ViewMAX
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use list-defined references Template:Infobox Software ViewMAX is a CUA-compliant file manager supplied with DR DOS versions 5.0 and 6.0. It is based on a cut-down runtime version of Digital Research's GEM/3 graphical user interface modified to run only a single statically built application, the ViewMAX desktop.<ref name="Elliott_1999_Versions"/><ref name="Elliott_1999_Differences"/> Support for some unneeded functions has been removed whilst some new functions were added at the same time.<ref name="Elliott_1999_Differences"/> Nevertheless, the systems remained close enough for ViewMAX to recognize GEM desktop accessories (Template:Mono executables) automatically<ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/> and to allow some native GEM applications (Template:Mono executables) to be run inside the ViewMAX environment (without having to install and launch GEM first).<ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/> Many display drivers for GEM 3.xx could be used by ViewMAX as well, enabling ViewMAX to be used with non-standard display adapters and higher resolutions than possible using the default set of ViewMAX drivers.<ref name="Elliott_1999_Differences"/><ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/> Also, Digital Research's SID86, the symbolic instruction debugger that shipped with DR DOS 3.xx and provided dedicated functions to debug GEM applications (see Template:Mono GEM-specific help under SID86 or GEMSID), could be used for ViewMAX as well.<ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOSTIP"/><ref name="Elliott_2002_GEMSID"/>
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Originally named Navigator in beta versions,<ref name="MS_DR50"/> ViewMAX 1.00<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/> was distributed with DR DOS 5.0 in 1990 to provide an equivalent to DOSSHELL in MS-DOS/PC DOS 4.0. It had a very similar appearance to Digital Research's previous GEM desktops – two fixed-size windows. Each window would either contain icons representing drives, directories and files, or a representation of the directory hierarchy.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/> If supported by the underlying operating system (such as DR DOS), file and directory passwords and access permissions were supported. Network drives (including CD-ROM drives) were distinguished through their own icon, different from those of local drives.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/>
In 1991, ViewMAX 2 was distributed with DR DOS 6.0. Various graphical improvements were made in this release, including controls with a 3D appearance and user-selectable colour schemes.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> The directory tree (if enabled) was now shown beside the list of icons, rather than instead of it.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> Various settings could be stored in a configuration files named %DRDOSCFG%\VIEWMAX.INI.<ref name="Novell_1992_VM2"/><ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> For more flexible character set support ViewMAX 2 loaded display fonts from a standard DOS Template:Mono file<ref name="Paul_2001_CPI"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_CPI"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_CPPREP"/><ref name="AEB_2001_CPI"/><ref name="Haralambous_2007_CPI"/><ref name="MS_1991_PR"/> depending on the current code page rather than using a GEM specific character set, a feature also incorporated into FreeGEM since 2005.<ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM2"/> The DOS/V-compatible Japanese version of ViewMAX, as distributed with DR DOS 6.0/V in 1992, supported DBCS characters loaded by Template:Mono from Template:Mono.<ref name="DRDOS60V_ViewMAX"/> Support was added for the DR DOS task switcher TaskMAX; if this was present, applications would be launched as separate tasks, and ViewMAX could switch between them.<ref name="Novell_1992_VM2"/><ref name="Caldera_1997_MULTI"/><ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> As TASKMGR in later operating systems such as Novell DOS 7, OpenDOS 7.01, DR-DOS 7.02 and higher continued to emulate most of the task switcher API as well,<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Paul_2001_API"/> ViewMAX 2 could be used to switch and control multiple concurrently running full-screen DOS tasks under the DR-DOS preemptively multitasking kernel (Template:Mono) as well.<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Paul_2001_API"/>
ViewMAX 3 was intended to be the graphical file manager for Novell's next version of DR DOS. ViewMAX 3 included support for colour icons, movable and resizable windows, program groups, and background images.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX3"/> If the underlying DR-DOS had the optional multi-user security module loaded, ViewMAX would also provide support for the extended world/group/owner access permission system. Although ViewMAX 3 was part of the DR DOS "Panther" Beta 1 distribution in October 1992,<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/> it was never completed and apparently abandoned in favour to Apple's and Novell's "Star Trek" team project in 1992/1993, which remained unreleased as well. So, Novell DOS 7, as "DR DOS 7.0" was called in 1994, came without any graphical file manager at all. When Caldera bought the remaining Digital Research assets from Novell on 23 July 1996,<ref name="Leon_1996_Caldera"/> initial plans were to revive GEM and ViewMAX technologies for a low-footprint user interface for OpenDOS in mobile applications<ref name="Caldera_1997_WebSpyder"/><ref name="Jemmett_1999"/> as Caldera View, but these plans were abandoned by Caldera UK in favour of DR-WebSpyder and GROW. After closing the DR-DOS development center Caldera UK in early 1999, the remaining source code of the ViewMAX 3 beta version was published in April 1999 by the US parent company Caldera Thin Clients under the GPL<ref name="Jemmett_1999"/> following continued community request to release the sources, shortly before the company changed its name to Lineo and switched to Linux-based technologies three months later.<ref name="Caldera_1999_Lineo"/> Various ViewMAX features not previously found in GEM have been incorporated into FreeGEM since then.<ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM1"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM2"/>
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- Template:Cite book (88 pages)
- Template:Cite book (106 pages)