From: hcp@csx.cciw.ca (H.C. Pulley)
Subject: alpha/beta/gamma version of MGR uploaded to raven
Organization: Canada Centre for Inland Waters
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 15:04:41 GMT

Well, I wanted to get a copy out by Christmas, so here it is!  A present to 
Coherent users from me, Vance Petree, Grant Edwards, Udo Munk and all the 
people like Michael Haardt who worked on the Linux port and Stephen Uhler who
worked on the original code at Bellcore.  Thanks to everyone who worked on MGR!

MGR has been uploaded to raven.alaska.edu.  The files are currently in 
/pub/coherent/incoming/MGR/ but may be moved to /pub/coherent/sources32/MGR/ in
the future.

There is README.MGR.bm which contains very basic instructions on what files to
get, where to put them and how to unpack them.

mgrsrc.tar.Z contains all the source code for the server, libraries and 
clients.  All the include files, make files, etc. are also included here.

mgrdoc.tar.Z contains all the general documentation for MGR.  The source 
directories also contain man pages.  Some of the man pages need groff/tbl to 
print them out but you can still read them with more or an editor until we get
groff/tbl ported.

mgricon.tar.Z contains all the bitmaps and icons for MGR.  This is NOT an
optional download; you need the bitmaps and icons to run and compile MGR.

mgrfont.tar.Z contains all the fonts for MGR.  Again, this is NOT an optional 
download; you need the fonts to run and compile MGR.

m4make.tar.Z contains binaries for gnu m4 and gnu make which are needed to 
create config files and build MGR.  I have the source code for both of these 
and you are welcome to it.  gnu make should already be on raven.  I have not 
yet uploaded gnu m4 since the MGR config files are the only test I have done.
I will upload it when I have tested it more.  If someone else wants to test it,
let me know how it goes.

Last but certainly not least, bm.tar.Z contains the code for the Bitmapped 
display driver.  It also contains mods to mmas.s so that it works with Herc 
cards.  The display driver is generic; that is, it is used for ALL graphics 
cards.

To run MGR, you need Coherent 4.0 or later, Device Driver Kit 2.0 or later, a
graphics card.  Hercules, EGA, VGA or SVGA are supported right now.  A CGA mono
640x200 mode should be possible if anyone wants one.  EGA and SVGA have NOT 
been tested (except that EGA modes have been tested on a VGA card).  Also a 
serial mouse is needed (work is being done on bus mouse code but it is not done
yet).  Both a 3-button Mousesystems mouse or a 2-button Microsoft mouse have
been tested, though you must compile MGR for one or the other (different 
protocols).

MGR is Bellcore's window ManaGeR.  It is very small; with a few terminal 
windows, a clock and a biff (mailbox indicator) the total memory taken up by 
MGR and the client programs is under 500K!  Thus you don't need a huge amount
of memory to run MGR.  Also, the total source, icons, fonts, binaries and stuff
takes up at most 7-8 MB of disk space so it won't hog your entire disk.

Right now, MGR only runs in monochrome mode (even for EGA, VGA and SVGA boards)
so the only difference between graphics boards is the resolution you will get.
Mono mode takes up much less memory any ways (of course I won't be saying that
once we have color working! ;-).

The reason why it is an alpha/beta/gamma release is that some of the clients 
don't compile, some of the clients compile but don't work.  Also, some things
work well, but some things crash once in a while (not under normal use).  I 
have found MGR to be pretty stable; if all I am using is a few terminals, a 
clock and a biff (which is my 'usual' setup) then I have never had a crash or
lockup.  I have been running MGR for a few weeks now and it runs pretty well.

MGR is a little like X.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles; it is 
quite lean.  The window borders aren't shaded, etc.  It does the job though, 
and for a lot less memory and disk requirements than X.

Also, writing clients for MGR is much easier, in my opinion, than writing 
clients for X.  They are also a lot smaller, since most of the library calls 
are just macros to printf()s through the pty to the MGR server.

Let me know about all the bugs, etc.  I hope you can get it working without too
much trouble.  If all works as planned, all you should have to do is: unpack
the archives, install the bitmapped display driver, run Configure and 'make 
all'.  Good luck!

Happy Holidays and a great New Year to all!

Harry
-- 
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