[Gllug] On Linux desktops...

[David Damerell]

On Thursday, 18 Oct 2001, Alex Hudson wrote:
>On Thursday 18 October 2001 12:16 pm, you wrote:
>>>Go look up the old Boing systems, and anything that used a vector display
>>>(particularly CAD systems).
>>Which are probably GUIs by my definition (and, hint, that used by the
>>rest of the world) too. What's your point?
>I wasn't arguing they weren't GUIs, I was telling you why I said 'graphs' and 
>not 'graphics'. The concept of a graphic on a vector display is strange;

I don't find the concept of graphics on a vector display strange at
all. What did the original Spacewar display, if not graphics?

>>Yes. As I say, it's a marginal and not very interesting distinction
>>here; and I would hesitate to describe lynx under X as providing a GUI
>>simply because it's getting the pointer from X; but the pointer,
>>itself, is part of the X GUI.
>I didn't say anywhere it was getting a pointer from X: it isn't. This lynx is 
>running on a console tty, no X involvement whatsoever.

Actually, you discussed the two separate cases of Lynx running on the
console and under X.

>>_Graphical_ user interfaces have graphics, that being what the word
>>means. Text interfaces don't. There are some curious edge cases
>>involving the line-drawing characters and whatnot, but there you go.
>Your 'curious edge cases' should point you to the fact that you're talking 
>about a continuity, not a set of discrete properties.

Tell me something I don't know already.

>>>So, when I run the command line on a text-mode display, it's text mode.
>>>When I run it under a framebuffer, it's a GUI. Right.
>>No; it's a text mode interface either way.
>Even though I can display a bitmap in it?

I must have missed that in the bash documentation.

>Which is where I agree with you: substituting icons for words does not a good 
>interface make, and I'm sure you can reel off a number of examples where that 
>is the case. But you're missing my point: the icon paradigm is a far more 
>powerful one that a text-button one. 

Clearly, but I can only go by what's actually out there; and what's
out there are little buttons with pictures that might as well be words
and little buttons with pictures that change (in the way that words
might.)

-- 
David Damerell <damerell at chiark.greenend.org.uk> flcl?

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