Motif Widget-Set for Atari 8-Bit Systems

[UNIXcoffee928]

OK, in the interest of Feeping Creaturisms I have begun work on establishing a Motif-like Motif-Widget Subset for the Atari.

 

This came into existence because I have been working with the DIY lightpen, as described in CREATIVE COMPUTING VOL. 9, NO. 3 / MARCH 1983.

 

I have been working with some ideas about making the Atari into an Application-Specific Synthesizer, and during the course of it had a need to have nice bright gadgets to work with when using the pen.

 

I have chosen Graphics mode 0, because of the resolution & the need for extreme resource optimization. With this said, everything is character-based. I currently have 12 character-sets, and expect another 10+ until I fully bum the sets down to a more manageable collection of datasets, through element concatenation. All I can say is that they look pretty freakin' cool!

 

So, basically, I'm building a GUI framework. I have over 20 years of experience in human-computer interaction research, so it may as well be me who does it.

 

To facilitate an easy & standardized method of screen manipulation, I've decided to make the widget-set available freely, once I've completed my project. I'm going to use a small subset the standard Motif widget calls, so that the whole screen interface can be treated like a library of GUI elements for any programmer to use.

 

I'd like to ask the assembly programmers out there to help out by providing the FASTEST bummed code to manipulate character sets, and individual character elements.

 

Tiles & multi-directional whole screen scrolling routines for Graphics 0 are also welcomed (the ability to quickly scroll a map-area larger than the screen in any direction).

 

DLI use, to achieve multiple on-screen areas of different fonts is another big area.

 

I'd also like others to use this thread as a localized resource for character set manipulation techniques in all Atari languages, and a link database for web content related to character sets.

 

 

Thanks, I think we can build something really cool that everyone can use to update the look & feel, as well as the usability of the systems & emulators..

 

 

L8R.

Edited June 4, 2008 by UNIXcoffee928