FOR VAXELN V3.3|
+-----------------------------+
Phase 0 for VAXELN V3.3 is now open; V3.3 will offer DECwindows support.
Please send inputs for marketing requirements, new features, or suggestions
to Drew Comstock, (HELIX::COMSTOCK).
Each request should include the following information:
Author's name
Author's organization
Description of feature or requirement
Benefit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------------------------+
|OSF RFT FOR WINDOWING AND USER INTERFACE|
+----------------------------------------+
Attached is a copy of the OSF Request for Technology (RFT).
July 18, 1988
The Open Software Foundation is pleased to send you the
attached Request For Technology. This RFT is intended to solicit
input from user interface technologies that may be incorporated into
the OSF Application Environment Specification.
We consider the user interface an important starting point for
the OSF technology acquisition and development program.
Sophisticated user interface technologies are becoming increasingly
popular in end-user computing, and numerous software (and
hardware) vendors are developing related products. OSF considers
the user interface a key component in our own technology repertoire,
and we see the upcoming technology selection process as a valuable
test of our open selection and development policies.
The attached RFT presents certain submission criteria that
OSF considers mandatory, and it lists evaluation criteria that will
be used in selecting one or more OSF technologies. Not all
submissions are expected to fulfill all the stated criteria; even so,
we urge all interested vendors to submit relevant offerings these
may be considered for future integration into the OSF environment.
Response to this RFT is due by September 16, 1988. OSF staff
will review the submissions against the mandatory requirements
and will designate candidate technologies qualifying for detailed
review. The results of this preliminary review will be announced at
an OSF membership meeting planned for the last week of September,
1988. Qualifying organizations will be invited to present their
technologies at this meeting.
The Member Technology Review Meeting, planned for the first
week of November, 1988, will provide a forum for OSF members to
review technologies with the contributing organizations and the OSF
staff.
Following the Member Technology Review Meeting, OSF staff
will evaluate submitted technologies and membership inputs.
Finally, the OSF will announce the selected technologies along with
the selection rationale.
If your organization has technology related to this RFT, we
encourage you to prepare a submission for consideration. Moreover,
we encourage you to participate in the OSF as a member
membership review of new technology solicitations is just one of
many benefits available to OSF members. You can obtain additional
copies or make inquiries about the User Environment Component RFT
by calling the OSF RFT Inquiry Desk at (508) 683-6803 or by writing
to:
Open Software Foundation
20 Ballard Way
Lawrence, MA 01843
Attention: RFT Inquiries Desk
We look forward to working with your organization in this
important endeavor.
----------------------------
Request For Technology -- User Environment Component
Preface
The Open Software Foundation (OSF) is soliciting graphical user
interface technologies to form the initial User Environment
Component of its Application Environment Specification. This
Request For Technology describes the scope of the technologies, the
mandatory requirements, key selection criteria, and the submission
and evaluation process.
OSF wants to establish a user interface standard to meet two goals:
1) to allow applications to be ported easily between different
platforms, and 2) to encourage appropriate levels of user interface
consistency between applications. The first goal increases the total
number of applications available on OSF-conforming platforms,
while the second goal allows users to transfer their skills quickly
when learning new applications.
The technology selection process will follow fundamental principles
of the OSF and will address the need for portability,
interoperability, and scalability.
Scope
The User Environment Component (UEC) will consist of a Style Guide,
an Application Program Interface, and the documentation, utilities,
and run-time libraries required to support application development
and operation. The Style Guide will describe a direct manipulation,
graphical user interface and will address conventions regarding
visual appearance; user, group, and application interactions; and
those aspects of information management that affect the user
environment. The Application Program Interface will provide the
mechanisms by which programs implement the conventions put forth
in the Style Guide.
The scope of OSF's initial UEC will depend upon the completeness and
compatibility of the submitted technologies.
Mandatory Requirements
All candidate technologies must meet the following minimal requirements.
1. Standards Conformity
Submissions shall be consistent and conformant with the MIT X
Window System(tm), Version 11 and the IEEE standard 1003.1
(POSIX(tm)) system interface specification. Submissions may include
conforming extensions to these interfaces.
Submissions shall be written in ANSI C.
The Application Program Interface must support applications
written in ANSI C and must not preclude other OSF programming
languages.1
2. Portability
Submissions shall be portable across a wide range of hardware
platforms.
3. Product Readiness
Submissions shall be demonstrable to the OSF staff on request
and capable of being shipped commercially during the first half of
1989.
4. National Language Support
Submissions shall be capable of supporting a broad range of
national languages, including at least European, Semitic and Asian
Languages.
5. Testing and Validation Support
Submissions shall include provisions for automated testing of
UEC facilities. A validation suite of applications or other validation
utilities that test facilities of the submission shall be included.
6. Reasonable and Equitable Licensing Terms
The submitter must have the authority to grant OSF a license
under reasonable terms to use, modify and/or sublicense the
submitted technologies.
Key Evaluation Criteria
In general, submissions should provide a high level of interactive
performance; they should promote interoperability within
heterogeneous networked computing environments, and should scale
over a range of machine types.
Some additional criteria by which technologies will be evaluated
include:
- Extensibility, both to allow for additional user interface components that
may be required by special application domains, and to
support future extensions to the X protocol;
- Completeness and effectiveness of the development environment,
including the library of interaction primitives, and the end-user
environment;
- Provision for embedded training and help facilities;
- Availability of facilities for the interactive design of user interfaces;
- Support for keyboard-only interaction;
- Provision for compatibility with future versions of the UEC;
- Adherence to good software engineering practices.
Consideration will be given to other criteria such as user utility,
breadth of applicability, application base, visual appearance, and
innovation.
What to Submit
Technology submissions must include the following items:
1. A five page summary of the proposal including a response to each
of the mandatory requirements and discussion relating to the key
evaluation criteria;
2. A copy of the Application Program Interface specification and
corresponding document;
3. Proposed license and business terms;
4. The sources for at least one sample application that
demonstrates the properties of the submission along with
illustrative screen images from the application;
5. Any other materials the submitter deems relevant to this
evaluation process, such as internals documentation and
functional specifications.
Source code for the proposed technology should not be submitted but
must be available for inspection by OSF staff on request.
Confidential material is not being solicited at this time. When
examination of confidential material becomes necessary,
appropriate non-disclosure arrangements will be made with the
individual vendor or vendors involved.
Evaluation Process and Milestones
Submissions are due to OSF by September 16, 1988. OSF will review
submissions against mandatory requirements of this RFT and will
designate candidate technologies qualifying for detailed evaluation.
Submitters of qualifying technologies will be given an opportunity
to present their material at an OSF membership meeting to be
scheduled during the last week of September, 1988.
A Member Technology Review Meeting, planned for the first week in
November of 1988, will provide a forum for OSF members to review
technologies with the contributing organizations and the OSF staff.
Following the Member Technology Review Meeting, OSF staff will
evaluate the candidate technologies and membership inputs. Finally,
the OSF will publicly announce the selected technologies along with
the selection rationale.
How to Submit
Send submissions to:
Open Software Foundation
20 Ballard Way
Lawrence, MA 01843
Questions concerning this RFT should be directed to:
RFT Inquiries Desk
(508) 683 6803
____________________
X Window System is a trademark of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
POSIX is a trademark of Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (IEEE).
1 The set of OSF Application Environment Specification LevelJ0 languages
includes: C, COBOL, Pascal, Basic (Minimum), Basic (Full), FORTRAN,
Ada, and Common Lisp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|NEW CLT ORG CHART|
+-----------------+
Attached is a recent revision to the CLT org chart. The CLT group
makes major contributions to the DECwindows Program and platforms.
Updated: 22 July 1988
|TOM HARRIS SENIOR MANAGER
| |_Linda Marie Morrison Analyst
| |_Carrie Wilpolt O-O (starts 9/88)
| |_Melissa Lambert (LTD)
|
| |_John Whiteside SUE-ARCHITECT & PL SUE-TEAMWARE
| |_Dave Marca
| |_Dennis Wixon SUE
| |_ANNE SMITH DUNCAN MANAGER
| |_Sharon Walker METRICS
| |_Jason Davis METRICS (summer hire)
| |_Tom Spine PL SUE-USABILITY
| |_Michael Good
| |_Sandra Jones
| |_Charles Frean
| |_Alana Brassard
| |_Chauncey Wilson
| |_Eliot Tarlin PL SUE-SCREEN DESIGN
| |_Mei Lisa Luther (summer hire)
|
| |_TIM SCANLAN CASEE MANAGER
| |_Carine van der Deure, Secretary
| |_Richard Thomson, Technical Author
| |_Lynda Brown, Technical Author
| |_Danielle Cesaro, System Manager
|
| |_LEO LAVERDURE DECPLAN PROJECT MANAGER
| |_Jean-Pic Berry
| |_Ken Cowan
| |_Hein van den Heuvel
| |_Denis Lacroix
| |_David Kubelka
| |_Arnaud Scheilch (summer)
|
| |_WARD CLARK MEMEX/HELP PROJECT MANAGER
| |_Doug Rayner
| |_Andre Pavanello
| |_Patricia Avigdor
| |_Pascale Dardailler (Research assistant)
|
| |_BOB WYMAN CALENDAR/TFF PROJECTS MANAGER
| |_Per Hamnqvist (TFF)
| |_Marios Cleovoulou (CALENDAR)
|
| |_JIM TOTTON MANAGER
| |_Anne Wenninger Secretary
| |_Leo Treggiari ARCHITECT
|
| |-SCOTT SMITH Supervisor
| |_Ross Faneuf PL DWICS
| |_John Ronan
| |_Dave Utz
| |_Marc Zehngut PL UIL/DRM
| |_Jeff Wiener PL MATH RTL
| |_PC Lue
| |_Yee-Ching Chao
| |_Andy Garside
| |_Bill Gray
|
| |_STEVE GRASS Supervisor
| |_Michael Collins PL DEC TOOLKIT
| |_Vick Bennison
| |_Jay Bolgatz
| |_Jeff Orthober
| |_Kelly Mulheren PL SDT TOOLKIT
| |_Angela Napolitano
| |_Michael O'Bryan
| |_Rich Reichert
| |_Alexander Zubatov
| |_William Walker
|
| |-KEN HOBDAY Supervisor
| |_Debbie Messinger SYS-MGR
| |_David Coole SYS-MGR
| |_Matt LaPine PL LANG RTL
| |_Dan Mullen
| |_Ed Flecchia
| |_Al Simons PL UTIL RTL
| |_Gary Barton
| |_Jerry Harrow
| |_Tom Scarpelli
| |_John Nogrady
| |_Dave Butenhof PL CMI/PPL/SORT/NCS
| |_Tom Hoey
| |_Webb Scales
| |_Phil Oxenberg (starts 9/88)
| |_Holly Stoddard RTL Q/A
| |_Mark Goodrich PL VAX NOTES
| |_Sheryl Lavigne
| |_Ken Budnik
|
| |_TOM HARRIS ACTING MANAGER
| |_Irene Stapanon Secretary
| |_Jim Kellerman IPSE
| |_Mike Candela
|
| |-LINDA ZIMAN Supervisor
| |_Jim Wiechmann
| |_Ellen Reilly PL DECPLAN/PM
| |_Martin Dickau
| |_Joanne Shaughnessy
| |_Eric Schott
| |_Jack Alexander
| |_Beth Scaer (starts 9/88)
| |_Dave Willis
| |_Peter Gilbert
| |_OPEN BUILDER
| |_Jan D'Addamio PL TEST/MANAGER
| |_George Fullerton
| |_Domenic D'Intino
| |_Jim Arsenault
| |_Kevin Herbert
| |_Henryk Halicki PL CMS
| |_Jeff Wallen
| |_Tracy Talcott
| |_Ed Whipple
|
| |_TOM LAVIGNE Supervisor
| |_CQ Rehberg PL ADT
| |_Marie McLane
| |_Dave Knight
| |_Kirk Broomhead
| |_Sharon Burlingame
| |_Steve Greenwood C-GEN
| |_Rich Phillips
| |_Dave Tarbay PL COBOL-GEN
| |_Bill Fountas
| |_Andy D'Amore
| |_George Casaday
| |_Deb Bourquard
| |_Dan Szymanski
|
| |-CHIP RICE Supervisor
| |_Craig Neth PL VAX COBOL/RPG II
| |_Deb Grabazs
| |_Bob Monteleone
| |_Sarah McKie
| |_David Murry
| |_Mikael Rolfhamre PL VAX BASIC/VAX SCAN
| |_Melinda Barton
| |_Wanfang Murray
|
| |_JOHN HENNING MANAGER
| |_Linda DeFreitas Secretary
| |_Doug Prugh DW PERFORMANCE (summer hire)
|
| |-RUTH PARKER Supervisor/Acting PL MMS/SHELL
| |_Pam Torkelsen Release Eng
| |_Bruce Stockwell GEEP
| |_Lew Lasher PL IRW
| |_Tom Wright
| |_Tony Rogers PL RALLY
| |_Bill Brown
| |_Terri Landry
| |_Daryl Gleason
| |_Carole Milliken
| |_Connie Smith FTA
| |_Eileen Dahlinger
|
| |-ANDY SCHNEIDER Supervisor
| |_Andy Schneider ACTING PL DTR
| |_Donna Brown
| |_Ted Hochuli
| |_Chris Schuetz
| |_Nancy Horn
| |_Jim Wiser PL VAX INFO
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------------------+
|NEW DEC VP's APPOINTED|
+----------------------+
The attached memo was issued by Ken Olsen on July 20th. The memo
announces the appointment of several new vice presidents. While
this information is not specific to DECwindows, it is included here
because it is of general interest to many employees who currently
receive this newsletter.
I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
I N T E R O F F I
Date: 20-Jul-1988 10:15am EDT
From: Ken Olsen
OLSEN.KEN AT A1 AT CORMTS AT CORE
Dept: Administration
Tel No: 223-2301
TO: See Below
TO:
TO:
TO:
Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT
Subject:
Subject:
Subject:
In recognition of their fine contributions to Digital and the
importance of their positions in dealing with key customers, I am
pleased to announce the appointment of twelve senior managers to
vice president. Those appointed are: Horst Adler, Jay Atlas,
John Barrett, Carol Bayley, Robert Brooks, Gerald Bryant, David
Copeland, Alan Croll, Robert Farquhar, Robert Horne, Donald
Philpott and Robert Russell.
HORST ADLER -- Mid-Atlantic Area Field Service Vice President
After joining Digital in 1970 as a Field Service representative,
Horst served in Field Service management positions at the unit,
branch, district, regional and area levels. In 1983, he became
Field Service manager of the Mid-Atlantic Region, which later
became an Area.
JAY ATLAS -- U.S. Indirect Channels Sales Vice President
Jay joined Digital in 1972 as a Field Service marketing
specialist and held several management positions in Field
Service. In 1984, Jay joined the Sales organization as
Distribution Sales Group manager. He currently is responsible
for General Business, Reseller Business, and Authorized
Distributors in the U.S.
JOHN BARRETT -- European Field Service Vice President
John joined Digital in 1966 as a Field Service engineer in
Edinburgh, Scotland. He advanced through various management
posts to U.K. Field Service manager, a position he held from 1978
until last year, when he became European Field Service manager.
CAROL BAYLEY -- Northeast Area Software Services Vice President
Carol joined Digital 15 years ago and has held a variety of
management positions in the Software Services organization. She
has been manager of Northeast Area Software Services for three
years.
ROBERT BROOKS -- Western Area Field Service Vice President
Bob Brooks has been with Digital for 24 years. He began as a
large systems engineer and moved into Field management in 1967.
He became Western Region Field Service manager in 1973, and
Western Area Field Service manager in 1985.
GERALD BRYANT -- Southwest Area Software Services Vice President
Jerry joined Digital as a software specialist 16 years ago and
held management positions in Software Services in Knoxville,
Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been manager of
Southwest Area Software Services since 1985.
DAVID COPELAND -- CIM Marketing and Product Development Vice
President
For last two years, Dave has been manager of the Computer
Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Group, responsible for marketing
to manufacturing organizations, as well as market-focused product
and systems engineering. After working in government, education
and the auto industry, he joined Digital in 1980 and has held a
number of Engineering management jobs.
ALAN CROLL -- Mid-Atlantic Area Software Services Vice President
Alan has been manager of Mid-Atlantic Area Software Services for
two years. He joined Digital in 1973 as a software specialist
and later held a variety of management positions in Software
Services in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
ROBERT FARQUHAR -- Media Industry Marketing Vice President
After 27 years in the newspaper business, Bob joined Digital two
years ago as director of Media Industry Marketing. He came from
The Oklahoman and Times in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where he had
served in a number of managerial and editorial roles.
ROBERT HORNE -- Health Care and Process Industries Marketing Vice
President
Robert joined Digital two years ago as director of Health Care
and Process Industries Marketing. Previously, he worked for 25
years in the process industries, primarily the chemical industry,
at such companies such as ICI and Stauffer Chemical.
DONALD PHILPOTT -- South Central Area Field Service Vice
President
Don began with Digital in 1967 as a remote Field Service
Engineer. He progressed through a series of Field Service
management positions in the U.S. and Canada, and has been manager
of South Central Area Field Service for three years.
ROBERT RUSSELL -- New York Area Software Services Vice President
Bob has been with Digital Software Services for 14 years, first
as a specialist and unit manager in Philadelphia, then as group
manager in Pittsburgh and district manager in Connecticut. Since
1986, he has been manager of New York Area Software Services.
I hope you will all join me in congratulating these individuals
on their appointments.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------+
|DECTOOLKIT AND SDT WIDGET SET STAFFING|
+--------------------------------------+
The attached is an excerpt from a staffing memo published by Steve
Grass and Jim Totton on July 15th.
SUBJECT: New assignments
We are pleased to announce the following new assignments for
members of the DECtoolkit and SDT Widget Set teams, effective
immediately:
Leo Treggiari will become the DECwindows Development Tools
architect. For the past year, Leo has done an excellent job
designing and leading the implementation of the DECtoolkit. In his
new position, Leo will be taking a more global view of the future
direction of DECwindows. He will concentrate on all aspects of the
tools program, including DWICS, DRM, UIL, the DECtoolkit, and the
SDT Widget Set, and will remain as a major contributor to the
DECwindows ARB. In his new capacity, Leo will report directly to
Jim Totton.
Michael Collins will take over for Leo as project leader of the
DECtoolkit. As a leading member of the DECtoolkit, Mike has helped
design and implement many of its components. As project leader, he
can lead the completion of version one and scope out the future.
Kelly Mulheren will take over for Steve Grass as project leader of
the SDT Widget Set. Kelly's past work in Approachable Systems,
GObE, and NetEd will help him in his new role.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|A DECWINDOWS SHOWCASE|
+---------------------+
The attached is information received by VMS Product Management from
Mike Cole in IPG (IPG::). For information on the showcase,
please contact the project leader Shahpar Burnett on IPG::BURNETT .
DECWindows ShowCase
-------------------
The DECWindows ShowCase is being developed as a piece of
demonstration software for use in DEC sales offices and as examples for
third party companies porting their products on to DECWindows. The
ShowCase consists of six individual components which run on a range of
workstations in a DECWindows environment under either VMS version 5.0
or Ultrix version 2.2 or 3.0.
Each component in the ShowCase was chosen to display a particular
feature of DECWindows to its best advantage, especially DECWindows
networking and graphics capabilities. All components have been designed
and implemented in accordance with the DECWindows User Interface Style
guide.
The ShowCaseLens:
The Lens application provides a window of variable size that can
be manoeuvred over existing on-screen windows, magnifying the area which
it occludes. The movement of the lens over the screen is like that of a
magnifying glass held up against the workstation, and is controlled by the
mouse.
The lens offers a variable magnification of both text and
graphics windows. It is a user friendly application designed with non-
technical users in mind and provides full on-line help.
In particular Lens highlites DECWindows graphics capabilities.
The ShowCaseChess:
The Chess application generates a fixed size chessboard complete
with chess pieces ready for a game. It can be played by two users on
different workstations across the network, or even by one user with two
seperate windows on the same workstation.
Chess incorporates a "move checker" which checks for valid moves,
and a colour setup to allow users to select their own colour scheme for
chessboard and pieces. The application is provided with a Users guide,
which explains how to initiate a game with a user on another workstation.
Chess displays DECWindows graphics capabilities and network
performance.
The ShowCasePhone
The Phone application is based on the VAX-PHONE utility and enables
interactive communication between two X-Windows displays across
a network. The utility provides CALL, ANSWER, CONVERSATION, HANGUP and QUIT
facilities, there is also a SCROLL option which provides a history of the call
on the screen acessed by means of scroll bars. Both QUIT and HANGUP options
are provided, selecting the QUIT option terminates the application whereas
the selection of HANGUP only terminates connections made in the current
conversation, ie the application is still active.
Phone particularly displays the versatility of the User Interface and
use of the DECWindows building blocks, or widgets from the DECWindows Toolkit.
It also displays the network capabilities of DECWindows.
Miscellaneous demos:
The final three components of the showcase are graphics orientated,
firstly is Roller. The Roller conveys the idea of a paint roller, and
by means of the mouse a bit-mapped icon can be "painted" across a window.
This the use of pix-maps in DECWindows.
Web is a vector-graphic display of a string-like web within a
window. Like Roller the drawing of the web is under mouse control, but the
user may also choose from a range of different background and corresponding
foreground formats.
The final component of the showcase is the Ball program. This is a
display of a bouncing ball in a variable size window. It has a monochrome
environment and the speed of the ball maybe selected by the user. This
application shows the implementation of animation using pix-map graphics.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|LETTER TO THE EDITOR|
+--------------------+
**VAXCRTL/VAXCRTLG and DECwindows
=================================
From: ANOTHR::READER
I would like to bring to your attention a problem that I think could result in
considerable customer dissatisfaction when DECwindows is released. The problem
arises because DECwindows is largely implemented in C, which means that
DECwindows must choose to link against a particular VAXC RTL library.
There are two RTL's for VAXC: VAXCRTL and VAXCRTLG, which provide D_float and
G_float format floating point, respectively. These libraries contain routines
with identical names but different code. DECwindows must choose one or the
other, and has chosen VAXCRTL.
This problem is of course not unique to DECwindows. Any software product that
is customer-callable, is implemented in C, and links against VAXCRTL or
VAXCRTLG will force the customer to choose one floating-point format or
another.
****
Response:
Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention. We have
provided some suggestions in the IFT2 Release Notes. Vince Orgovan,
of the VMS engineering group, drafted the technical response.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for future updates include:
o A list of VMS DECwindows Version 1 features
o Application information
o Packaging information
o Follow-on layered product information
o Scheduling information
o Letters to the editor
Your contributions to the update are welcome and requested.
Please send them to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail node name,
and group name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|STATEMENT OF PURPOSE|
+--------------------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders to ensure that names and dates that
impact your project have not changed since publication of this Update.
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
[End of Update]
---------------------
|
| 1320.8 | Volume 8 | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:44 | 852 |
| From: STAR::FOLEY "VMS DECwindows spoken here. 10-Oct-1988 0923" 15-OCT-1988 12:47:56.81
To: @VMSDECWIN_INTEREST,@WSBASELEVEL
CC: FOLEY
Subj: VMS DECwindows Update, Volume 1 - Number 8
************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update October 10, 1988 Volume 1, Number 8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Cathy Foley, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::FOLEY;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
[Ed. Note: Distribution list includes requests received before Aug. 2nd.
We're behind a "bit"; but it seemed prudent to get the update out first
and fix the dist list later. Apologies for the inconvenience.
readers are thus encouraged to forward this letter to those who might
not yet be on the distribution list.]
+--------+
|CONTENTS|
+--------+
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
News Brief
A Major Milestone
Online Doc Update
So You Want BL11?
New ISV Tech. Support Manager
EPIC/WRITER Phase 2 Info
DECWINDOWS Demo Guidelines
A Word to the Wise...
The DECwindows and XUI Partyline
XUI Sales Update Article
DECworld Feedback
Fall DECUS
A Final Word
Future Topics
Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------+
|NEWS BRIEF|
+----------+
**TANDY AGREEMENT
=================
The following is a draft of a Sales Flash announcing the
DIGITAL-TANDY agreement.
"On October 6, Digital Equipment Corporation and Tandy Corporation will
announce a number of agreements between the two corporations:
WHAT IS BEING ANNOUNCED
1) A Technology Exchange agreement, similar in scope to those executed
between Digital and Compaq and between Digital and Olivetti. This
agreement will result in Tandy MS-DOS based personal computers being
supported by Digital in PCSA networks. Two two companies will exchange
technology on an ongoing basis to ensure that future products are
supported as well.
2) A Service agreement. This agreement will lay the foundation for
Digital Field Service to service Tandy PCs.
3) A Marketing agreement. This agreement will define the guidelines
under which each company can use the fact of Tandy PCs being supported
in PCSA networks.
4) A Joint Development agreement. Under this agreement Digital and Tandy
will jointly engineer a family of personal computers to be manufactured
by Tandy and sold by Digital under a Digital logo.
WHAT DO YOU SELL?
This is not a product announcement. Products should be announced in a
few months. A PID is being developed, and will be made available through
the standard Corporate Product Operations channels.
SELLING STRATEGY
PC Integration is still our #1 priority in the personal computing space.
The decision to offer a line of PCs was made in support of the overall PC
Integration strategy. By offering PCs, we can now offer our customers a
complete integrated solution from a single vendor, with everything
counting towards DBA volumes, single-source service, etc.
This step does NOT lessen our commitment to the principle of the open
desktop, and to supporting PCs from IBM, Compaq, Olivetti, Zenith, and
Apple. Because the PC systems business is secondary to the integration
business in impact on account control and revenue, you should never lose
an integration or network sale over the customer's choice of a PC. In
particular, implementations of customer PCSA networks should not be held
up waiting for product announcement of availability of new Digital PCs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|A MAJOR MILESTONE|
+-----------------+
Attached is an excerpt from the memo announcing VMS DECwindows
Base Level 11 availability. (Note that, although a newsletter never
announced VMS DECwindows FT2 availability, FT2 has been available for
at least one month.)
" DIGITAL INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM
TO: VMS DECwindows Internal DATE: October 7, 1988
Field Test Sites FROM: Cathy Foley and
Peter George and
Paul Steeves
DEPT: VMS
EXT: 381-1536,1621
LOC: ZK03-4/T61
ENET: STAR::FOLEY,STEEVES
SUBJECT: VMS DECwindows Baselevel 11
AVAILABILITY
Baselevel 11 (BL11) of VMS DECwindows is now available for
your use. Note that this baselevel kit and all related doc-
umentation and project information are COMPANY CONFIDEN-
TIAL. They should not be distributed or shown to non-Digital
employees without the express written consent of VMS prod-
uct management.
Our primary purpose in distributing this baselevel is to
test our software internally before sending it to our fi-
nal external field test in mid-November. In addition, this
release provides fixes to known problems in our Field Test
2 kit.
As was the case with Field Test 2, this baselevel contains
all the functions that we plan to ship in version 1.0 of
VMS DECwindows. Its performance also continues to be in-
dicative of version 1.0 performance. Quality and usabil-
ity, on the other hand, will continue to be improved.
Be aware that some (we expect very few) interfaces may still
change between now and final SDC submission. Therefore, you
should expect to recompile and relink any applications that
you develop when you receive subsequent baselevels.
NOTE
To run this software you must be running VMS V5.0-
2D1 or V5.1 software. Upgrading to one of these ver-
sions of VMS is required to have the correct base sys-
tem support for DECwindows BL11.
They are also available from other locations on the net-
work. Please consult the DECWINDOWS notes file on node BULOVA
for more details about these locations.
The savesets should be installed using the standard VMSIN-
STAL procedure. First, optionally use the DECWDELETE kit
to delete the old DECwindows files from your system. Then
install the new DECwindows kit. Then, finally, install the
VMS update kit. Note, be sure to install the DECwindows kit
first and the VMS kit second.
During the DECwindows installation, you will be prompted
to select which of the savesets and components of the kit
you want to install.
Once again, remember to be sure to reboot your systems af-
ter completing the installation of both the DECwindows and
VMS pieces.
DOCUMENTATION
No new documentation is being released as part of this base-
level. In the last section of this note, you will find a
brief list of changes since FT2 that might have some ef-
fect on you. Otherwise, it is appropriate to continue to
use the FT2 documentation.
ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
The VMS DECwindows online documentation set is available
on a separate kit in the form of savesets. Once the savesets
have been installed, you can read the online documentation
files with the Bookreader included with the DECwindows kit.
A separate cover letter describes the location and instal-
lation of the online documentation kit. It will be distributed
in a separate mail message.
QAR SYSTEM
A QAR system has been set up on TRIFID to allow you to re-
port problems you have with VMS DECwindows. Please be sure
to enter VMS-specific DECwindows QARs in the internal database
DECWINDOWS-IFT. (Please be sure not to the use the DECWINDOWS-
FT database. It is reserved for customer use.)
For internal access to the DECWINDOWS-IFT database you must
contact Cathy Foley or Paul Steeves on STAR::. You will
need to provide them with 1) your name, 2) your group's
name, and a brief statement indicating what your needs are
regarding VMS DECwindows FT information.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Once again remember, this project, baselevel kit, and doc-
umentation are highly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. Do not discuss
the contents of the field test or any of the specifications
with people outside the company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------+
|ONLINE DOC UPDATE FOR DECWINDOWS|
+--------------------------------+
The following is an excerpt from a memo authored by Marian Weisenfeld.
The memo discusses some availability information for the online
documentation that is available with FT2.
The VMS DECwindows Online Documentation set for Field Test
2 UPDATE is now available for your use. Note that this kit
contains pre-release documentation and is therefore is COM-
PANY CONFIDENTIAL. The contents of this kit should not be
distributed or shown to non-DIGITAL employees without the
express written consent of VMS product management.
The FT2 UPDATE online documentation kit contains one saveset
that supports the new manner in which the Bookreader handles
groups (or sets) of books. You must install this saveset prior
to using the FT2 UPDATE Bookreader, but you need not re-install
any of the FT2 online documentation.
Please contact Marian on STAR:: for additional information on this kit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------+
|SO YOU WANT VMS DECWINDOWS BL11?|
+--------------------------------+
If you would like to use the VMS DECwindows BL11 software, you can copy it
from one of several alternate locations. To do this, please contact the
person indicated at one of the locations listed below.
It is worth mentioning again, however, that this software is available
for your own use. It is not intended for and, therefore, must not be
used for, customer or other external demonstrations. This software
contains proprietary features. Appropriate action will be taken
with individuals who ignore this restriction. If you have a need
for customer demonstrations, conference demonstrations, and so forth,
you must contact either Cathy Foley or Paul Steeves (both on STAR::),
the VMS DECwindows product managers. They will advise you on
the appropriate course of action.
CXO - Col. Springs, Co --- (NOETIC::KOLBE)
DCO - Washington, DC --- (UFP::Murphy)
LKG - King St. Littleton, Ma. --- (AXEL::FOLEY)
LM04 - Marlboro, MA --- (WON::WOODWARD)
MKO1 - Merrimack, NH --- (ATSE::DAVIDSON)
NYO - New York, NY --- (SDSVAX::SWEENEY)
REO2 - Reading, Eng. --- (MARVIN::WARWICK)
SHR - Shrewsbury, Ma. --- (MPGS::Harley)
ZKO - Nashua, NH --- (CSSE32::DUTKO)
ZKO2 - Nashua, NH --- (PSW::WINALSKI)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------------------+
|NEW ISV TECH. SUPPORT MANAGER|
+-----------------------------+
The following is a copy of a joint announcement issued recently by
Mike Mancuso and Joe Dinucci.
"We are pleased to announce Bill Van Gurp has been promoted to the position of
ISV Technical Support Manager reporting to Mike Mancuso, ISV Group Manager,
and Joe DiNucci, US Worksystems Manager. In this capacity, Bill will play a
major role in establishing Digital as the applications desktop leader, with a
focus on ULTRIX. This west coast effort compliments the ISV Technical Support
Group, located in Marlboro and managed by Steve Tocman, which focuses on the
VMS application.
Bill joined Digital in November, 1969, as a Project Leader in Software
Engineering. Bill moved to the field in 1972, as was a Field Application
Engineer for Computer Special Systems for 5 years. In 1977, he joined the
Sales Department as a Sales Representative. He was promoted to Senior Rep. in
1978, to Executive Sales Rep. in 1980, and to Sales Unit Manager in 1984.
During his 9 years in Sales, Bill earned five DEC100 Awards, three DECathlon
Awards, and two TopDEC Awards.
Bill's most recent position was the Western Area Sales Support manager. In
this capacity, he built the Western Area Sales Support organization into a top
rated organization. Bill achieved a Software Services Excellence Award in
FY88.
Please join us in congratulating Bill on his promotion and in welcoming him to
this new position.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------------------+
|EPIC/WRITER PHASE 2 INFO|
+------------------------+
EPIC/Writer Phase 2 Closure Documents have been updated. If you wish
to read/review copies of these documents, contact Gina Clark.
The EPIC/Writer Phase 2 Closure review will be held October 13, 12:30-2:30 pm
in the Euler Conference Room (ZKO2-2).
Comments on Phase documents should be forwarded to the author prior to
October 11. Any issues that need resolution prior to Phase 2 closure should
be addressed to Gina Clark. Issues must be addressed prior to the Phase 2
meeting and not during the Phase 2 meeting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------+
|DECWINDOWS DEMO GUIDELINES|
+--------------------------+
These are the guidelines we have set up for demos of DECwindows. Note that
product manager approval is required in most cases. The guidelines
were issued by Dave Price on September 1.
(The following is an excerpt from the original memo.)
This memo outlines the requirements to demonstrate the following:
(1) DECwindows (ULTRIX or VMS)
(2) Digital-developed applications which run in the DECwindows environment
(such as Epic/Writer)
(3) Third-party DECwindows applications
(4) Multiple-platform demos using third-party X servers
(1) DECwindows (ULTRIX or VMS)
-------------------------------
DECwindows is program-announced and has been demonstrated publicly at
particular trade shows as a "technology demonstration". As a technology
demonstration there are two areas that cannot be discussed:
a) price
b) availability
It is necessary to obtain approval from PAC
to demonstrate a product which has been program-announced, but not
product-announced. Proposals are accepted by the PAC secretary only on every
other Wednesday (example: 31-AUG, 10-SEP, etc.). After proposals are
submitted it takes approximately 2-1/2 weeks for approval/disapproval.
This procedure is explained in the Policy Manual which can be requested by
sending E-mail to JOKUR::SMC (SMC is "Standards & Methods Control") and
requesting the POLICY MANUAL #ELCPPAC-00. It is necessary to supply your
location/mailstop, badge number, and cost center number.
The PAC secretary is:
John A. Harvey
ASABET::HARVEY
DTN 223-2082
It is necessary to obtain the consent of the product manager. The ULTRIX
DECwindows product manager is Craig Lamont; the VMS DECwindows
product managers are Cathy Foley and Paul Steeves.
It is required to use a hardware platform at the level of a C-VAX (3200,
3500, etc.) -- or faster -- and a 19-inch color monitor is preferred. It is
also required to use FT2-level software.
(2) Digital-developed DECwindows Applications
----------------------------------------------
Everything above in (1) applies to DECwindows applications developed by
Digital, such as Epic/Writer.
(3) Third-party DECwindows Applications
----------------------------------------
PMGs have expressed a desire to show third-party applications as part of a
DECwindows technology demonstration. These situations require individual
attention, depending on the contracts and agreements signed by
Digital and third parties. With some nondisclosure agreements, third party
applications may be included in the PAC proposal. Be sure to specifically
identify in the PAC proposal which third-party products are involved. If PAC
approves the proposal, the third party application may also be shown as a
technology demonstration without disclosing price or availability.
The additional requirements in section (1) above also apply to third-party
applications.
(4) Multiple-Platform Interoperability Demos with Third Party X Servers
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other than VMS or ULTRIX, the only X Servers that may be demonstrated are
those that run on personal computers, such as the Macintosh and MS-DOS
machines. PAC approval is also required for this type of demonstration.
PAC approval is not required for (1), (3), and (4) above after DECwindows
is product-announced in November. Please note, however, that PAC
approval IS required in (2), until official product announcement occurs.
To PAC, official product announcement occurs when a product is
announced in Sales Update.
These procedures and requirements have been verified with the DECwindows
Announcement Manager (Phil Auberg) and the PAC secretary (John Harvey).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------+
|A WORD TO THE WISE...|
+---------------------+
Recent guidelines from the DEC legal department urge caution is what
we say and put in print regarding DECwindows. If and when you are
doing either, please do not compare DECwindows with similar products
from other vendors. That is, we should not be claiming that our product
"is similar to Macintosh," or "is takes MS Windows one step
further," or the like.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------+
|THE DECWINDOWS AND XUI PARTYLINE|
+--------------------------------+
The following is the partyline message issued by Richard Treadway
on August 12th.
"The following is the Digital party line regarding the DECwindows and XUI
user interfaces and their relationship to other systems in the industry.
If you are asked the question how does the DECwindows or XUI user interface
compare to the "foo" interface, (foo could be any well known Graphic User
Interface) your response should be as follows:
A goal of the DECwindows and XUI user interfaces is to establish
a common user interface between our base systems, VMS and ULTRIX. It
is also a goal of the interface to preserve our customer investment
in learning and understanding of other widely used and accepted graphic
user interfaces. As such the DECwindows and XUI interfaces provide
common mechanisms such as menus, scroll bars, and buttons. The actual
working and appearance of the interface is unique to Digital.
The answer you give should focus on the goals of the interface and on
the fact that it uses well known user interface mechanisms but that the
actual operation and appearance of the interface is unique. Your answer
should not mention other interfaces directly and you should refrain from
making direct comparisons. You should not make statements like "DECwindows
is similar to ___, or "DECwindows takes the _____ system one step
further." This is true for your responses to this question as well as
situations were you are demonstrating DECwindows.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------------------+
|XUI SALES UPDATE ARTICLE|
+------------------------+
The attached is an excerpt from the Sales Update article released by
the DECwindows Program Office on July 29, 1988.
ANNOUNCING XUI, X WINDOW SYSTEM USER INTERFACE
The DECwindows Program Office announces that it plans to license the
the DECwindows toolkit and Style Guide to Independent Software Vendors
(ISVs), End User developers and other computer system vendors. Under the
terms of this license ISVs will be able to port existing DECwindows
applications to non digital hardware platforms. The product, called
XUI for X Window System User Interface, will take the form of a source
kit that contains the DECwindows toolkit and Style Guide. The XUI
license will be available at no charge with purchase of the source kit
media.
XUI Relationship to DECwindows
DECwindows is a large program comprised of many components and products.
The three main areas of DECwindows include:
1. An implementation of the X Window System for VMS, ULTRIX and MS/DOS
The simplest way to think of DECwindows is as Digital's implementation of
the X window System standard across its three operating systems, VMS
ULTRIX and MS/DOS. This part of DECwindows will be included as part
of each operating system.
2. Programming Environment, User Interface and Style Guide
It is important the we provide our customers with a applications that
share a consistent user interface. This enables them to preserve their
investment in training as their users move from system to system
in distributed networks. Furthermore the X Windows System does not
define any User Interface as part of the standard. As such, DECwindows
has defined a programming library, layered on standard X, and a
Style Guide that assists developers in building applications
that have a consistent "look and feel." This is the part of DECwindows
we call XUI and have offered to ISVs, OSF and other Vendors.
3. Family of Core Applications
DECwindows also defines a set of core applications that provide a
consistent look and feel and visually sophisticated graphic interfaces.
These core applications range from simple personal productivity tools like
calendar, clock, cardfile and notepad that are included in the base system
to more complex, value added, applications such as compound document
editing and information management with we will provide as layered
products.
STATUS OF DECWINDOWS
VMS DECwindows and ULTRIX DECwindows are currently in field test. In
parallel to this field test activity we have put in place a corporate ISV
program that has trained over 300 ISVs worldwide. In this program the
ISVs have received versions of the field test software for the purpose
of implementing applications. The goal of the ISV program is to have a large
number of ISV applications available at the same time as we provide DECwindows.
Given the DECwindows status there are two major reasons why we have
decided to make XUI available to the industry at large and announce our
plans in this area.
1. Let ISVs capture largest possible market with a DECwindows application
ISVs want to minimize their development investment and maximize their
return. To ISVs, the fact that so many vendors have agreed to standardize
on the X Window System is very attractive. This means that with one
implementation of their application they can offer a product on Digital,
Apollo, Sun, HP and all the other vendors that provide X systems. This is
a very large and attractive market. The ISVs that we have trained have
seen the DECwindows Style Guide and Toolkit and their feedback indicates
that they think Digital is substantially ahead in providing a complete and
robust programming environment for the X window system. For this reason many
ISVs want to use the DECwindows toolkit, but still want to provide
their applications on alternate H/W platforms.
2. Open Systems Foundation (OSF), X/OPEN and standards
Digital has been a leader in standards. We were instrumental in making
the X Window System a standard and have lead in many other standard arenas.
The time is ripe for a standard to exist in the area of "look and feel" for
graphic user interfaces. Reflecting this, OSF has put together a committee
to evaluate the issue of common "look and feel" and to decide on a
system they will endorse as part of OSF compliance. The European based
group, X/OPEN, is making a similar evaluation. Digital will propose to
OSF and X/OPEN that they adopt the DECwindows Toolkit and Style Guide.
In addition to our OSF and X/OPEN efforts we are working directly with
OSF members and other vendors who are interested in licensing the
DECwindows Toolkit and Style Guide and
providing that as an integrated part of their X product offerings.
To meet these requests, we plan to make portions of DECwindows which we call
XUI, available in source form and to license its use in providing
applications on alternate platforms. The XUI license will be available at
no charge with purchase of the source kit media.
XUI PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
XUI is a package of components extracted from the DECwindows software that
contains everything that an application developer needs to take a
DECwindows application and provide it on an alternate platform that supports
the X Window System. Specifically XUI includes:
o XUI (DECwindows) Interface Style Guide
o Documentation
o Source Kit Media and License
XUI (DECtoolkit) Widgets and Gadget source code
User Interface Language Compiler (UIL) source code
Digital Resource Manager (DRM) source code
Window Manager source code
Session Manager source code
SELLING STRATEGY
Many developers today are making decisions around which X based toolkit
user interface to base their applications on. In order to get ISVs using the
DECwindows Toolkit and Style Guide we need to offer ISVs the ability to port
their applications to other hardware platforms easily. XUI is aimed at
achieving just that.
It is important to our desktop strategy that we are successful in
acquiring a large high quality portfolio of applications. The more
applications that are available on our platforms, the more opportunities
this will create for us to sell Digital systems. With this in mind, our
goal is to have many ISVs develop products based on DECwindows. In this
effort we have established a corporate ISV group in Product Marketing. It
is through this group that we are making field version of DECwindows
available to ISVs. If you have identified ISVs that offer key
applications which you feel would be of significant value to our portfolio
you should contact the ISV group at DTN 291-7800. You must recognize that
there is no product to sell at this point and that ISVs are receiving
a field test version of DECwindows.
KEY MESSAGES
The target audiences for the XUI license and source kits are CMPs, SCMPs, ISVs
and End User Developers. The following key messages provides background
information about XUI which you should be aware of.
1 Digital is a Leader in Open Systems and Standards
Digital was the first founding member of the X Window Consortium and based its
DECwindows Program on the X Window standard; we made Digital's user interface
for the standard available to the Open Software Foundation and we will license
Digital's user interface for the X Window Standard to both application
developers and hardware vendors.
2 XUI is Digital's User Interface Development Environment for
The X Window System
XUI enhances programmer productivity and facilitates the development of
robust, consistent user interfaces which exhibit good human engineering. It is
a single application programming environment for the X Windows System under
both VMS and ULTRIX. XUI includes a toolkit based on The X Window Standard, a
window manager, the User Interface Language (UIL), and the DECwindows Style
Guide.
2.1 XUI Makes Application Development Easy
Graphics user interface development requires less programmer time and training
because the XUI toolkit includes preprogrammed functions (called "widgets")
for almost all common user interface components.
2.2 XUI Increases Consistency Between Applications
The DECwindows Style Guide documents the user interface Digital has developed
and adopted under the DECwindows Program; the XUI toolkit implements it.
Together, they assist application builders to develop well engineered,
consistent user interfaces which work especially well with other applications
in the DECwindows environment.
2.3 XUI Is an Extensible User Interface
Application developers can create their own unique widgets to differentiate
their applications while using the XUI toolkit widgets to improve application
consistency and reduce programmer effort. XUI toolkit widgets are built on the
X Intrinsics which is the most portable way of creating widgets in the X
Window System. When application developers use the X Intrinsics to extend the
XUI toolkit, their widgets are fully compatible with XUI widgets and both are
portable.
2.4 XUI Helps ISVs Design Optimal User Interfaces
The XUI User Interface Language (UIL) separates the user interface from the
application so, ISVs can easily implement and experiment with several user
interfaces without slowing application development; the result is often a
better user interface.
2.5 XUI Helps ISVs Reach International Markets
XUI includes support for the character sets and conventions - currency
symbols, date/time format, writing direction - of multiple languages; and
since an application is separate from its user interface under UIL, a single
application may present text, prompts and error messages in the local language
without source code modification.
2.6 The XUI Developers License Paves the Way to System Independence
Under the XUI Developer's License, an application developer benefits by
using the XUI development environment and is also licensed to bundle
runtime portions of XUI into its application. The ISVs market will expand
since its application will run on any system platform which supports The X
Window standard. The XUI Developers License is a royalty-free source code
license whose terms do not restrict a software vendor from customizing its
application's user interface.
3 DECwindows and XUI being used by ISVs Today
Digital leads the industry in implementing graphics user interface standards
and products; already over 300 ISVs have been trained on DECwindows/XUI and
over 100 vendors are presently developing software using a pre-release version
of XUI; the XUI Style Guide and Programming Manual will be made publicly
available in September through the Corporate ISV Group in Product Marketing.
PRODUCT AVAILABILITY
XUI Developer Kit will be available after the release of DECwindows
on VMS and ULTRIX in Q3FY89. A future Sales Update Article will detail
how to order XUI.
If you have key ISVs that are interested in developing DECwindows applications
you should refer them to the Corporate ISV group in Product Marketing at DTN
291-7800.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-----------------+
|DECWORLD FEEDBACK|
+-----------------+
DECworld was held in Cannes, France, from September 12th through 24th.
DECwindows was shown on the floor, running on Digital's three O/S
platforms: VMS, ULTRIX, and MS-DOS (VAXmate). What follows are some
random notes on the VMS DECwindows demonstrations, which were in part
staffed by members of the VMS DECwindows team.
The VMS DECwindows area was packed each and every day. Demos were run
roughly every 15 to 20 minutes and lasted roughly 10 - 15 minutes.
DECworld attendees were shown features of the session manager, window
manger, DECterm customization, and the multitude of features within
VUE (the new mouse-oriented user interface), and the bundled
applications. Interoperability was demonstrated by running some of
the "showcase" applications, such as chess (which we invoked on a VMS
workstation, requesting a game from the player on the neighboring
ULTRIX workstation). Many of the demos were shown to as many as 35 people;
there were a few that were shown to 60 people. VUE was very popular.
The online bookreader was the most well-received application. Two
questions that I heard most often were 1) when can we use the
bookreader capabilities to create our own online files, 2) will we be
able to use a VT340 as our display device.
A general impression was that many of the ISVs in Europe had not seen
DECwindows. We even met some vendors who had never seen or used
workstations. They had only used mainframes.
In summary then, the general floor area demonstrations of VMS
DECwindows were exceptionally well received.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+----------+
|FALL DECUS|
+----------+
Yes, VMS DECwindows will be shown at Fall DECUS. Currently there are
three sessions planned for Wednesday, the 19th:
1. Program and architecture
2. Application and user interface style
3. Operating system shell
There is also a CDROM/Online Doc session planned for Tuesday.
Check the final schedule before you make plans to attend any of these
sessions. It's always possible for sessions to be moved.
VMS DECwindows will be demonstrated on the floor as well. We expect
to have a much more effective hardware setup with more display
devices for this DECUS. If you haven't seen DECwindows, you should
stop by the VMS booth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+------------+
|A FINAL WORD|
+------------+
It has been called to Product Management's attention that some
customers have received VMS DECwindows who are not 1) part of Field
Test and 2) not part of the ISV program. There have also been a few
instances where customers (who are part of this latter program) have,
through various unofficial channels, received internally distributed
baselevel upgrades.
The unofficial release of VMS DECwindows to customers is considered
"theft" of software, not unlike the "theft" of hardware. We take this
abridgment of our policy quite seriously. No customers, whether they
be ISVs, Field Test Sites, or general customers, can receive
DECwindows software (or upgrades to it) without prior knowledge and
written authorization of VMS Product Management. Because the software
is available over the net does not simply authorize Digital employees,
reps and service personnel to install it at customer sites. If this
activity continues, we will have to severely cut the distribution
lists used to release such information as baselevel availability.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-------------+
|FUTURE TOPICS|
+-------------+
Proposed topics for future updates remain the same:
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
o Scheduling information
o Letters to the editor
As always, your contributions to the update are welcome and requested.
Please consider this a standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::FOLEY.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail node name,
and group name.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------+
|STATEMENT OF PURPOSE|
+--------------------+
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product Management. It
is intended to provide the Digital community with a useful and
up-to-date collection of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about Digital's DECwindows
program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this Update is subject
to change without notice. Please do not rely on this Update as a means for
scheduling your own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product managers to
ensure that names and dates that impact your project have not changed
since publication of this Update.
- Cathy Foley, Product Manager, STAR::
- Peter George, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from product management,
please notify us. In most cases, the duplication should be caused by the
fact that your name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release list, and
2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list. This duplication is unavoidable
at this time. Please disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| 1320.9 | Volume 2, Number 1 (9th newsletter) | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:46 | 1092 |
| ************************************************************************
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DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update January 6, 1989 Volume 2, Number 1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
^ HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
Changing of the Guard
VMS Goes to the SDC
VMS DECwindows kit Available on the Net
Final DECwindow Packaging
OSF Announces Graphical Interface Decision
Recommended Memory Configurations for VMS DECwindows
Running Applications Remotely Can be a Performance Benefit
Announcement News
Postscript Previewer not on VMS DECwindows kit
DESKtop-VMS Update
The Next DECwindows Release
Some DECwindows Partylines
- Interoperability
- Multi-screen support
- TCP/IP on VMS
- Display Postscript
- Backing Store & Save Unders
Future Topics
Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
The former editor of this newsletter, Cathy Foley,
is moving on to a new position within VMS product
management organization. She will be doing product
management for the Production Systems piece of VMS.
Cathy's product management contribution to the first
release of VMS DECwindows has been enormous. It
couldn't have happened without her! Join us in wishing
her good luck in her new role.
In the future, please address ALL VMS DECwindows
product management concerns to Paul Steeves. (STAR::)
VMS DECWINDOWS GOES TO THE SDC!!!
[from a memo by Vivek Marya - VMS DECwindows
Engineeering Manager]
In August, 86, Digital faced a difficult strategic
problem related to software architecture for the
desktop. We recognized the problem, the need to
simplify our software strategy for this space, and
the challenge we faced. "Digital Windows" was proposed
to solve this problem. This year our vision has turned
into a reality. Digital has completed version-1 of
Ultrix and VMS DECwindows. As Ken Olsen has said "
The introduction of DECwindows is one of the most
important events in our company's 31-year history".
The VMS DECwindows kit is being submitted to the
SDC today [December 30]. This will be followed by a
verification step next week, and we expect the SDC
submission to be completed by January 6.
This deliverable is a result of extreme hard work and
dedication on the part of a large team. Well over a
hundred people from various groups within the company
have contributed to this project. Additionally, a
large number of people have worked on developing
layered applications, and many others have provided
support to this effort in one way or another. They
all deserve the highest commendation for such an
outstanding effort. These are people with a strong
sense of responsibility, enthusiasm, and a tremendous
drive to excel in their work and pursue challenging
goals. Their contributions have established a
significant milestone in our company's history today.
With that, we look ahead to further challenge in our
future work on DECwindows, to continue improvements
and enhancements to our product that our customers
expect from us.
THE VMS AND DECWINDOWS VERSION 5.1 SDC KIT IS ON THE NET!
The VMS and DECwindows Version 5.1 SDC kit is now avail-
able on the engineering network.
You can install the kit on the following systems:
o Version 5.0-2
o Version 5.0-2A
o Version 5.0-2D0
o Version 5.0-2D1
o Version 5.1 field test
There are two groups of savesets included in the kit:
o One group contains bug fixes to VMS Version 5.0-2, changes
to support the Mayfair II Limited Hardware Release (Ver-
sion 5.0-2A), and changes to existing VMS Operating Sys-
tem components to support DECwindows functionality. (The
names of the savesets in this group are of the form VMS051.%.)
o One group contains new DECwindows components. (The names
of the savesets in this group are of the form DECW051.%.)
You install each of these saveset groups separately. You
must first install the VMS group; you then install the DECwin-
dows group. Subsequent sections of this memo describe the
recommended installation procedure.
- DECwindows Functionality
The Version 5.1 kit contains complete VMS DECwindows func-
tionality. VMS DECwindows provides VMS systems with the ca-
pability to run Digital's new graphics and windowing en-
vironment.
VMS DECwindows software is based on a server/client archi-
tecture that allows you to run applications on one CPU and
display their output on and accept input from a different
workstation CPU. For this reason, in addition to installing
DECwindows functionality on all your workstations, you will
want to install DECwindows software on non-workstation VAX
systems that you would like to use as remote DECwindows com-
pute servers.
- Kit Locations
The Version 5.1 kit and a copy of this memo are available
in the directory tree:
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051...]
You can also obtain the kit from other locations on the net-
work. See the VMSNOTES conference on node VAXWRK or the DECWIN-
DOWS conference on node BULOVA for more details. If at all
possible, please help us keep the load on VMSKIT at a man-
ageable level by using these other locations as the source
for your kit.
- Installation Information
To install the Version 5.1 system, copy the savesets from
one of the network locations. To copy all the savesets to
your own system for local installation, use a variation of
the following command:
$ COPY VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.KIT]*.* destination-directory
You can also build your own non-bootable tape, by execut-
ing a variation of the following commands:
$ SET RMS /BUFF=8 /MAGTAPE
$ SET RMS /NETWORK=64
$ INIT MUA0: VMS051
$ MOUNT MUA0: VMS051
$ COPY local-kit-site::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.KIT]VMS051.* MUA0:
$ COPY local-kit-site::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.KIT]DECW051.* MUA0:
$ DISMOUNT MUA0:
After installing the Version 5.1 VMS saveset group, you should
similarly install the DECwindows saveset group. During the
DECwindows installation, you will be prompted to select which
of the components of the kit you want to install. Remem-
ber to reboot your system after completing the installa-
tion of both the VMS and DECwindows pieces.
- Documentation
Version 5.1 documentation consists of the following man-
uals:
o VMS Version 5.1 Release Notes
o VMS Version 5.1 Installation Guide
o VMS Version 5.1 New Features Manual
DW users doc kit
o Overview of VMS DECwindows
o VMS DECwindows User's Guide
o VMS DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide
DW programming doc kit
o VMS DECwindows Guide to Application Programming
o VMS DECwindows User Interface Language Reference Manual
o VMS DECwindows Toolkit Routines Reference Manual
o VMS DECwindows Guilde to Xlib Programming: VAX Binding
o VMS DECwindows Guilde to Xlib Programming: MIT C Binding
o VMS DECwindows Xlib Routines Reference Manual
o VMS DECwindows Device Driver Manual
o XUI Style Guide
The VMS Version 5.1 Release Notes, VMS Version 5.1 Instal-
lation Guide, and VMS Version 5.1 New Features Manual con-
tain information about both VMS and DECwindows. The other
manuals deal more exclusively with the new VMS DECwindows
features.
You can obtain copies of these manuals from:
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.DOC_POST]
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.DOC_LN03]
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051.DOC_LINE]
Some of the larger manuals will only be made available
in PostScript form.
NOTE
Some release notes, relevent to people using field
test versions of Version 5.1, but not relevent to new
Version 5.1 users, are contained in the file:
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[VMS051]V51_COVER.TXT
FINAL VMS DECWINDOWS PACKAGING
VMS DECwindows is packaged as an integral part of VMS.
As such, it is distributed as a separate saveset on
the VMS 5.1 distribution media.
No license other than the VMS license is required, and
no extra cost is incurred by the customer.
To purchase H-kits containing DECwindows software,
order any of the existing VMS H-kits (depending on
media type)
As with VMS 5.0, you have the option of ordering
the base kit (09S) or the extended kit (001). The
DECwindows end-user documentation kit is included in
both kits.
The DECwindows Programming documentation must be
ordered separately. (QA-001AM-GZ.5.1)
- Service Customers:
Service customers WILL receive user documentation (the
January 9 Sales Update incorectly states that they
will not.)
Again, as a correction to the January 9 Sales Update:
The size of the 5.1 update with DECwindows software
makes distributing all of it on small media
unfeasible. The 5.1 software without the DECwindows
saveset will be distributed to service customers on small
media. Most small media distribution customers will also
AUTOMATICALLY receive a magtape or TK50 containing
the DECwindows software (along with the rest of the
5.1 distribution). The Sales Update incorrectly states
that they must request it.
OPEN SOFTWARE FOUNDATION TO COMBINE SEVERAL
TECHNOLOGIES FOR GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
CAMBRIDGE, MA, December 30, 1988--The Open Software
Foundation (OSF) today announced it has selected and
will combine several leading graphical user interface
technologies to form the user environment component
(UEC) of its open operating environment. The selection
is the culmination of an industry-wide solicitation
and review process that began with OSF's first request
for technology (RFT) in July.
In a letter to its members, OSF today announced
that its core UEC offering will be based on Digital
Equipment Corp.'s (DEC) toolkit technology submission,
and the joint Hewlett-Packard (HP)/Microsoft
submission of HP's 3D appearance, and Microsoft's
Presentation Manager-compatible behavior. These
technologies conform to the MIT X Window System.
``We're extremely pleased to be making this
announcement today, thereby meeting our commitment
to our members to announce our decision by the end of
1988,'' said John Paul, OSF's director of development.
``OSF's open process allowed us to evaluate many
technologies and combine the best to build the optimal
solution for users.
``This combination of technologies will enable us to
provide users with a familiar user interface across a
broad range of computers-- from stand-alone personal
computers, to high-end graphics workstation, to
powerful mainframe,'' said Paul. ``The identification
and specification of a graphical user interface is
a major milestone in the development of an open,
portable operating system environment.''
OSF's RFT was an open solicitation to all software and
hardware vendors worldwide to submit their graphical
user interface technologies for consideration, and
if chosen, licensing. The RFT drew 39 responses, of
which 23 conformed to the RFT's mandatory criteria.
Selection of these technologies was based on technical
excellence, maturity, compatibility with standards,
and ability to perform in a heterogeneous network
environment that may include PCs.
A team of DEC and HP engineers, under the direction
of OSF staff, will complete the development of the
UEC. The complete, fully tested and supported public
release to be available for shipment by the summer
of 1989. ``Snapshots'' of the first UEC source code
will be made available to OSF members by the end of
January, allowing members to prototype applications
and integrate the technology immediately into their
products.
OSF intends to make its user interface software
available in a variety of operating system
environments, including the OSF/1 Operating System
and UNIX System V, Release 4. The UEC will also be
available as an unbundled offering.
- Core User Environment Component
The core UEC will consist of a style guide, window
manager, interface toolkit, and presentation
description language and compiler. Behavior of the
core UEC will be based on the joint HP/Microsoft
submission. It is compatible with a subset of the
Microsoft OS/2 Presentation Manager behavior and
includes extensions appropriate to powerful network
workstation environments. For the standard appearance
of the core UEC, OSF has selected the 3D appearance
developed by HP.
OSF selected HP's window manager, which supports
Presentation Manager behavior conventions. Specific
features--such as icon grouping-- from the DEC window
manager will be added. A window manager allows the
user to manipulate the layout of multiple applications
on a screen.
OSF selected DEC's Application Program Interface (API)
for the core UEC, with extensions to the toolkit to
support the 3D appearance and Presentation Manager
behavior. An interface toolkit is a library of
graphical objects--such as menus and forms--which are
useful in constructing a user interface.
OSF also selected DEC's User Interface Language (UIL),
which allows an application developer to describe
the presentation characteristics of the application
interface. The UIL works in conjunction with the
interface toolkit.
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM MEMORY CONFIGURATIONS FOR DECWINDOWS
The increased functionality of DECwindows software
over that of VWS (UIS) requires that your workstation
be equipped with more memory than that required by
VWS.
While workstation memory configurations as small as
4 megabytes (non-clustered) are supported for the
execution of DECwindows, it is recommended that, at a
minimum, your workstation be configured with at least
6 megabytes for standalone or networked use, and 8
megabytes for use in a VAXcluster.
RUNNING APPLICATIONS REMOTELY CAN BE A PERFORMANCE BENEFIT
The feature of DECwindows which allows the server and
its clients to be on different nodes in a network can
be beneficial to a workstation with a limited memory
configuration. By running one or more application
clients on a node which is remote from the workstation
(server) node, you can minimize the amount of memory
required on the workstation node.
Response time delays due to excessive paging is the
symptom of a workstation with an insufficient amount
of memory. If you have this symptom, consider running
one or more applications remotely. The technique for
running remotely is described in Chapter 8 of the VMS
DECwindows User's Guide.
When an application is run remotely, most of the
memory required by the application is located on
the remote node. If you have access to a node with
enough memory to accommodate DECwindows clients, and
DECwindows has been installed on that node,you can
run your application there. You will also need to
customize your local session manager to authorize
the use of your workstation by a remote client. This
procedure is described in Section 8.1 of the VMS
DECwindows User's Guide.
While the application client runs on the remote node,
all displays and all keyboard and mouse input are
handled on the workstation. So, an application running
remotely will appear identical to one running locally.
All files used by the application must, however, be
accessible by the remote node.
- Performance Issues
Since most of the memory required by the application
is located on the remote node, a workstation with
limited memory will not be overburdened with the
cost of the application memory. A relatively small
component of an application's memory will still be
located on the workstation node. This memory is in the
form of data structures used by the DECwindows server
process. So, the number of remote applications that
can be run may ultimately be limited by the amount of
workstation memory available for this purpose.
Since more than one workstation can run the same
application on a particular remote node, the
application pages which are shareable may indeed be
shared by all workstations running that application.
Since the application code runs on the remote node,
many of its performance characteristics will be
those of the remote node. For example, if the remote
node is a relatively fast processor, phases of the
application which depend heavily on the CPU will
execute faster than they would on, say, a VAXstation
2000. This includes such phases as application startup
and application computation. Applications which have
minimal communication with the workstation server
will generally run very well remotely. Applications
which communicate frequently with the server or which
transmit very large blocks of information to the
server will generally perform less well. This includes
particularly applications which must "track the mouse
cursor"--i.e., those that constantly update the display
in response to mouse movements (such as the DECwindows
PAINT application).
Another aspect of remote application execution which
must be considered is the load on the remote node.
Your workstation performance depends to a degree
on how much memory the remote node has, and on how
busy the remote CPU and the network are. A very busy
CPU or network can lead to unpredictable workstation
performance. Conversely, the performance experienced
by users logged directly into the remote node depends
on the amount of workstation requests demanded of it.
- Suggestion for Running Remotely
The simplest method for remote application execution
is to bring up the FileView application remotely, and
then initiate other applications through FileView.
Applications initiated this way will also be run on
the remote node.
- Example
For example, from a local DECterm window, set host
to a remote node. Once logged into the remote node,
issue:
$ SET DISPLAY /CREATE /NODE=display_node
$ SPAWN /NOWAIT /INPUT=NL: @SYS$MANAGER:DECW$STARTVUE
When the FileView application comes up, you may now
initiate other remote applications by selecting
them from the "Applications" menu. Note that, in
this example, you may continue to enter commands to
the DECterm window, but if you log out, the remote
applications will be terminated.
- Summary
The decision to run applications locally or remotely
depends on many factors. You must consider how best to
use all the computing resources available to you. For
workstations with a limited amount of memory, remote
application execution may be a good alternative.
Many applications will run well remotely, while
incurring the expense of the hardware resources of the
remote node and of the network. For some applications,
notably those that track mouse movements, local
execution with sufficient local memory will provide
the best and most predictable performance.
ANNOUNCEMENT NEWS
The "official" announcement of VMS DECwindows will
take place as part of a larger software/hardware
(PVAX/PMAX/Firefox) announcement that is being referred
to as the "DESKtop" announcement. It will occur over a
four day span at the DECtop U facility in Littleton.
On January 9th industry consultants will be briefed.
On the 10th, the products will be annouunced to the
press and customers. On the 11th and 12th, specially
invited customers will be given presentations and
an opportunity to ask questions.
A two volume Sales Update edition will be available
on the 9th that explains the details of each of the
announcing products. Refer to that issue for more
information.
POSTSCRIPT PREVIEWER NOT ON VMS KIT
The Adobe PostScript Previewer that was intended for
the first release of VMS DECwindows (on VMS V5.1) is
no longer part of this release.
This is due entirely to the fact that we have unable
to reach closure with Adobe on clarifications to the
contract for royalty tracking. Rather than risk a
potentially significant impact to the VMS schedule,
the PostScript functionality has been removed from
the VMS kit. (The previewer IS still shipping with The
ULTRIX DECwindows kit.)
VMS Product management is currently examining other
ways (that adhere to the current ADOBE contract) to
make this software available to customers as soon as
possible.
Epic availability ?
DESKTOP-VMS UPDATE
This Spring, Digital introduces Desktop-VMS Software,
a pre-installed, VMS operating system environment
on CDROM that offers VAXstation 3100 users vastly
simplified system installation and system management.
This easy-to-use VMS environment eliminates the need
for previous experience or extensive training in VMS.
It is designed for those professionals whose focus is
on personal productivity.
- A Choice of VMS
With the introduction of Desktop-VMS Software,
VAXstation 3100 users will have the option of running
one of two, full-function VMS operating environments
on the VAXstation 3100:
o VMS Operating System - This is the traditional VMS
operating system for technical workstation users
who want to integrate their VAXstation 3100 systems
into existing VAXclusters. To allow customers to
run this traditional VMS environment, VAXstation
3100 systems include software licenses for: VMS,
DECnet-VAX, VAXcluster Software, and VWS. Software
media and documentation must be ordered separately.
o Desktop-VMS Software - This VMS operating system
environment is for non-technical professionals
who want to use the VAXstation 3100 as either a
standalone desktop workstation, or a member of a
VAXstation 3100 workgroup (cluster). A Desktop-VMS
Software license is included with each VAXstation
3100 system. This single license is a group license
that enables users to run Desktop-VMS Software,
which includes the VMS operating system, DECnet-
VAX, VAXcluster Software, and Desktop-VMS ease-of-
use software.
- Desktop-VMS Features
Desktop-VMS Software offers the following features:
o Easy-to-install VMS operating system environment on
CDROM
o Simplified configuration of VAXstation 3100
clusters
o Easy-to-use DECwindows user environment
o Simplified system management
o Easy access to online documentation
o Preinstalled, layered applications for the desktop
- Easy Installation
Installing Desktop-VMS Software is simple because the
components that make up the system--VMS, DECnet-VAX,
VAXcluster, and Desktop-VMS "ease-of-use" software--
are already integrated and installed on the CDROM.
System installation is as easy as powering on the
workstation, inserting the Desktop-VMS Software CDROM,
and answering a set of simple configuration questions.
For a standalone system, system installation takes
less than 30 minutes.
- Simplified VAXcluster Configuration
Installing a VAXstation 3100 cluster (workgroup)
is virtually as simple as installing a standalone
system. Users can add "satellite" workstations
into a cluster by answering an additional set of
configuration questions. An installation "worksheet"
is provided that enables the user to gather all
pertinent information before actually starting the
installation. So, installing a cluster is as simple
as entering the information from the worksheet in
response to configuration questions.
- "Point and Click" DECwindows User Interface
VMS DECwindows provides users with a "point-and-
click" interface to the VMS operating system and
applications. Users invoke applications and perform
tasks by selecting functions from graphical menus,
rather than relying on typed commands. DECwindows also
enables users to run multiple applications in multiple
windows simultaneously, improving productivity.
- System Management Made Simple
With Desktop-VMS Software, system management doesn't
require a degree in Computer Science. Desktop-VMS
Software provides users with a DECwindows interface
to commonly used system management functions.
Through graphical menus, users see only those
functions necessary to manage the Desktop-VMS Software
environment. Desktop-VMS system management includes
menus for performing such functions as:
o Managing users
o Setting up printers
o Backing up files
o Installing layered products
o Managing a VAXstation 3100 cluster
- Online Documentation
Desktop-VMS documentation is provided in both hardcopy
and online formats. Access to online documentation
is provided by the DECwindows Bookreader. Using the
Bookreader, users can browse through documentation
by paging through a selected manual or by selecting
entries from the manual's index or table of contents.
- Integrated Applications
In addition to the Desktop-VMS Software system, the
Desktop-VMS Software CDROM includes pre-installed
software for the following layered products:
o Distributed System Services (DSS)
The DSS program provides users with the ability
to treat remote network resources as if they were
local. Current DSS products include:
- VAX Distributed File Service (DFS)--Provides local
access to remote VMS disk resources.
- VAX Distributed Queuing Services (DQS)--Provides
local access to remote VMS printers.
o VAXpc for VMS
VAXpc for VMS software is a DECwindows
application program that emulates an IBM PC AT
computer, enabling VAXstation users to access PC
applications.
While these products are included on the Desktop-
VMS Software CDROM, the Desktop-VMS product does not
include licenses for these products. Customers who
purchase a license for these products, will receive a
Product Authorization Key (PAK) that will enable them
to access the software. Hardcopy documentation can
also be ordered separately. Contact your Digital Sales
Representative for ordering information.
- Desktop-VMS Software for the VAXstation 3100
The VAXstation 3100 offers standard system packages
that include licenses for both VMS and Desktop-VMS
Software. And, depending on the configuration, these
packages come complete with Desktop-VMS Software media
and documentation. The following table describes the
standard VAXstation 3100 system packages:
Desktop-VMS Desktop-VMS Desktop-VMS
Model & VMS Licenses Media Documentation
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Model 30 Diskless X X
Satellite
Model 30 "Starter" X X X
Model 40 Workstation/ X X X
Server
VAXserver 3400 X X X
--------------------------------------------------------------------
- Requirements for Desktop-VMS Software
The initial release of Desktop-VMS Software is
designed specifically for the VAXstation 3100.* Users
who want to integrate VAXstation 3100 systems into
existing VMS VAXclusters must run traditional VMS.
In addition, Desktop-VMS Software supports only the
DECwindows windowing system. Users who want to run VWS
applications must also run traditional VMS, as well as
VWS software.
Desktop-VMS Software supports standalone and server
VAXstation 3100 systems that are configured with
a compact disc drive and at least two RZ23 disk
drives. In addition, Desktop-VMS Software supports
the VAXserver 3400 used as a server in a VAXstation
3100 workcluster.
The standard VAXstation 3100 system packages,
available this Spring, come configured to run Desktop-
VMS Software. Users can; however, upgrade their
existing VAXstation 3100 systems to meet the necessary
hardware requirements. Users who upgrade their
VAXstation 3100 to run Desktop-VMS Software can order
Desktop-VMS Software license, media, and documentation
separately.
* Digital intends to extend the Desktop-VMS Software
environment to other VAX workstations in the future.
- Desktop-VMS Software Ordering Information
Desktop-VMS Software Component Order Number
----------------------------------------------------
Desktop-VMS Software License QL-VV8AC-BB
Desktop-VMS Software Media* QA-VV8AA-H8
Desktop-VMS Basic System Guide EK-259AA-OM-001
(Model 30 User)
Desktop-VMS Advanced System Guide EK-260AA-OM-001
(Model 30 Standalone)
Desktop-VMS Management Guide EK-261AA-OM-001
(Model 40)
Desktop-VMS Management Guide EK-263AA-OM-001
(VAXserver 3400)
----------------------------------------------------
*Note that Desktop-VMS Software media kit does not
include hardcopy documentation; documentation is
online. Hardcopy documentation must be ordered from
the table above.
THE NEXT DECWINDOWS RELEASE
Now that development work is complete on the first
release of VMS DECwindows. VMS Engineering and product
management's attention is devoted to finalizing
plans for the next release of DECwindows. We have
received a great amount of input for new features and
enhancements and are currently sifting thru them and
prioritizing their importance.
While we believe we have most of the input we need, we
want to remind any layered products under development
that have requirements on VMS DECwindows that they
should already have informed us of their requirements
if they are to expect consideration. Anyone in this
category, should immediately contact Paul Steeves
(STAR::).
SOME DECWINDOWS PARTYLINES
The following topics address areas of concern that
repeatedly arise in discussions about DECwindows.
They are provided for your information and for use
as "partylines" in any presentations or discussions
you have with customers.
- Interoperability
In general, while heterogeneous operation of X11
clients and servers is a goal of the DECwindows
program, the testing and support structures needed
to allow us to commit to supporting this goal are
not in place for the first release of DECwindows. VMS
has implemented X11 completely, and to the best of
our ability, so that properly written X11-compliant
applications should theoretically be able to run in
such a fashion. However, a guarantee to that effect is
impossible to make, due to:
1. The ambiguities in the X11 standard
2. The consequently differing implementations of the
standard.
3. The lack of a mechanism for validating the
correctness of the various implementations and
identifying problems in the implementations
Whether non-VMS systems (such as MS-DOS, Ultrix, SUN,
HP, and Apollo) correctly inter-operate as clients or
servers for VMS systems in the network is dependent
on the correctness of the X11 and application
implementations on those other platforms.
Support for heterogeneous interoperability, and its
thorough testing, is a high priority for the future
versions of DECwindows.
For the first release of DECwindows-VMS will only be
SUPPORTING remote client/server operation in all-VMS
environments.
- Multi-screen Display Support
VMS intends to support multi-screen (sometimes referred
to as multi-head) display in a future release of
DECwindows. Multi-screen display permits a user to
display applications on several monitors under the
control of a single keyboard and mouse. (Note this is
NOT a multi-USER feature.)
Preliminary code for this feature has been latently
included in the first release of DECwindows, but is
UNSUPPORTED.
If you have a customer who has an immediate need for
this feature, it may be enabled and supported thru a
special software services contract.
Contact George Brother (RANCHO::) for more
information.
- TCP/IP on VMS
As stated in all plans and presentations, the first
release of VMS DECwindows does NOT provide support for
TCP/IP as a networking transport, due to a lack of
programming and testing resources.
VMS has always understood this feature to be
important and is currently engaged in seeking the
resources to ensure its inclusion in a future release.
- Display Postscript
VMS does intend to provide a Display Postscript
Extension in a future release of DECwindows. VMS
engineering is currently working on design of the
extension with engineers from Adobe.
Adobe intends to offer the protocol we develop with
them to the MIT X11 consortium.
- Backing Store and Save Unders
In the X11 protocol, on which DECwindows software
is based, there are a number of optional (i.e. not
required to be implemented) features. Two of these
optional features are called backing-store and
save-unders. In the first version of the DECwindows
server, we have chosen not to implement either. In the
following paragraphs, I will define these features,
explain our decision, and comment on the future.
In the X11 protocol, each application must always
be prepared to "repair" (that is redraw) any part
of the image that it is currently displaying in any
window that it owns. Typically, repair is required
when another window which is positioned on top of
the application window is moved, thus exposing a new
section of the window to view by a user. Any server,
regardless whether it supports backing-store or save-
under may generate the graphics which are to appear
in the newly exposed portion of the window by sending
an "exposure event" to the application, in effect
asking the application to repair those pieces of the
window which were previously covered. In addition, a
server which supports backing-store or save-unders may
have stored away the graphics which should appear on
the newly exposed window piece and may do the repair
itself without notifying the application.
As you can see from this description, backing-store
and save-under have the same purpose: To restore
exposed areas automatically. The difference between
the two features is in how an application specifies
that the feature is to be used, and whether the server
always saves the contents of a particular set of
windows, or whether the saved windows are determined
dynamically by a covering window.
With BACKING-STORE, an application specifies a
backing-store window to the server and asks that
server save and maintain the graphics in that window
even when it is covered up. (Note that this is only
a request, not a command; the server may arbitrarily
choose to stop saving the contents at any time; the
application must ALWAYS be prepared to redraw).
With SAVE-UNDERS, an application specifies a save-
under window to the server and asks the server to save
the contents of any other window covered by the save-
under window. Again, this is only a request, not a
command.
Typically, backing-store would be specified for a
window which contained information which is difficult
to redraw (for example, a CAD/CAM drawing which
is derived from a complex hierarchical database).
Typically, save-under would be specified for a window
which the application knows will be transient (for
example a menu or a dialog box).
The implementation of both backing-store and save-
unders require careful analysis and design to:
1. Ensure that the cases for which they are provided
truly enhance performance. For example, it is
easier to "throw away" a saved window region than
to update it if an application draws to it. This
is probably acceptable in a save-under, since an
application is unlikely to draw to a window in the
brief time when it has a menu over it; it is less
likely to be acceptable for backing-store.
2. Ensure that their impact on system performance
is acceptable. An obvious, but poor performance
implementation is to simply keep a copy of each
backed up window in virtual memory and draw
everything twice: once to the screen and once to
the virtual memory
3. Ensure that the impact on required system resources
is acceptable. The "obvious" implementation
suggested above would require several megabytes
of additional virtual memory.
For the first version of DECwindows we chose to
concentrate on the robustness and performance of the
required server features. If we had spent the time to
perform all the analyses indicated above as well as
to do the implementation itself, the resulting product
would have been either later, slower, less reliable,
or (probably) all three. In addition, doing backing-
store later is a completely compatible change for
customers; all applications must still be written to
do repair. They just won't be asked to do it so often.
Both backing-store and save-unders will be seriously
considered for implementation in a future version
of DECWindows. However, more analysis and planning
is required to determine which feature will be
implemented when.
Our current belief is that save-unders have a high
potential for improving menu speed, thus benefiting
a large number of users. In addition, there is no
obvious method for an application program to implement
save-unders.
While we know that backing-store is important to a
certain class of applications, our current belief is
that the implementation would have a lower potential
benefit than save-unders.
In addition, applications which need backing-store
capabilities can do so by allocating a pixmap and
either drawing to both the pixmap and the window, or
drawing to the pixmap and copying to the window, or
both. In fact when the application does this, it has
more control over the backing store process since
it can guarantee that the backing store is being
maintained, it can choose exactly when to start and
stop maintaining backing store, it can choose what
parts of the window should be backed up, and it can
choose the backup method. It can make these decisions
based on the needs of the individual applications,
while the server has no knowledge of the needs.
We have also noted that there seems to be a
significant class of applications which work better
without backing-store than with it. For example,
a terminal emulator application can generally save
and restore its data better than backing-store
could, since the emulator can store text much more
efficiently than the server can store a bitmap of the
window contents.
[ Ok, that WAS more of a "doctoral thesis" than a "partyline" - Ed.]
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Peter George, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.10 | Volume 2, Number 2 (10th Newsletter) | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:47 | 742 |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update March 24, 1989 Volume 2, Number 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
Next VMS DECwindows release phase documents available
VMS 5.2 - what it means to DECwindows
Programming documentation update service
Potential second login trouble
Interoperability Testing begins
VAXpc NOT shipping with Desktop-VMS V1
Desktop-VMS SPD
Future Topics
Statement of Purpose
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PHASE 0" DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW
Although VMS DECwindows is not a product-it is a component of
the operating system-the subsequent releases of functionality
will be following a phase-like review process.
To that end, "Phase Review" documents are being made available
in the following public directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[PHASE0]
The documents included are:
-Business plan
-Product requirements document
-Servicability document
-Preliminary documentation statement
To whet your appetite, the following descriptions of intended
new functionality are excerpted from the business plan:
Internationalization
For this release, all the text in the user interface will be
implemented in separate, easily translatable UIL files. This
will help to diminish the time for translation by each of the
Local Engineering Groups (LEGs).
In addition, a switching mechanism will be provided so that
users may switch the interface (on a session-wide basis) between
any number of languages (provided they have installed those
language variants).
Monitor Independence
Monitor independence is the ability of the windowing system and
all the bundled applications to behave intelligently regardless
of the size of the monitor on which they display. (For this
release, 512 x 342 is assumed to be the worst case monitor.)
Multi-head support
Multi-head support permits a user to display DECwindows on more
than one display screen but only a single keyboard and mouse.
The X Window System inherently supports the notion of multiple
screens. Much of this support shipped in a latent state in the
initial release.
TCP/IP Support for the Connection Product
The first release of VMS DECwindows supported two network pro-
tocols - DECnet and a local, shared-memory transport. Due to
resource limitations, it was not possible to support TCP/IP
in the initial release. This omission has created a tremendous
market demand that VMS DECwindows support TCP/IP as a network
protocol in the next release.
VMS does not provide native support for TCP/IP in the way that
it does for DECnet. VMS customers who are using TCP are either
using Digital's Connection product or a third party product
(i.e. Wollongong). Each of these TCP/IP implementations is
different. This means that when VMS DECwindows supports TCP
/IP - it supports the Connection TCP/IP. For DECwindows to work
with other implementations, each implementation must write its
own support. The third parties need information from Digital to
do that.
For this release VMS intends to do the following:
o Make the VMS DECwindows transport interface public in the
next functional release. This means third parties could add
their own transports. (Note that this interface is not stable
and a warning to that effect will accompany the publication
of the interface.)
o Recruit field test sites that want to write their own trans-
ports. This might include Wollongong.
o Complete, test, and deliver the transport support for DECwin-
dows using the Connection product.
Performance Enhancements
Performance enhancements to the base system and component ap-
plications will continue to be made, with advice from the VMS
performance group.
Bugfixes
Naturally, numerous bugfixes will be included in this second
release of DECwindows functionality. While critical bugfixes are
incorporated into the VMS maintenence and point releases (i.e.
V5.2), the less critical fixes are delivered in this release.
Closure of "Phase 0" is scheduled to take place on March 29 at
ZK3.
VMS 5.2 - WHAT IT MEANS TO DECWINDOWS
Note that the next functional release of VMS DECwindows is NOT
the next point release of VMS.
VMS Version 5.2 is currently in field test and is scheduled to
ship to the SDC in June, BEFORE the next functional release of
DECwindows.
HOWEVER, there are *some* changes to the DECwindows environment
that will ship with Version 5.2.
1-The Debugger that is shipping with VMS 5.2 will make a DECwin-
dows interface available for the first time.
2-The following bugfixes have been made:
o Decw$startup.com no longer checks to ensure that the VMS
system version is "V5.1".
o The file sys$manager:systartup_v5.com unconditionally invokes
decw$startup.com. This allows DECwindows clients to be run on
any VMS system.
o Increasing the vertical size of DECwindows Mail's main win-
dow in the pane interface previously may have resulted in
commands operating on the wrong messages, and in some cases
caused access violations. This problem is now fixed.
o DECwindows Mail aborted with access violations if no message
was selected during Extract..., Print..., Reply and Forward
operations. This problem is now fixed.
o The DECwindows server could grow larger and larger until VIR-
TUALPAGCNT is exhaused if a client uses the CopyGC request.
o A problem has been corrected where the DECwindows server in
some cases fails to paint window backgrounds correctly on
VAXstation 3520 and 3540 systems.
o Certain drawing operations were not immediately started by
the driver for GPX systems. The new gadriver.exe improves the
performance of XGetImage and XPutImage operations.
o Changing the dash pattern in a GC via XSetDashes was previ-
ously ignored on GPX systems. This problem is now fixed.
o PolyLines whose end points are greater than 4095 apart were
not drawn correctly by the GPX DECWindows server. This prob-
lem is now fixed.
o XDrawText requests failed to draw text with certain strings
and fonts which have a very large maximum character width to
a partially occluded window.
o The DECWindows server could grow larger and larger until
VIRTUALPAGCNT is exhausted if a client used bad coordinates
when specifying a clip region in a GC.
o The DECwindows server could corrupt window displays when
using alu function GX_AND_INVERTED to a one bit deep pixmap.
o The session manager could occasionally create one fewer
than the selected number of terminal emulator windows during
startup.
o Applications calling the decw$term_port routine inadvertently
had all timer requests cancelled.
o The DECwindows server could grow larger and larger until
VIRTUALPAGCNT is exhausted if a clients drew to a pixmap
using a clip region in the GC. This problem has been fixed.
o The DECwindows server could go into an infinite loop if a
client did not clear the undefined bits in the flag field
of the XColor structure during a StoreColors request. This
problem has been fixed.
o The DECwindows toolkit routine XtInitialize no longer aborts
if it is called more than once. The second and subsequent
calls, however, are no-ops and do not perform any initializa-
tion.
o The DECwindows server could sometimes disconnect clients
prematurely when, after a short retry, the server assumes
that the client is not functioning properly. This problem has
been fixed by increasing the time interval between retries.
o The session manager could abort with an access violation on
the second and subsequent attempts to use the printscreen
function. This has been fixed.
o If the DECwindows startup command procedure determines that
it is necessary to run AUTOGEN and the user elects to have
this done automatically, AUTOGEN is now run with feedback if
valid feedback data exists.
o The terminal fonts supplied with DECwindows currently use
a hybrid of the DEC Multinational character set even though
the font names say they use the ISOLatin1 character set. This
discrepancy will be resolved in a future release of VMS by
changing the encoding of these fonts to be true ISOLatin1.
o The DECwindows Server is internally currently limited to a
maximum of 32 clients. (Note that all DECterms started by the
session manager count as a total of only one client). How-
ever, there are other limitations which may further restrict
the number of clients which can connect to a server.
One such additional limitation is Enqueue Quota which the
server is running with. Any client which connects using the
Local transport mechanism will use up two lock queue entries.
In addition, there may be other locking going on. Thus, if
the server has an Enqueue Quota of 30, a maximum of 15 local
clients will be allowed.
If you need a larger enqueue quota on the server, you can
modify the sysgen parameter PQL_DENQLM (the default enqueue
limit for any process which does not explicitly specify the
enqueue limit when it is created).
PRORGAMMING DOCUMENTATION UPDATE SERVICE
As you all know from reading previous newsletters, the VMS
DECwindows documentation kit is separately orderable. There
have been many inquiries about how you get update service for
that kit. We now have an answer for those questions, although
you can't take advantage of this information until after April
10th.
The VMS DECwindows Programming Documentation Update service part
number will be:
QT-001AM-KZ at a price of $35/month or $420/year.
NOTE: This part number is currently incorrect on the price file
as "VMS Ext Doc update service" priced at $83/month or $996
/year.
The CORRECT part number and price are not effective as yet -
this will occur April 10 - so do not order this service until
AFTER April 10.
POTENTIAL SECOND LOGIN TROUBLE
Single user licenses have always permitted a second login for
system management and service reasons (like if your screen
process is wedged and you need to login and shoot something).
Under DECwindows, a PAK needs to be sized at 200 license units
to allow that behaviour. However, some VAXstations shipped since
Version 5.0 have been issued PAKs that are sized at 100 license
units.
If a customer you deal with runs into this problem, they should
contact the Customer Support Center to obtain a temporary ser-
vice PAK (TSP) to enable unlimited use temporarily, until they
receive the correctly sized License PAK, -distribution of which
is triggered when they contact the CSC.
This problem has now been corrected and VAXstations are shipping
with the appropriate PAKs.
INTEROPERABILITY TESTING BEGINS
The VMS performance group has volunteered to address the *short
term* interoperability testing issues (primarily VMS to Ultrix -
both VAX & MAX - interoperability).
The appropriate equipment is currently being requisitioned and a
testing plan is being finalized.
Note that *long term*, ongoing testing of other servers is NOT
the goal of this group. However, the DECwindows Program Office
is currently looking for a group to own the long term issue.
VAXPC NOT SHIPPING WITH DESKTOP-VMS
VAXpc for VMS will NOT ship with Desktop-VMS Software Version
1.0. The decision not to ship VAXpc with V1.0 was made based
upon a delay in the VAXpc schedule. The plan is to ship the
online documentation for VAXpc anyway as part of the Version
1.0 Desktop-VMS CD, and to offer the VAXpc product on the next
version of Desktop-VMS.
VAXpc will be available on TK50 shortly after the release of
Desktop-VMS Version 1.0. Desktop-VMS users will be able to load
VAXpc using this media.
DESKTOP-VMS SPD
PRODUCT NAME: Desktop-VMS Software, Version 1.0 SPD 25.F4.00
DESCRIPTION
System Overview
Desktop-VMS Software is an easy-to-use, VMS operating system
environment for the VAXstation 3100, offering simplified system
installation and system management.
It is delivered as a preintegrated, preinstalled VMS system
on compact disc that includes the following system software
components:
o VMS Operating System (Version 5.1-B, including VMS DECwin-
dows)
o DECnet-VAX End Node (Version 5.1)
o VAXcluster Software (Version 5.1)
o Desktop-VMS "ease-of-use" Software
Desktop-VMS Software offers the following features:
o Easy system installation
o Simplified VAXcluster configuration
o Easy-to-use VMS DECwindows user interface
o Simplified, "menu select" system management
o Easy document access through online documentation
o Extensive online help
o Preinstalled, layered applications for the desktop
VMS Operating System
The VMS Operating System is a component of Desktop-VMS Software,
and therefore delivers the full power of VMS to the Desktop-
VMS Software user. In addition to the easy to use DECwindows
Fileview user interface, full access to VMS and utilities is
available through the traditional DCL interface.
VMS DECwindows User Interface
VMS DECwindows provides users with a "point-and-click" inter-
face to the VMS Operating System and applications. Users in-
voke applications and perform tasks by selecting functions from
graphical menus, rather than relying on typed commands. DECwin-
dows also enables users to run multiple applications in multiple
windows simultaneously, improving productivity.
VMS DECwindows is the pre-integrated windowing software for
the Desktop-VMS environment. VAX Workstation Software (VWS) and
VWS applications are not supported. Refer to the VMS Operating
System V5.1 SPD for a complete description of VMS DECwindows.
System Installation
Installation of Desktop-VMS Software is simple because the
components that make up the system, VMS Operating System,
DECnet-VAX, VAXcluster Software, and Desktop-VMS "ease-of-use"
software are already integrated and installed on the compact
disc, and licensed under a single Desktop-VMS license.
System installation is as easy as powering on the workstation,
inserting the Desktop-VMS Software compact disc, and answering a
set of simple configuration questions.
Desktop-VMS Software also offers simplified VAXcluster configu-
ration. Users can add "satellite" workstations into a VAXcluster
by answering an additional set of configuration questions. An
installation "worksheet" is provided that enables the user to
gather all pertinent information before actually starting the
installation. To configure a VAXcluster, users simply enter
information from the worksheet in response to configuration
questions.
System Management
Desktop-VMS Software provides users with a DECwindows interface
to commonly used system management functions. Through graphical
menus, users see only those functions necessary to manage the
Desktop-VMS Software environment.
Desktop-VMS system management includes menus for performing such
functions as:
o Managing users
o Setting up printers
o Backup and Restore
o Local tape and floppy management
o Installing layered products
o Managing a VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster
Desktop-VMS Software provides a pregenerated, optimized sys-
tem for ease of use. Many system resources, such as user vol-
umes and SYSGEN parameters are set up automatically for the
user. The system management tools that are delivered as part of
Desktop-VMS Software were designed to manage this pregenerated
environment, and should be used to perform system management.
Using traditional VMS management commands and utilities to make
modifications may compromise the integrity of the Desktop-VMS
Software environment.
Layered Applications
In addition to the Desktop-VMS Software system, the Desktop-
VMS Software compact disc includes pre-installed software for
selected DECnet System Services (DSS) Products. The DSS product
family provides users with the ability to treat remote network
resources as if they were local. These products are included on
the Desktop-VMS compact disc as layered products, and include:
o VAX Distributed File Service (DFS) - Provides local access to
remote VMS disk resources.
o VAX Distributed Queuing Services (DQS) - Provides local
access to remote VMS printers.
While these products are included on the Desktop-VMS Software
compact disc, the Desktop-VMS product does not include licenses
for these products. Customers who purchase a license for these
products, will receive a Product Authorization Key (PAK) that
will enable them to access the software. Hardcopy documentation
can also be ordered separately. Refer to the "Ordering Informa-
tion" section of this SPD for product ordering information.
Refer to the respective product SPD (available online via the
DECwindows Bookreader) for more detailed information about these
products.
Documentation
Desktop-VMS Software documentation is available in both hardcopy
and online formats. Access to online documentation is provided
by the DECwindows Bookreader, which comes with Desktop-VMS Soft-
ware. Using the Bookreader, users can browse through documenta-
tion by paging through a selected manual or by selecting entries
from the manual's index or table of contents.
Hardcopy Documentation
The VAXstation 3100 offers standard system packages that include
Desktop-VMS Software media and hardcopy documentation. Desktop-
VMS Software kits can be ordered separately; however, these kits
do not include hardcopy documentation.
Hardcopy Desktop-VMS manuals can be ordered separately. The
following table lists the Desktop-VMS Software hardcopy manuals:
o Desktop-VMS Basic System Guide (Model 30 User)
o Desktop-VMS Advanced System Guide (Model 30 Standalone)
o Desktop-VMS Management Guide (Model 40)
o Desktop-VMS Management Guide (VAXserver 3400)
For information on ordering Desktop-VMS Software documentation,
refer to "Ordering Information" section of this SPD.
Note: Hardcopy documentation for the DSS product set must be
purchased separately.
Online Documentation
The following manuals are delivered as online documentation on
the Desktop-VMS Software compact disc:
o All of the Desktop-VMS hardcopy manuals (listed above)
o VMS General User's Manual
o VMS System Manager's Manual
o VMS License Management Utility Manual
o VMS DECwindows Desktop Applications Guide
o VAXpc for VMS User's Guide*
The Desktop-VMS Software license includes a license for execu-
tion of any software documentation included on the Desktop-VMS
Software CD. The online documentation is intended for use with
the DECwindows Bookreader application supplied by DIGITAL. Hard
copy printing of online documentation products is limited to the
screen segment print capabilities included in DECwindows.
* The VAXpc for VMS User's Guide is included with the Desktop-
VMS CD to enable users, who install VAXpc in the Desktop-VMS
environment, to access the documentation using the DECwindows
Bookreader.
VAXpc for VMS software is a DECwindows applications program that
emulates an IBM (R) PC/AT computer, enabling VAXstation users to
access PC applications.
While VAXpc for VMS software is NOT included with Desktop-
VMS Software Version 1.0, it will be available on traditional
software distribution media. Contact your local DIGITAL office
for ordering information.
GROWTH CONSIDERATIONS
The minimum hardware/software requirements for any future ver-
sion of this product may be different from the minimum hardware
requirements of this version.
Hardware Configuration Requirements
Desktop-VMS Software supports standalone (VAXstation 3100 Model
30 Starter) or server (VAXstation 3100 Model 40) VAXstation 3100
workstations configured with a compact disc reader and at least
one, 105 MB hard disk. At installation, Desktop-VMS Software
allocates one disk as the system volume, and any remaining disks
as a user volume set. Other VAXstation 3100 configurations,
such as the VAXstation 3100 Model 30 diskless workstation, can
run Desktop-VMS Software as satellites in a VAXstation 3100
VAXcluster. The VAXstation 3100 Model 40 boot server running
Desktop-VMS Software supports from 7-10 VAXstation 3100 satel-
lites depending on the amount of server memory and disk storage
(see memory and storage requirements below).
In addition, Desktop-VMS Software supports the VAXserver 3400
configured with a compact disc reader and at least one hard
disk. The VAXserver 3400 is used as a boot node and file server
in a large (15-20 satellite) VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster.
Note: Desktop-VMS Software support is limited to a VAXcluster
of VAXstation 3100 systems (may include a VAXserver 3400 boot
server). This version of Desktop-VMS does not support clustering
of other VAX systems.
Memory Requirements
VAXstation 3100 Model 30 systems come configured with a minimum
8 MB of memory. This amount of memory is sufficient for running
Desktop-VMS Software on standalone or satellite workstations.
The minimum amount of memory required for a VAXstation 3100
Model 40 system being used as a boot server in a VAXstation 3100
VAXcluster running Desktop-VMS Software is 8 MB; however, 16 MB
of memory is recommended for larger VAXcluster configurations.
For VAXserver 3400 systems being used as a boot server in a
VAXstation 3100 VAXcluster running Desktop-VMS Software, 12 MB
of memory is recommended.
Disk Storage Requirements
The Desktop-VMS system requires 60 MB of hard disk storage. Each
diskless VAXstation 3100 satellite requires an additional 18
MB of server storage for page/swap files and 5-10 MB of server
storage for user files.
Each VAXstation 3100 satellite that has a local page/swap disk
does not require page and swap files on the server; however,
like the diskless satellite, it does require 5-10 MB of server
storage for user files.
Operating Requirements
In the Desktop-VMS environment, the Desktop-VMS compact disc is
an integral part of the operating environment and must remain
resident in the compact disc reader while the system is running.
The Desktop-VMS compact disc may be removed for short periods
of time, for example, to copy layered product save sets from
another compact disc, but it must be replaced in order to run
the full Desktop-VMS system. If regular use of other compact
discs are a requirement, configurations should be configured
with an additional compact disc reader.
SPD References
Each of the component products listed below is described in
detail in a separate Software Product Description (SPD).
o VMS Operating System, Version 5.1-B (including VMS DECwin-
dows) (SPD 25.01.31)
o DECnet-VAX, Version 5.1 (SPD 25.03.25)
o VAXcluster Software, Version 5.1 (SPD 29.78.01)
o DECnet System Services (DSS) Version 1.1:
- VAX Distributed File Service, Version 1.1 SPD (28.79.01)
- VAX Distributed Queuing Service, Version 1.1 (SPD 28.80.01)
These SPDs are provided online on the Desktop-VMS Software com-
pact disc. They can be read using the DECwindows Bookreader and
reside in the book entitled, "Software Product Descriptions."
SOFTWARE LICENSING
This software is furnished under the software licensing provi-
sions of DIGITAL's Standard Terms and Conditions. For more in-
formation about DIGITAL's licensing terms and policies, contact
your local DIGITAL office.
ORDERING INFORMATION
o Software License: QL-VV8AC-BB
o Software Media: QA-VV8AA-H8
o Software Documentation:
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Basic System Guide Model 30 EK-259AA-OM-001
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Advanced System Guide Model 30 EK-260AA-OM-001
VAXstation 3100 Desktop-VMS
Management Guide Model 40 EK-261AA-OM-001
VAXserver 3400 Desktop-VMS
Management Guide 640QS EK-263AA-OM-001
Note that the Desktop-VMS compact disc includes online documen-
tation that describes the Desktop-VMS environment. Refer to the
"Documentation" section of this SPD for more information.
DECnet System Services (DSS)
VAX Distributed File Service (DFS) Software License: QL-VEQA*-**
VAX Distributed Queueing Service (DQS) Software License: QL-VENA*-**
Software Product Services: QT-VV8A*-**
DISTRIBUTION MEDIA
Desktop-VMS Software is distributed exclusively on Compact Disc.
SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES
A variety of service options is available from DIGITAL. For more
information, contact your local DIGITAL office.
SOFTWARE WARRANTY
Warranty for this product is provided by DIGITAL with the pur-
chase of a license for the product as defined in the Software
Warranty Addendum to this SPD.
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.11 | Volume 2, Number 3 (11th newsletter) | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:49 | 645 |
| ************************************************************************
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DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update April 27, 1989 Volume 2, Number 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
"PHASE 1" PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE
SOME VAXSTATION 3100 CLARIFICATIONS
JAPANESE DECWINDOWS IS HERE NOW!
PC DECWINDOWS AVAILABLE WITH PCSA V2.2
DECWINDOWS AT SPRING DECUS
VAXELN AND DECWINDOWS
MOTIF TOOLKIT MIGRATION PARTYLINE
EDUCATION SERVICES COURSE
PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE - HOW TO OBTAIN COPIES!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"PHASE 1" DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC REVIEW
Although VMS DECwindows is not a product-it is a component of
the operating system-the subsequent releases of functionality
will be following a phase-like review process.
To that end, "Phase Review" documents are being made available
in the following public directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[PHASE1]
In the files:
PH1_BUSINESS_PLAN.PS;1 PH1_CUSTOMER_SERVICE_PLAN.PS;1
PH1_ENGINEERING_PLAN.PS;1 PH1_FIELDTEST_PLAN.PS;1
PH1_MANUFACTURE_PLAN.PS;1 PH1_MARKETING_PLAN.PS;1
PH1_MASTER_DOCPLAN.PS;1 PH1_SERVICE_REQUIREMENTS.PS;1
These are:
- Business plan
- Field test plan
- Manufacturing Statement
- Marketing plan
- Services Requirement Document
- Customer Services Plan
- Engineering Specification & Development Plan
- Documentation Plan
Phase 1 closure of VMS DECwindows "version 2" will be held on May 15
at a yet to be determined conference room in the Spitbrook facility.
SOME VAXSTATION 3100 CLARIFICATIONS
VMS Version 5.1-B is a limited hardware release of VMS Version
5.1 to support the VAXstation 3100. It is a remastered release
of VMS and can be installed directly without applying previous
updates to VMS version 5.0. However, to install this kit, you
must be running VMS Version 5.0 or later.
A 3100 model machine MUST run 5.1-B, It cannot run on 5.1.
VMS V5.1-B is available in the SDC;
License QL-001AC-BB
H-kit QA-09SAB-AA
There is NO "internal use only restriction" to running VMS 5.1-B.
PVAXs and VS2000's can run in the same cluster if the cluster is
running V5.1-B. VMS V5.1-B contains CPU and device support for
PVAX and all VAX processors that came before it.
JAPANESE DECWINDOWS IS HERE NOW!
Japanese DECWindows products have been, or are about to be
released for VMS and Ultrix. The major differences between the
Japanese and corporate versions are:-
Japanese server
- Supports the 4 row Japanese keyboard.
- Alt/Space implements 'kana lock'
- Shift/Alt/Space implement Latin-1 compose processing
- All kana lock state is kept in the server. The client sees
the keyboard as a two rows deep with twice the usual number
of keycodes.
Japanese fonts
- DECKanji, JIS Katakana and JISRoman supplied
in addition to the Latin fonts.
- 4 sizes supplied (24 point, 18 point, 14 point and 10 point)
Japanese XUI toolkit supplied in addition to standard XUI
toolkit:
- JSText widget
* Manipulates DEC Kanji mixed 1/2 byte code
(Not compound strings).
* Uses input widget for Kana/Kanji conversion.
* Highlights conversion clauses
* Performs Japanese text wrapping correctly
- Japanese input widget
* Kana-Kanji conversion
* Available from text widget or client program
* JTPU or window based user interface available
* Uses run time conversion routines supplied with JVMS
- JFile Selection widget
* Uses JSText
- JHelp widget
* Uses JSText
* Messages in the Help widget needed translation
* Does not use inappropriate C string processing functions
* Fixes the bug that the Help Widget V1.0 does not
propogate the text string resources to the child Help
Widget. If the user calls the HELP option within a Help
Widget generated window, he/she gets the default
Help information from the file SYS$HELP:DECW$HELPHELP
- JScale widget
* Outputs a label and numbers directly using Xlib calls.
The numbers do not change in Asian character sets, but
the font used is different.
- JSelection widget
* Uses JSText
- DwtJapanese String
* Builds a compound string assuming DEC Kanji coding
- DwtJDisplay VMS Message
* Displays a message assuming DEC Kanji coding.
JDECterm (VT382 emulator)
- JRegis available
- 3 different Kanji fonts can be used
- JDECterm widget (VMS only) is used by JVUE, but
(as with the DECterm widget) is not part of the toolkit.
- Provides Japanese menus and Help
Japanese Session Manager
- Japanese Menus and Help messages
- Kanji characters are displayed in the message window
- Creates JDECterm and JFileVue
Japanese FileVue
- Japanese menus and help
- Kanji characters can be used in the DCL window
- Kanji characters can be input when customizing
Japanese clock
- Japanese menus and help
- Kanji can be used in the alarm message
Japanese examples - Japanese version of "Hello World" supplied
in examples directory.
Congratulations on a great job are extended to the entire Asian
Based Software Systems (ABSS) organization!!! Below is the
current organization chart representing some of the people
involved in the DECwindows effort.
Trevor Porter
Manager ABSS
|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Trev Avery Bishop Kaz Ono |
ABSS/ZK Manager Product Manager ABSS/JRD Manager |
| | |
Tim Greenwood (Asian DECwindows) Eiichi Aoki (JVMS/DECwin project leader) |
Hiroaki Obata(JUltrix/DECwin project ldr) |
|
|
----------------------------------------
|
Simon Szeto
ABSS/HK Manager
|
Ken Chow (Chinese DECwindows project
leader)
PC DECWINDOWS AVAILABLE WITH PCSA V2.2
An introductory release of the PC DECwindows Display Facility
software and license is provided at no charge with DECnet/PCSA
Client V2.2. This initial release makes DECwindows for MS-
DOS PCs available to software developers and end users for
evaluation purposes and for the development and testing of
DECwindows applications.
The PC DECwindows Display Facility is an MS-DOS application
which implements an X server that uses the industry-standard
X Window System Version 11 (X11) protocol. A DECwindows appli-
cation executing on a remote VAX/VMS or VAX/ULTRIX system with
DECnet may be displayed on and receive keyboard and mouse input
from the personal computer. For example, the PC user can have a
DECwindows application in one window executing on a remote VMS
system and a second DECwindows application in another window
executing on a remote ULTRIX system.
In addition to being able to share data, disk storage, printers,
and system management facilities through PCSA, PC DECwindows al-
lows the PC user to utilize the VAX as a shared compute resource
for powerful interactive graphic applications, applications be-
yond the capacity of most dedicated PCs. Additionally, the user
who previously required knowledge of DCL or a UNIX shell to op-
erate the VAX, will be able to access the DECwindows easy-to-use
facilities instead.
Digital provides several added-value capabilities with this
MS-DOS X server. The built-in PC Session Manager enables the
user to start applications on remote nodes from within the
windowed environment. PC DECwindows offers two window managers
well suited for the smaller-compared to a VAXstation-screen of a
PC. The specially modified version of the VMS DECwindows manager
allows the PC user to move the windows above the top of the PC
screen. In addition, PC DECwindows provides an unsupported (no
warranty or service) VMS version of the "uwm" window manager.
Most of the Out of the Box DECwindows applications provided with
VMS and Ultrix operating systems (with the exception of DEC-
paint) run with PC DECwindows. However, these Out of the Box
applications do not always take into account the confined envi-
ronment of PCs (e.g., screen size) and DOS (memory limitation
and single-tasking operating system).
After loading the network components required to run PC DECwin-
dows (that is, the DECnet-DOS scheduler, data link, and DECnet
protocol layer, plus LAD and LAST if using PCSA virtual disk
services), it is recommended that users have at least 512 Kbytes
of memory available to use the PC DECwindows Display Facility.
Some applications may require less memory. Therefore, users
should test any applications against the available memory to
determine if they have a configuration suitable to the applica-
tions they want to run for production use.
At this time, PC DECwindows does not take advantage of extended
memory (PC memory above 1Mbyte). Although it can make limited
use of expanded memory for some swapping and swaps to disk, it
requires lots of conventional memory (the base 640K of the PC).
PCs equipped with DEPCA Ethernet controllers will have more
memory available for PC DECwindows than machines equipped with
other supported Ethernet boards. Detailed information about
system optimization for PC DECwindows is included in the product
documentation.
The PC DECwindows Display Facility requires that the DECwindows
application be running on VMS Operating System V5.1 or ULTRIX
Worksystem Software V2.0, which incorporate DECwindows support.
In order to use the PC DECwindows Display Facility communicating
to an VAX/ULTRIX system running DECwindows applications when
VAX/VMS services for MS-DOS is not available, the customer is
required to purchase the DECnet/PCSA Client media kit and in-
stall the appropriate software components on the hard disk and
on the Ultrix System.
DECWINDOWS AT SPRING DECUS
DECwindows Demos
----------------
The VMS group will be demoing
o Desktop VMS on a Vaxstation 3100 server with 2 satellites
o DECwindows on a 2 Mayfair GPXs
o Online documentation on the 3100 satellites
DECwrite will be demoing in the Publishing booth
DECdecision will be demoed in the Business & Office Information
area.
PCSG Engineering and Product Management will demonstrate the
Personal Computing Systems Architecture (PCSA) Version 2.2
including the PC DECwindows Display Facility, Digital's MS-DOS X
server.
The AI group currently intends to demonstrate:
o VAX Decision Expert V1.0 under DECwindows on the VAXstation
3100
o VAX OPS5 V3.0 under DECwindows on the VS 3500 or possibly
trade it with the
o VAXstation 3100 from the campground
o VAX LISP V2.2 under ULTRIX.
Languages & Tools (consisting of Commercial Languages group and
Technical Languages & Environments group) is planning on demoing
the following products in the VAX Software VMS and ULTRIX booth:
o VAXset V8 (package includes LSE, SCA, PCA, CMS, MMS, DTM -
with the new DECwindows interfaces)
o VAX Notes V2.0 (new DECwindows interface)
o VAX Debug (DECwindows version)
o VAX S/W Project Manager (DECterm support)
o VAX Cobol Generator (DECterm support)
o Ada V2 (major release)
o VAX C (major relase
DECwindows Talks
----------------
Schedule of DECwindows related talks
====================================
Monday
------
VMS update
10:00-11:00 am
Ballroom
Harriet Cohen
Tuesday
-------
Desktop-VMS Software Overview
10:30 - 11:30
Ballroom
Steve Marchesano
PC DECwindows Overview
9:00 - 10:00
Rooms 364-366
PCSG
PC DECwindows Display Facility Overview
10:00 - 11:00
Rooms 364-366
PCSG
DECdecision - General Overview
4:00 - 5:00
Room 161
DECdecision - Technical Overview.
5:00-6:00
Room 161
Wednesday
---------
DECwindows Overview
9:00 - 9:45
Ballroom
Peter Vatne
DECwindows User Interface
9:45 - 10:30
Ballroom
Karen Brouillette
DECwindows Toolkit Overview
10:30-11:15
Ballroom
Steve Grass
VMS DECwindows Performance
12:00 - 1:00
Ballroom
Ken Ballou
Overview of the VMS DECwindows Server
1:00 - 2:00
Ballroom
Bill Adams
Desktop-VMS System Management
4:00-5:00
Rooms 264/265
Rob Posniak
DECwrite - CDA editor
5:00 - 6:00
Room 161
VAXELN AND DECWINDOWS
VAXELN is a software product for the development of dedicated,
realtime applications. The VAXELN Toolkit is a layered product
that runs under VMS. Development of a VAXELN application is
done on the VMS host system. The application image is loaded
via Ethernet into a target system. VAXELN applications do not
require a disk; they can run on a diskless target system.
The VAXELN Engineering Group is currently working on DECwindows
support, to be announced in a future release. This release will
follow shortly after VAXELN V3.2, which is scheduled to submit
to the SDC in OCT-88.
VAXELN will be supplying both client and server software. The
applications planned to be offered in the first release are a
terminal emulator and a window manager. Client software will
include Xlib and a Toolkit. The hardware supported in the first
release includes VAXstation II/GPX and VAXstation 2000/GPX; a
subsequent release will support black and white monitors.
Additional information can be found in the TLE::VAXELN notes-
file.
MOTIF TOOLKIT MIGRATION PARTYLINE
Our strategy is to support standards, and in the case of user
interfaces this is specifically Motif from OSF. Motif hasn't
been handed over to us yet, however we have very definite ex-
pectations that the OSF deliverables will be of high quality
and good performance. We plan to move to Motif - VMS and ULTRIX.
Given the logistics of planning operating system, documentation
, and application software - you should expect that release
dates may differ somewhat between the VMS release of Motif
and the ULTRIX release of Motif. Our goal is to move to Mo-
tif rapidly and to ensure a smooth transition for applications
and application programmers.
It is important to remember that OSF has stated that Motif
will be programming interface compatible with DECwindows/XUI,
therefore, DECwindows/XUI application writers will require
minimal changes. So, nothing should deter people from writing
applications to DECwindows/XUI today. In fact, they should
be encouraged to start writing applications to DECwindows/XUI
today. When we do port to Motif, those people will have a great
head start.
EDUCATION SERVICES COURSE
The first DECwindows computer-based course, "Introduction to
DECwindows Systems", offers new workstation users (whose pre-
vious experience may have been limited to using character-cell
terminals) a self-paced hands-on introduction to working in the
DECwindows environment. After you have learned to use the var-
ious features of the DECwindows interface, you will be well on
your way to learning any DECwindows application.
This course provides you with a computer-based hands-on intro-
duction to working in the DECwindows environment. Instruction
covers using the mouse device; managing windows; using pull-down
menus, scroll bars, and dialog box controls; selecting, cut-
ting, and pasting text; accessing HELP; and using the DECwindows
Session Manager.
INTRODUCTION TO DECwindows SYSTEMS (VMS system)
----------------------------------
part number: EY-8273E-TK TK50 course
Cost to U.S. Digital employees: $75 EY-8273E-MT magtape
(support for ten add'l stud'ts: $17.50) EY-8273E-SP stud. pkg.
INTRODUCTION TO DECwindows SYSTEMS (ULTRIX system)
----------------------------------
part number: EY-C169E-TK TK50 course
Cost to U.S. Digital employees: $75 EY-C169E-MT magtape
(support for ten add'l stud'ts: $17.50) EY-C169E-SP stud. pkg.
The length of this course varies, depending upon the length of
time you spend with the numerous hands-on exercises and learning
games. Typically, you'll complete it within 2-3 hours.
ORDERING INFORMATION
Digital employees may order this course through an internal
charge to your cost centers. Address your VMSmail memo to
CECV03::mailpo or your ALL-IN-1 memo to MAILPO @BKO. Include
your name, badge number, cost center, full facility address
including mail stop, title, quantity, and part number.
PROMOTIONAL LITERATURE - HOW TO OBTAIN COPIES!
Field Organization Personnel should place literature requests
with a local Literature Contact or Sales Communications Contact.
When a Literature Contact is not available a request may be
submitted via:
1. A Request for Literature form, EN-01878-05. Mail to NRO3-1/A5,
Publishing and Circulation Services (P&CS) Order Administration.
2. Literature Order System (LOS). This allows Digital employees
to browse through an up-to-date electronic catalog of avail-
able literature and place an order on-line. LOS is accessable
from the corporate VTX menu.
To obtain an LOS Account send mail to:
VAXmail - NEST::JUNEAU
All-In-1 - Joan Juneau @NRO
Please include NAME, BADGE NUMBER,
COST CENTER, MAILSTOP, PHONE,
DEPARTMENT NAME, VAXMAIL ADDRESS.
3. An Interoffice memo. Mail to NRO3-1/A5, P&CS ORDER ADMINIS-
TRATION.
4. All-In-1. Send to "Order @NRO". Note that there must be a
space before the @.
5. VAXmail. Send to NEST::MCNEIL
6. Teleordering. Call DTN: 234-4323, or (617) 351-4323. Please
limit the number of part numbers requested via this ser-
vice to ten. Please have the NAME, BADGE NUMBER, SITE CODE
/MAILSTOP of the REQUISITIONER and SHIP TO ADDRESS before
you place your call. We will also require a Cost Center to
charge. This service is limited to orders shipping to Digital
facilities within the United States.
PLEASE DO NOT GIVE THIS TELEORDERING NUMBER TO EXTERNAL
CUSTOMERS.
All requests must contain the following information:
NAME, BADGE NUMBER, LOCATION (THREE LETTER SITE CODE
AND MAILSTOP) OF BOTH THE REQUISITIONER AND THE SHIP-TO
PERSON COST CENTER TO BE CHARGED
P&CS Literature Order Fulfillment Group also supports orders for
promotional/sales literature from Digital OEM's and Authorized
Distributors only. Other customers desiring promotional liter-
ature, including handbooks, should be referred to the nearest
Digital Sales Office.
Literature orders for hardware manuals from Digital customers
MUST be forwarded to DECdirect. 1-800-DIGITAL.
Europe/GIA Literature Ordering Procedures
Europe/GIA may use all ordering options with the exception of
teleordering. teleordering is available to u.s. employees only.
Also, all European/GIA orders must supply a subsidiary code or a
financial country code.
LITERATURE IN PROGRESS
as of 4/18/89
* denotes a reprint
Handbooks/Guidebooks:
EB-32249-48 VMS System SW Handbook NRO arrival - wk 5/8
*EB-30904-48 Information Mgt Handbook NRO arrival - wk 5/1
? Software Environ/AIA Handbook July
? ULTRIX Handbook July
Brochures:
EC-E0089-48 CASE/Information Management Brochure (Sept.)
Information Sheets:
ED-32768-48 VAXset Q1 or Q2 of FY'90
ED-32769-48 VAX DEC/Test Manager Q1 or Q2 of FY'90
EC-F0121-48 DECforms Mid-May
? VAX Ada June ?
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.12 | Volume 2, Number 4 (12th newsletter) | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:50 | 392 |
| ************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update June 27, 1989 Volume 2, Number 4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
V2 INTERNAL FIELD TEST NOW AVAILABLE
V2 SUPPORTS COLOR PRINTER (LJ250)
V2 SUPPORTS PRINT SCREEN ON 3520 & 3540
TEKTRONIX 4125 LAYERED PRODUCT IN FT
DECWINDOWS TERMINAL GOES TO INTERNAL FIELD TEST
NEW PROGRAM OFFICE MEMBER
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VMS DECWINDOWS "V2" INTERNAL FIELD TEST IS AVAILABLE
The internal field test baselevel (IFT1) of VMS DECwindows
"V2" is now available for your use. Note that this baselevel
kit and all related documentation and project information are
COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. They should not be distributed or shown
to non-Digital employees without the express written consent
of VMS product management.
Our primary purpose in distributing this baselevel is to
test our software internally before sending it to our external
field test sites. In addition, this release provides a
functional and stable basis for application development.
This baselevel contains all the functions that we plan to
ship in "Version 2.0" of VMS DECwindows. Its performance is
also a reasonable approximation of version 2.0 performance.
Quality and stability, on the other hand, are both known
to require work.
This kit does not work with the unsupported "HPWM" window
manager. We are working to analyze and fix this problem.
-- INSTALLATION NOTES
To run this software you should be running VMS V5.2 SDC
software. However, this software will also install on
one pre-SDC version of VMS V5.2. --- VMS T5.2-41M (FT2).
VMS DECwindows V2.0 is packaged as a layered product for ease of
installation during field test. It is expected that it will be
integrated with VMS V5.3 when actually released.
Also note that this software replaces many
base VMS components. You should plan to reboot any
machine or cluster on which this software is installed
once the installation procedure completes.
If VMS upgrades or updates are applied to your system,
the DECwindows field test kit must be reinstalled.
*Important* This kit is NOT compatible with the decw$tailor facility
provided by base VMS. Once it has been installed, you cannot
use decw$tailor to remove optional DECwindows components.
Please be sure to make a backup copy of your system disk before
installing IFT1.
-- KIT LOCATION
The IFT1 software savesets and a copy of this cover letter are
available in the directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[KITS.V2_IFT1]
They are also available from other locations on the network.
Please consult the DECWINDOWS notes file on node BULOVA
for more details about these locations (NOTE 821).
The savesets should be installed using the standard VMSIN-
STAL procedure. During installation, you will be prompted
to select which of the savesets and components of the kit
you want to install. To copy all the savesets to your own
system for local installation, use a variation of the fol-
lowing command:
$ COPY VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[KITS.V2_IFT1]DECWIFT1020.* -
destination-directory
Once again, remember to be sure to reboot your systems af-
ter completing the installation.
-- DECWINDOWS TERMINAL FT KIT
(Not to be confused with DECterm terminal emulator)
For the convenience of internal hardware field test sites,
the software and documentation (release notes) used for field testing
the DECwindows terminal (Digital's X-terminal) is also available
in the directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[KITS.V2_IFT1]XTERMINAL000.*
This software requires DECwindows V2. To test this software you
must be a DECwindows terminal hardware field test site - with a
field test unit of DECwindows terminal hardware.
ALL inquiries about the DECwindows terminal field test or about
this unannounced hardware product should be directed to Vic
Bellemare, (VIDEO::BELLEMARE), DECwindows Terminal Product Manager.
-- DOCUMENTATION
The release notes and associated documentation describing
this baselevel and its installation are located in the di-
rectories:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.V2_IFT1.POST]
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.V2_IFT1.LN03]
Most of the documentation consists of preliminary drafts
of FT manuals that are still undergoing review. As such,
it is still unstable. However, it is very important that
you read the release notes and installation guide before
attempting to install or use this software. They will spell
out the restrictions and limitations of this baselevel for
you.
-- TCP/IP TESTING
If you intend to test the new transport for TCP/IP you must
also be running the Ultrix Connection product (UCX).
We strongly encourage all of you to report ANY problems you
observe in the new transport. This is an area in which we
need a lot of testing. If you report any problems with this,
please be sure to specify which version of UCX you are using.
-- ONLINE DOCUMENTATION
Some of the VMS DECwindows documentation is available in
an online format suitable for reading with the V2 IFT DECwin-
dows Bookreader. The online manuals can be copied from the
following directory:
VMSKIT::DECW$PUBLIC:[DOCUMENTATION.V2_IFT1.ONLINE]
*** If you have any problems locating or using the online ***
*** documentation, contact Marion Weisenfeld (BLUMON::) ***
By default, the Bookreader will look for these files in the
directory on your system named DECW$BOOK. (DECW$BOOK is a
logical name for the directory SYS$SYSROOT:[DECW$BOOK].)
If you copy the online documentation files to another disk
or directory, you must redefine the logical name DECW$BOOK
to point to that new location.
-- QAR SYSTEM
A QAR system has been set up on TRIFID to allow you to re-
port problems you have with VMS DECwindows. Please be sure
to enter VMS-specific DECwindows QARs in the internal database
DECWINDOWS-IFT. (Please be sure NOT to the use the
DECWINDOWS-V2 database. It is reserved for customer use.)
For internal access to the DECWINDOWS-IFT database you may
use the QAR account:
Name: QAR_INTERNAL
Password: QAR
When you enter a QAR, please be sure to explicitly state
the name of the field test (or intermediate baselevel) you
are running, the release of the VMS operating system you
are running it on, and the type of workstation you are us-
ing (e.g., VAXstation 2000/GPX).
-- CONFIDENTIALITY
Once again remember, this project, baselevel kit, and doc-
umentation are highly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. Do not discuss
the contents of the field test or any of the specifications
with people outside the company.
COLOR PRINTING SUPPORT
One shortcoming of DECwindows V1 was the lack of color
printer support. This caused a lot of problems for
customers, and prompted many questions from the field.
Version 2 WILL have support for the LJ250 color printer.
PRINTSCREEN SUPPORT ON 3520 AND 3540 SYSTEMS
Another shortcoming of the initial release was the inability
of 3520 and 3540 systems (Firefox) to perform a Print Screen.
This will not be the case in Version 2 of DECwindows - 3520 and
3540 systems WILL be able to perform Print Screen operations.
While on the topic of screen capture... a Version 1 bug that
caused the session manager to sometimes abort with an access
violation on the second and subsequent attempts to use the
Print Screen operation was fixed in VMS Version 5.2
TEKTRONICS 4125 EMULATOR GOES TO FIELD TEST
One requirement for the DECwindows environment that is receiving
increasing attention is the need for Tektronics terminal emula-
tion. While there will be no 4014 emulation provided by default
in Version 2, a Tektronics 4125 emulator that will be sold sep-
arately is currently in field test.
Engineering is looking at ways to provide 4014 emulation by default
in Version 3.
For more information on this product, contact the product
manager, Sherri Brown (VIDEO::) or read the notesfile,
HANNAH::TEKTERM.
DECWINDOWS TERMINAL UPDATE
Product manager: Vic Bellemare (VIDEO::)
The DWT expands Digitals corporate commitment to the DECWindows
architecture. It compliments workstation and PC DECWindows
strategies by providing the lowest cost DECWindows capability in
a terminal configurations.
The DECwindows terminal (DWT) is a diskless, self-contained
desktop device intended to fill the gap between high-end termi-
nals and low-end workstations. As a bit-mapped device running
an X-Server, the DWT can display DECwindows applications run-
ning on remote hosts. The DWT uses the LAT protocol to establish
an X-Windows connection with a VMS host, and TCP/IP to com-
municate with a Unix or Ultrix host. In addition, as a VT320
emulator with a LAT driver, the DWT can be used in a traditional
time-sharing environment as well.
As a dedicated device, the DWT does not run users' applications.
Instead, these applications run on a host machine (compute
server) somewhere on the network, and interact with the user
via X-Windows.
The DECwindows Terminal will be program announced on July 11th.
Software Status
---------------
Alpha testing is scheduled to begin the end of this month.
External beta testing is scheduled to begin late August. Ap-
plication testing is part of both Alpha and Beta tests. Other
specific application testing is part of the performance testing
plans.
Hardware Status
---------------
The terminal is a two box system (monitor & system box) also
included is the keyboard and mouse. It has a new low profile
enlosure - HEIGHT 2.38 (14.5"D X 15.5"W X 2.38"H). The enclosure
supports various monitor weights 15" monochrome to 20"color.
The system box includes a power supply, system board and two
customer installable boards (rom and ram). Power and packaging
design is moving along smoothly. The hardware is on schedule
with minimum risk.
DECwindows Terminal Features
----------------------------
CONFIGURATION
[] 2 Box System
[] 15" or 19" monitors
[] 1024 x 864 resolution
[] Keyboard
[] Mouse
COMMUNICATIONS
[] The protocols used for DEC and Non-Dec
Host are LAT and TCP/IP.
[] ETHERNET:
Thinwire support for both VAX VMS and
VAX ULTRIX.
[] SERIAL LINE:
COMM D423, MMJ
[] PRINTER PORT:
Also an optional Comm. Port, MMJ
FUNCTIONALITY
[] DECwindows over thinwire ethernet
[] LAT support for VMS
[] TCP/IP support ULTRIX AND UNIX HOST
[] Local VT320 emulation
[] Terminal emulation over serial line
MEMORY CONFIRGURATION
[] STANDARD CONFIRGURATION
0 One Megabyte of ROM
0 One Megabyte of RAM
[] CUSTOMER INSTALLABLE OPTIIONS
0 Memory up to 3 additional Megabytes of
memory in increments of one Megabyte
[] A TWO MEGABYTE ROM OPTION FOR
INCREASED FUNCTIONALITY (6 months later)
NEW PROGRAM OFFICE MEMBER
Shirley Schneider has joined SDT Product Management, reporting
to Basil Harris in the role of DECwindows Program Product Man-
ager. In her new role Shirley will work closely with John Hurd
and Jake Vannoy to define strategy and business objectives for
the DECwindows Program.
Currently, Shirley is a Software Engineering Supervisor in the
Database Systems Group. She has been responsible for managing
the Rdb/VMS project, bringing V3.0 through planning, testing and
release. Prior to working in DBS, Shirley was a product manager
in DISG (now part of SDT) with responsibility for ACMS and the
VAXInfo packages, and before that served as a Principal Support
Specialist in the Corporate Operations Group (COG).
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.13 | EXTRA issue | STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Aug 22 1989 09:51 | 434 |
| ************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update July 14, 1989 EXTRA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
V2 FIELD TEST NOW AVAILABLE
V2 SUPPORTS COLOR PRINTER (LJ250)
V2 SUPPORTS PRINT SCREEN ON 3520 & 3540
TEKTRONIX 4125 LAYERED PRODUCT IN FT
DECWINDOWS TERMINAL GOES TO INTERNAL FIELD TEST
NEW PROGRAM OFFICE MEMBER
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VMS DECWINDOWS "V2" FIELD TEST IS AVAILABLE
The external field test baselevel (FT1) of VMS DECwindows
"V2" is now available for your use. This kit supersedes the
internal FT1 (IFT1) kit announced on June 23. Note that this
baselevel kit and all related documentation and project
information are COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. They should not be
distributed or shown to non-Digital employees without the
express written consent of VMS product management.
Our primary purpose in distributing this baselevel is to
adequately test this software before final product submission.
In addition, this release provides a functional and stable
basis for application development.
This baselevel contains all the functions that we plan to
ship in version 2.0 of VMS DECwindows. Its performance is
also a reasonable approximation of version 2.0 performance.
Quality and stability, on the other hand, are expected to
improve as a result of the field test process.
INSTALLATION NOTES
To run this software you should be running VMS V5.2 SDC
software. However, this software will also install on some
pre-SDC versions of VMS V5.2 --- T5.2-41M (FT2) or later.
VMS DECwindows V2.0 is packaged as a layered product for ease of
installation during field test. It is expected that it will be
integrated with VMS V5.3 when actually released.
Also note that this software replaces many base VMS components.
You should plan to reboot any machine or cluster on which this
software is installed once the installation procedure completes.
If VMS upgrades or updates are applied to your system,
the DECwindows field test kit must be reinstalled.
*Important*
This kit is NOT compatible with the decw$tailor facility
provided by base VMS. Once it has been installed, you cannot
use decw$tailor to remove optional DECwindows components.
Please be sure to make a backup copy of your system disk before
installing FT1.
KIT LOCATION
The FT1 software savesets and a copy of this cover letter are
available in the directory:
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWS.V2_FT1.KIT]
VMSKIT only serves DECnet areas 2 and 19. Other kit locations:
Area
3 |Node::dev: ATSE::SYS$KITS:[DECWV2]
|Location: MKO1 - Merrimack, NH
|Contact: Kevin ATSE::COTE
|DFS access point: .ENG.LES.MSD.ATSE.KITS
Area
8 |Directory: NOETIC(RESOLV,IMAGIN)::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWSV2]
|Location: Colorado Springs, CO
|Contact: liesl NOETIC::KOLBE
|DFS access point:
Area
10 |Node::dev: {TENAYA,MADRE,LAMINA}::SYS$KITS:<DECWFT1020>
|Location: UCO - Palo Alto, CA
|Contact: Al WSE175::Sera
|DFS access point: (NA)
Area
11 |Node::dev: CONCRT::SYS$KITS:<DECWFT1020>
|Location: PDM1 - Marlboro, MA
|Contact: Jim CONCRT::Kehoe
|DFS access point: .ENG.MKTG.CSG.ISSE_1.CONCRT_AP.KITS
Area
18 |Node::dev: MPGS::Sys$Kits:<DECW.V2_FT1>
|Location: SHR - Shrewsbury, Mass
|Contact: MPGS::Harley Privitera
|DFS access point: .Eng.Stor_Sys.SHRISG.MPGS_Sys$Kits
Area
21 |Node::dev: MUDDIN::VMS$KITS:[DECW.V2_FT1.KIT]
|Location: MRO4 - Marlboro, Ma
|Contact: Kevin MUDDIN::Meany
|DFS access point:
Area
26 |Node::dev: ESRAD::VMS$KITS:<DECW020>
|Location: FPO - Burlington, MA
|Contact: Dave ESRAD::Dugal
|DFS access point: .Sale_Serv.Edu.RaD.VMS$KITS
Area
27 |Node::dev: MPGS::Sys$Kits:<DECW.V2_FT1>
|Location: SHR - Shrewsbury, Mass
|Contact: MPGS::Harley Privitera
|DFS access point: .Eng.Stor_Sys.SHRISG.MPGS_Sys$Kits
Area
28 |Directory: NOETIC(RESOLV,IMAGIN)::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWSV2]
|Location: Colorado Springs, CO
|Contact: liesl NOETIC::KOLBE
|DFS access point:
Area
32 |Directory: SICVAX::SYS$KITS:[DECW020]
|Location: NYO - New York, NY
|Contact: Patrick Sweeney SDSVAX::SWEENEY
|DFS access point: .US.SALE_SERV.NYA.SWS.SICVAX_D1
Area
42 |Node::dev: MARVIN::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWS.V2_FT1]
41 |Location: REO2, Reading, UK.
44 |Contact: Trevor MARVIN:: Warwick
|DFS access point: .eng.nac.wace.marvin_dfs.disk$kits
Area
49 |Node::dev: DCC::SYS$KITS:<DECWINDOWS.V2_FT1>
|Location: RTO - Munich, W. Germany
|Contact: Dennis Hagarty
|DFS access point: THERE IS NO DFS IN GERMANY (Sigh)
Area
59 |Node::dev: GIDDAY::SYS$KITS:[DECW.v020FT1]
|Location: STL - Sydney Australia
|Contact: Brian GIDDAY::SOMMERVILLE
|DFS access point: .SALE_SERV.GIA.SPR.CSC.DFS.KITS
Area
58 |Node::dev: JRDV04::VMS$KITS:<DECWV2>
|Location: EWB - Tokyo, Japan
|Contact: Takehumi JRDV04::KAKIMOTO
|DFS access point: .ENG.SSG.ABS.JRD.DISKS.VMS$KITS
The savesets should be installed using the standard VMSINSTAL
procedure. During installation, you will be prompted to select
which of the savesets and components of the kit you want to
install.
Once again, remember to be sure to reboot your systems after
completing the installation.
DOCUMENTATION
The release notes and associated documentation describing
this baselevel and its installation are located in the
directories:
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWS.V2_FT1.DOC.POST]
VMSKIT::SYS$KITS:[DECWINDOWS.V2_FT1.DOC.LN03]
Please be sure to read the release notes before attempting
to install the kits.
TCP/IP Testing
If you intend to test the new transport for TCP/IP you must
also be running the Ultrix Connection product (UCX).
We strongly encourage all of you to report ANY problems you
observe in the new transport. This is an area in which we
need a lot of testing. If you report any problems with this,
please be sure to specify which version of UCX you are using.
QAR SYSTEM
A QAR system has been set up on TRIFID to allow you to report
problems you have with VMS DECwindows. Please be sure to
enter VMS-specific DECwindows QARs in the internal database
DECWINDOWS-IFT. (Please be sure NOT to the use the
DECW-V2-FT database. It is reserved for customer use.)
For internal access to the DECWINDOWS-IFT database you may
use the QAR account:
Name: QAR_INTERNAL
Password: QAR
When you enter a QAR, please be sure to explicitly state
the name of the field test (or intermediate baselevel) you
are running, the release of the VMS operating system you
are running it on, and the type of workstation you are using
(e.g., VAXstation 2000/GPX).
CONFIDENTIALITY
Once again remember, this project, baselevel kit, and
documentation are highly COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL. Do not discuss
the contents of the field test or any of the specifications
with people outside the company.
COLOR PRINTING SUPPORT
One shortcoming of DECwindows V1 was the lack of color
printer support. This caused a lot of problems for
customers, and prompted many questions from the field.
Version 2 WILL have support for the LJ250 color printer.
PRINTSCREEN SUPPORT ON 3520 AND 3540 SYSTEMS
Another shortcoming of the initial release was the inability
of 3520 and 3540 systems (Firefox) to perform a Print Screen.
This will not be the case in Version 2 of DECwindows - 3520 and
3540 systems WILL be able to perform Print Screen operations.
While on the topic of screen capture... a Version 1 bug that
caused the session manager to sometimes abort with an access
violation on the second and subsequent attempts to use the
Print Screen operation was fixed in VMS Version 5.2
TEKTRONICS 4125 EMULATOR GOES TO FIELD TEST
One requirement for the DECwindows environment that is receiving
increasing attention is the need for Tektronics terminal emula-
tion. While there will be no 4014 emulation provided by default
in Version 2, a Tektronics 4125 emulator that will be sold sep-
arately is currently in field test.
Engineering is looking at ways to provide 4014 emulation by default
in Version 3.
For more information on this product, contact the product
manager, Sherri Brown (VIDEO::) or read the notesfile,
HANNAH::TEKTERM.
DECWINDOWS TERMINAL UPDATE
Product manager: Vic Bellemare (VIDEO::)
The DWT expands Digitals corporate commitment to the DECWindows
architecture. It compliments workstation and PC DECWindows
strategies by providing the lowest cost DECWindows capability in
a terminal configurations.
The DECwindows terminal (DWT) is a diskless, self-contained
desktop device intended to fill the gap between high-end termi-
nals and low-end workstations. As a bit-mapped device running
an X-Server, the DWT can display DECwindows applications run-
ning on remote hosts. The DWT uses the LAT protocol to establish
an X-Windows connection with a VMS host, and TCP/IP to com-
municate with a Unix or Ultrix host. In addition, as a VT320
emulator with a LAT driver, the DWT can be used in a traditional
time-sharing environment as well.
As a dedicated device, the DWT does not run users' applications.
Instead, these applications run on a host machine (compute
server) somewhere on the network, and interact with the user
via X-Windows.
The DECwindows Terminal will be program announced on July 11th.
Software Status
---------------
Alpha testing is scheduled to begin the end of this month.
External beta testing is scheduled to begin late August. Ap-
plication testing is part of both Alpha and Beta tests. Other
specific application testing is part of the performance testing
plans.
Hardware Status
---------------
The terminal is a two box system (monitor & system box) also
included is the keyboard and mouse. It has a new low profile
enlosure - HEIGHT 2.38 (14.5"D X 15.5"W X 2.38"H). The enclosure
supports various monitor weights 15" monochrome to 20"color.
The system box includes a power supply, system board and two
customer installable boards (rom and ram). Power and packaging
design is moving along smoothly. The hardware is on schedule
with minimum risk.
DECwindows Terminal Features
----------------------------
CONFIGURATION
[] 2 Box System
[] 15" or 19" monitors
[] 1024 x 864 resolution
[] Keyboard
[] Mouse
COMMUNICATIONS
[] The protocols used for DEC and Non-Dec
Host are LAT and TCP/IP.
[] ETHERNET:
Thinwire support for both VAX VMS and
VAX ULTRIX.
[] SERIAL LINE:
COMM D423, MMJ
[] PRINTER PORT:
Also an optional Comm. Port, MMJ
FUNCTIONALITY
[] DECwindows over thinwire ethernet
[] LAT support for VMS
[] TCP/IP support ULTRIX AND UNIX HOST
[] Local VT320 emulation
[] Terminal emulation over serial line
MEMORY CONFIRGURATION
[] STANDARD CONFIRGURATION
0 One Megabyte of ROM
0 One Megabyte of RAM
[] CUSTOMER INSTALLABLE OPTIIONS
0 Memory up to 3 additional Megabytes of
memory in increments of one Megabyte
[] A TWO MEGABYTE ROM OPTION FOR
INCREASED FUNCTIONALITY (6 months later)
NEW PROGRAM OFFICE MEMBER
Shirley Schneider has joined SDT Product Management, reporting
to Basil Harris in the role of DECwindows Program Product Man-
ager. In her new role Shirley will work closely with John Hurd
and Jake Vannoy to define strategy and business objectives for
the DECwindows Program.
Currently, Shirley is a Software Engineering Supervisor in the
Database Systems Group. She has been responsible for managing
the Rdb/VMS project, bringing V3.0 through planning, testing and
release. Prior to working in DBS, Shirley was a product manager
in DISG (now part of SDT) with responsibility for ACMS and the
VAXInfo packages, and before that served as a Principal Support
Specialist in the Corporate Operations Group (COG).
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.14 | Volume 2 Number 5
| STAR::STEEVES | Go Mondo Balto! | Tue Sep 05 1989 08:28 | 565 |
| ************************************************************************
VV VV MM MM SSSSSS
VV VV MMM MMM SSS
VV VV MMM MMM SS
VVV MM M MM SSS
V MM MM SSSSSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC W W W IIIIII N NN DDDD OOOOOO W W W SSSSSS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC W WW W II NNN NN DDDDDD OOOOOO W WW W SSS
DD DD EEEEEE CCC W WW W II NNNNNN DD DD OO OO W WW W SS
DDDDDD EEE CCCC WWWWWW II NN NNN DDDDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSS
DDDD EEEEEE CCCCC WWWWWW IIIIII NN N DDDD OOOOOO WWWWWW SSSSSS
***** C O M P A N Y C O N F I D E N T I A L *****
************************************************************************
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VMS DECwindows Update August 31, 1989 Volume 2, Number 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor: Paul Steeves, VMS DECwindows Product Management
Editorial/Business Locations: ZKO3-4, STAR::
Subscriptions to This Update: send requests to STAR::STEEVES;
MUST include your name, group name, and VAXMAIL node where you
receive mail; requests will NOT receive confirmation, due to
volume of requests
Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
is absolutely for Digital-use only
Publication: sporadic ...as time permits, project warrants, and
information becomes available
CONTENTS
This Update covers the following VMS DECwindows topics:
WHAT'S IN VMS VERSION 5.3?
DECWINDOWS SOURCE LISTINGS AVAILABLE SOON
LANGUAGE VARIANTS AVAILBLE IN DW V2 TIMEFRAME
MS-DOS X SERVER V2.0 BASE LEVEL 2 AVAILABLE
ANNOUNCING EUROPEAN APPLICATION PROGRAM
WORKSTATION APPLICATION CATALOG
ANOTHER (!!!) DECWINDOWS NEWSLETTER
FUTURE TOPICS
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT'S IN VMS VERSION 5.3?
The bulk of the upcoming version of VMS - Version 5.3, is the
second major functional release of DECwindows (aka V2). This
release is described in several previous DECwindows Newslet-
ters. (See note 1320 of the DECwindows Notesfile (BULOVA::) for
previously published issues of the newsletter.
Other bits of Version 5.3 that may be of interest are:
o This release will be a remastered release to accomodate new
hardware.
o Digital Naming Services (DNS) support-System Services that
support DNS SCSI Third party support- make public the inter-
nal interface used by VMS's existing SCSI support to promote
the use of the SCSI bus for a broad class of devices under
VMS.
o VAXTPU 2.4 - the latest version of TPU
o EVE - the latest version of EVE
o Quorum disk - modifications to the quorum file algorithm
reduce outage times for cluster node removal.
o Error Formatting support (ERF) for new devices.
o DEBUG - Reverts to DW V1 behaviour - displays the same number
of lines and the amount of time to request HELP topics goes
back to 6 seconds.
o Job Controller - some enhancements to improve performance in
the job controller.
o Standalone backup - 5.3 will have a new standalone backup
kit.
o Documentation - 5.3 New features manual, release notes and
updated DECwindows documentation, including an all new Users
documentation kit and additions to the programming
set.
DECWINDOWS SOURCE LISTINGS AVAILABLE SOON
Many customers have been asking how they can get access to the
DECwindows source listings. Now there is an answer!
DECwindows source listings will be included with the usual VMS
source listings beginning with VMS Version 5.2.
The VMS Version 5.2 Listings/fiche are currently scheduled to
submit to SSB (manufacturing) on 01-SEP and to FCS on 25-SEP.
LANGUAGE VARIANTS AVAILBLE IN DW V2 TIMEFRAME
[From the IEG July Monthly Report]
It is the goal of the International Engineering group in coop-
eration with the Local Engineering groups of the countries to
deliver translated versions of the VMS & ULTRIX DECwindows Plat-
forms (US English) text files. These translated versions will
be installed as layered products making the DECwindows Platform
product multi-lingual. (DECwindows V2 has language switching
capabilities built in to the Session Manager.) The translated
versions will be packaged and sold separately from the U.S.
English product.
The translations initially being undertaken are:
French
German
Spanish
Italian
Swedish
Dutch
French_Canadian
Swiss_German, Swiss_French, Swiss_Italian
Norwegian.
Note that it is a goal targeted that *all* iso-latin1 languages
will eventually translate.
In order to verify the quality of the translations, language
variants will be built and unit tested in the country of trans-
lation.
All the language variants will be then be integrated and system
tested (IFT) as one multi-lingual product in Reading.
The documentation will be translated throughout Europe as close
as is possible, allowing for differing schedules, in parallel
with the software.
Project Status -----
The following translation schedules are based on a final U.S.
engineering DECwindows build of Sept 29.
Phase 0 Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 FCS
Closure Closure Closure Closure
------ ------- ------- ------- ---
25/4/89(A) 11/7/89(A) Oct89 Nov89 Dec89
French March 90 21-Mar-90 April 90
German 11-Jan-90 31-Jan-90 15-Mar-90
Dutch 16-Oct-89 31-Oct-89 29-Dec-89
Norwegian 01-Sep-89 27-Oct-89 10-Nov-89
Swiss 11-Jan-90 31-Jan-90 15-Mar-90
Swedish 24-Nov-89 02-Jan-90 16-Mar-90
Spanish 22-Dec-89 26-Jan-90 09-Mar-90
Italian 20-Nov-89 10-Jan-90 01-Mar-90
MS-DOS X SERVER V2.0 BASE LEVEL 2 AVAILABLE
[from PCSG Engineering and Product Management]
We are is pleased to announce the availability of Base Level
2 of Version 2.0 of the DECwindows Display Facility for MS-
DOS. This software will be a component of PCSA V3.0. The server
supports X client applications compiled and linked under both
the Ultrix and VMS DECwindows V1.0 and V2.0 field test software.
The purpose of this base level is to provide developers the
opportunity to test their software with a PC-based server and to
get adequate feedback on our software before SSB submission.
The server features a new memory management architecture which
solves the memory limitations inherent in the V1.0 product. Un-
der MS-DOS we are now able to address up to 16Mb of physical
memory instead of the standard 640Kb. In addition we have inte-
grated a virtual memory capability into the X server. Now that
we have solved the memory limitations under MS-DOS, future base
levels and versions of the server will improve on performance.
With V2.0 we are supplying versions of the server specifically
designed for 80286-based PCs and another for 80386-based PCs.
Each is unique in its virtual memory management scheme. Our
goal is to take full advantage of each processor's features and
capabilities. With the new memory management schemes in place
we are able to display all the DECwindows core applications and
layered applications.
Due to licensing restrictions we must limit the availability
of the X servers for the time being. The 80286 version of the
X server is available on a limited basis today and will be
available on an unlimited basis sometime this Fall. The 80386
version of the X server will be on an unlimited basis in late
August.
The next section of this memo documents the hardware and soft-
ware requirements for the X server. Please review them. If you
have a suitable environment and would like to serve as an inter-
nal field test site we will make a kit available to you over the
network.
A NOTES conference (MOSAIC::PCDECWINDOWS) is available for
users of PC DECwindows. You are encouraged to report all bugs
here. You should also feel free to ask any questions or make
suggestions here.
This project, baselevel kit, and documentation are highly COM-
PANY CONFIDENTIAL. Do not discuss the contents of the field test
or any of the specifications with people outside the company.
Do not distribute or show this software to anyone outside the
company. Do not redistribute this software to anyone inside the
company until further notice.
Hardware and Software Requirements
The MS-DOS X Server software runs on 80286- and 80386-based IBM
compatible personal computers. An important note: PCSA 3.0 and
the PC DECwindows Display Facility V2.0 will not support the
VAXmate.
This version of the X server requires extended memory. The per-
formance of the X server will, in part, be based on how much
extended memory you have and how fast your secondary storage
is for the virtual memory manager's swap file. At this time,
we recommend you have at least 1Mb of memory available to the X
server. This is any combination of unused conventional memory
and extended memory, after all other TSRs, RAM disks and net-
work software have been loaded. To run, for example the window
manager, DECwrite, mail, clock, DECchart, DECcalc, DECterm, and
calendar simultaneously we recommend 2Mb of memory. You also
need 2Mb of secondary storage for the swap file.
The personal computer must be installed with network hardware
that is supported by PCSA V2.0 or higher, or DECnet DOS V2.0 or
higher.
The following PC hardware is supported by the X server in this
release:
Video:
Hercules (720 x 348 monochrome)
VGA (640 x 480 color)
MCGA (640 x 480 monochrome) (VGA monochrome)
EGA (640 x 350 color) (256K only)
EGA (640 x 350 monochrome)
Paradise VGA (800 x 600 color)
Paradise VGA (800 x 600 monochrome)
Princeton Graphics (1600 x 1200 monochrome)
Mice:
DEPCA mouse
Logitech mouse (C7 and R7)
Microsoft mouse (serial and bus)
Microsoft inport mouse (serial and bus)
Olivetti bus mouse
PS/2 mouse
Keyboards:
DIGITAL LK250 (DEC mode)
DIGITAL LK250 (Industry Standard mode)
Industry Standard 83 key (e.g. IBM/XT)
Industry Standard 84 key (e.g. IBM/AT)
Industry Standard 101 key (e.g. PS/2 US)
Industry Standard 102 key (e.g. PS/2 European)
All local language versions of these keyboards are supported.
ANNOUNCING EUROPEAN APPLICATION PROGRAM
[From Stephan Hansmire]
It is generally recognized that in order to sell our hardware
and software offerings, solving the customers problem must
include having the right and best applications available. The
European Application Program has been established to address
this critical need. The program's charter is to identify and
work with third party application developers interested in
converting or developing their application on Digital's VMS
and ULTRIX desktop platforms or the newly announced DECsystems.
The goals of the European Application Program are to:
o Make the best applications and development tools in the
industry available on our family of workstations and RISC
time sharing systems.
o Insure that these applications and tools continue to be
available on our latest hardware and software offerings at or
shortly after their announcement.
o Encourage the producers to incorporate our NAS offerings
(DECwindows, CDA, etc.) into their applications.
o The three key components of the program are to recruit,
support, and promote the third party developers and their
applications.
Recruitment
We are currently identifying the key applications that are
needed for our VAXstation, DECstation, and DECsystem products
and determining what is needed for each of these producers to
convert their applications.
Support
We have established a Support and Conversion Center in Reading
to assist producers in converting their application onto our
platforms. This center provides:
o Telephone technical support to applications producers.
o Conversion assistance in Reading. The application producer
can send his technical people to work with and be trained by
our technical staff while they convert their application.
o Releases of field test software and early releases of SDC
software in order make sure the producer's application is
available on the latest software when it is announced.
o Access to our latest hardware platforms to verify that his
application works on these systems before or shortly after
they are announced. Currently the center has DECstation
3100s, DECsystem 3100s, VAXstations, and DECsystem 5400 with
a DECsystem 5800 coming shortly.
o Training courses on new hardware and software products.
o Backup support to any country Support and Conversion Centers.
The Support and Conversion Center will support all third party
producers whose applications are available or under development
on the DECstation, VAXstation or DECsystems.
Promotion
The primary promotion tools for these applications is the Work-
stations Application Catalogue. [See the following article -
Ed.] The first edition was published in May and copies were
sent to the WAR/WIN Program Managers in each of the countries.
This catalogue lists the applications that are available on our
family of VAXstations, DECstations, and DECsystems along with
a short description and a list of the producers sales offices
throughout the world. This catalogue can be given to customers.
The catalogue is currently undergoing a major update. Our cat-
alogue and one that was published by the US are being combined
into a single version and all the newly available applications
are being added. It is expected that this update will be com-
pleted by the end of August or early September. This catalogue
will be available on the network for printing on your local
printer. This "electronic" version of the catalogue will be
updated and available on the network on a monthly basis.
We also will print the catalogue semiannually with the next one
planned for October.
The catalogue's name will be changed from Workstations Appli-
cation Catalogue to one that reflects it contains DECsystem
appliations also.
In the same time frame, we will make available a mini catalogue
available on the network that provides that status of applica-
tions that are under development. This mini catalogue will be
for internal use only.
To get information on the status of the application catalogue,
mini catalogue, or directions on how to print them, you can read
following file on the network:
SHIRE::TSH21:[ISV]NEWS.TXT
Hotline Support
If you want to the status on an application, enroll an applica-
tion producer in the program, include an application producer in
the catalogue, arrange for a producer to visit the Conversion
Center in Reading, or have a question about the program, send a
message to the following VAXMAIL account - SHIRE::ISV. If you
use ALL-IN-1, send the message to "_SHIRE::ISV".
The European Application Program is coordinating its activities
with the US ISV (Independent Software Vendor) program, Product
Marketing groups (PMG) programs, the DCCs, and countries.
WORKSTATION APPLICATION CATALOG
August 31st 1989 will see the completion of the first version
of the "International Source Book", an online copy will be
available during the first week of September. This will include
all the software and hardware options available for Digital
workstations.
Meanwhile the current information is contained within the June
and July catalogues:
For the Workstation Application Catalogue:
COPY SHIRE::TSH21:[ISV]WORKSTATION_CATALOGUE_JUNE.LN03
.POST
For the DECsystem Application Catalogue:
COPY SHIRE::TSH21:[ISV]DECSYSTEM_CAT_JULY.LN03
.POST
ANOTHER (!!!) DECWINDOWS NEWSLETTER
There is now a European DECwindows newsletter called the
EIS DECwindows Newsletteravailable from Paul Antonescu at
GVA01::ANONESCU or @GEO.
This month's EIS Newsletter contains the following articles:
(send mail to Paul if you want to get on his distribution list.)
1.2.3 MS-DOS X Server V2.0 - Base Level 2 Available
---------------------------------------------
BL2 of DECwindows Display Facility for MS-DOS will be a
component of PCSA 3.0 and will support both VMS and Ultrix
DECwindows client applications. Has virtual memory capability
and addresses up to 16 MB of physical memory. More info in
conference MOSAIC::PCDECWINDOWS.
1.9.7 VAXset Interest List
--------------------
Managed by Mike Smith (TLE::MSMITH). Information about CASE
tools developments and presentations.
1.9.20 DECdesign Opens Phase 0
-----------------------
Program to merge the ADT (Analysis and Design Tool), VAX
Cobol Generator 2.0, RDB:Designer and TP Gen into one
product. V1.0 FRS is scheduled in January 1990. Former known
as Application Design and Generation Environment (ADGE).
1.9.21 DATABUS Opens Phase 0
---------------------
Set of tools to support the building interfaces between
dispersed applications and functions using an object oriented
data management aproach. Currently used in the Aquarius
project for 700 users, 4 Gbytes of data, 23 sites and 13500
transactions per week. Includes KEEP and BRIDGE and will
allow integration with IPSE.
1.11.6 Ethernet Performance Related to DECwindows Configurations
---------------------------------------------------------
A MUST TO BE READ report in VMSKIT::SYS$PERDOCS:DWLAVC.PS.
3.1.4 Positive Review by the seybold Office Computing Group
-----------------------------------------------------
on DECwrite, DECdecision, NAS, ALL-IN-1, X400 Mail.
3.2.16 VMS DECwrite SPD is available
-----------------------------
in PIXEL::DECWRITE$PUBLIC:[SPD]decwrite_vms_spd.txt
3.2.17 DECwrite Labs Available
-----------------------
Demo and training files for DECwrite and DECdecision are
available in CEPS:: Contact Tracey Grigoleit @BST.
3.3.2 DECchart V2.0 Opens Phase 0
---------------------------
Phase 0 exit is planned for October. DECchart will be also a
component of DECpresenter V1.0. See conference QUEEN::CHART.
3.5.7 DECdecision V1.0 Kit Announcement
---------------------------------
SSB (former SDC) kit is in REGAL::$INFOKIT:[DECISION_SSB]
4.7.6 MEMEX V1 Closes Phase 0
-----------------------
on July 31. Documents in IDE::DUA1:[MEMEX$PUBLIC]
4.16.2 ULTRIX SQL Database Phase 1 Review
----------------------------------
was on July 26. Documents are in
SMURF::USERB:[PUBLIC.ULTRIX_SQL]
8.6.2 GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) to DDIF Converter is Avail.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Send mail to EPSYS::SANCHEZ.
8.6.2 Sixel to DDIF Converter is Available
------------------------------------
Send mail to EPSYS::SANCHEZ.
8.6.12 CDA Vendor Licensing Opens Phase 0
----------------------------------
Offer CDA support in source format, to third-party vendors,
for porting to their platforms.
8.9.14 DECimage FT2 VMS Netkits
------------------------
Support Firefox. Require VMS 5.2 (SDC) and DECwindows "V2".
Kits in VISUAL::IMAGE$FT and documentation in
VISUAL::IMAGE$DOCUMENTATION:
Edited by: Paul Antonescu MTS code: @GEO DTN: 821-4376
The last three EIS DECwindows Newsletters newsletters can
be copied in ASCII format (.TXT) from :
SHIRE::TSH26:[ENDUSER.DECWINDOWS.NEWSLETTER]
FUTURE TOPICS
Proposed topics for future updates:
o VMS DECwindows developments
o Application information
o Follow-on layered product information
As always, your contributions to the update are
welcome and requested. Please consider this a
standing and/or open invitation. Send contributions
to STAR::STEEVES.
Subscription requests must include full name, VAXmail
node name, and group name.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The VMS DECwindows Update is published by VMS Product
Management. It is intended to provide the Digital
community with a useful and up-to-date collection
of facts about Digital's VMS DECwindows effort.
A secondary goal is to publish information about
Digital's DECwindows program.
DISCLAIMER: any and all information included in this
Update is subject to change without notice. Please do
not rely on this Update as a means for scheduling your
own products or deliverables. You should contact the
appropriate DECwindows projects leaders and product
managers to ensure that names and dates that impact
your project have not changed since publication of
this Update.
- Vince Orgovan, Project Leader, STAR::
- Paul Steeves, Product Manager, STAR::
If you receive more than two copies of the Update from
product management, please notify us. In most cases,
the duplication should be caused by the fact that your
name appeared on 1) the internal baselevel release
list, and 2) one other VMS DECwindows interest list.
This duplication is unavoidable at this time. Please
disregard the second copy.
[end of update]
|
| 1320.15 | security level of newletter? | CADJR::CERNESE | Dan Cernese, CAD Framework Services | Fri Sep 08 1989 12:08 | 17 |
|
� Circulation: Update contents are STRICTLY Company Confidential;
� this document contains sensitive proprietary information that
� is absolutely for Digital-use only
Are these updates labelled "Digital Internal Use Only" or
"Digital Confidential" ??
If its the latter, then they should not appear in an unrestricted
conference (as per easynotes.lis guidelines).
Please properly label the newsletter, since I'm getting flack from
management about sending around my group when it contains something that
almost resembles a "Digital Confidential" label, but not really.
- Dan
|
| 1320.16 | V1#2 is missing, V2#2 duplicated | STOAT::BARKER | Jeremy Barker - NAC Europe - REO2-G/J2 | Mon Sep 18 1989 11:11 | 6 |
| .2 and .10 are the same. .2 should be Vol 1 #2, not Vol 2 #2.
Can this be fixed please
jb
|