DM (computing)
Encyclopedia
DM was the windowing system
used by Apollo Computer
Inc. for its Apollo/Domain
line of workstations running the AEGIS operating system
, later renamed Domain/OS
.
Apollo's DM, first shipped in 1981, was the first commercially successful general purpose window system. It preceded systems from Sun, X, Apple, and Microsoft, and contained some features that are still not found in similar systems today.
The DM contained two built-in functions, an editor and a transcript, which is a kind of virtual terminal. Additional functions could, of course, be added by user programs. One of the unique features of the DM is "universal editing". All text in any of the built-in windows could be edited using the same editing language. This includes the history displayed in a transcript window, although that text was read-only. In addition, the history was unbounded. It started from the birth of the process to which it was attached, and older history was never deleted, as it is in all virtual terminals today. Another interesting feature is that each transcript was attached to a mini-input window where you could edit process input using the same editing language used elsewhere.
The DM suffered from the fact that it was not portable, and was tightly coupled to the Apollo operating system. Eventually all of the Apollo software, including the DM, was phased out after Apollo was bought by Hewlett Packard in 1989. The X Window System ultimately became the dominant window system for Unix (and later Linux) systems.
Windowing system
A windowing system is a component of a graphical user interface , and more specifically of a desktop environment, which supports the implementation of window managers, and provides basic support for graphics hardware, pointing devices such as mice, and keyboards...
used by Apollo Computer
Apollo Computer
Apollo Computer, Inc., founded 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts by William Poduska and others, developed and produced Apollo/Domain workstations in the 1980s. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo was one of the first vendors of graphical workstations in the 1980s...
Inc. for its Apollo/Domain
Apollo/Domain
Apollo/Domain was a range of workstations developed and produced by Apollo Computer from circa 1980 to 1989. The machines were built around the Motorola 68k family of processors, except for the DN10000, which had from one to four of Apollo's RISC processors, named PRISM.-Operating system:The...
line of workstations running the AEGIS operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, later renamed Domain/OS
Domain/OS
Domain/OS is the operating system used by the Apollo/Domain line of workstations manufactured by Apollo Computer, Inc. during the late 1980s, as the successor to the one previously used, AEGIS. It was one of the early distributed operating systems...
.
Apollo's DM, first shipped in 1981, was the first commercially successful general purpose window system. It preceded systems from Sun, X, Apple, and Microsoft, and contained some features that are still not found in similar systems today.
The DM contained two built-in functions, an editor and a transcript, which is a kind of virtual terminal. Additional functions could, of course, be added by user programs. One of the unique features of the DM is "universal editing". All text in any of the built-in windows could be edited using the same editing language. This includes the history displayed in a transcript window, although that text was read-only. In addition, the history was unbounded. It started from the birth of the process to which it was attached, and older history was never deleted, as it is in all virtual terminals today. Another interesting feature is that each transcript was attached to a mini-input window where you could edit process input using the same editing language used elsewhere.
The DM suffered from the fact that it was not portable, and was tightly coupled to the Apollo operating system. Eventually all of the Apollo software, including the DM, was phased out after Apollo was bought by Hewlett Packard in 1989. The X Window System ultimately became the dominant window system for Unix (and later Linux) systems.