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Free DOS GUI

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Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan

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Jan 17, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/17/99
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Hi

I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?
Thank you

mohan


Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan

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Jan 18, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/18/99
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BobGardner

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Jan 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/20/99
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>Is there no free GUI library for DOS?

Check out the Mega Graphics Library at Scitechsoft.com. The guy that wrote the
lib is on the vesa standards commitee..

Ian St John

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Jan 20, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/20/99
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Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan wrote in message
<36A20F34...@pl.jaring.my>...

>Hi
>
> I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
>djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?


You might look up fastgraph lite.

Dr. Luca Poretti

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Jan 21, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/21/99
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BobGardner ha scritto nel messaggio
<19990120130859...@ng-fi1.aol.com>...

>>Is there no free GUI library for DOS?
>


Check out at http://volftp.tin.it/italiani/MORELLO/index_e.htm this is
really FREE for non commercial use !

David McFarlane

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Jan 22, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/22/99
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On Mon, 18 Jan 1999 00:26:28 +0800, Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan
<moh...@pl.jaring.my> wrote:
>Hi
>
> I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
>djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?
>Thank you
>
>mohan

(Here's a long post, but I hope it's worth it.)

As it turns out, I too have been looking into getting a DOS Text GUI
(aka "TUI") library for some time. I've gathered info by lurking in
Usenet and CompuServe, searching DejaNews, byte.com and ddj.com, and
visiting many Web pages. I found hits in DejaNews going back to 1995 --
folks have been asking about this for quite awhile, but the discussion
has been spotty.

As a service to the Usenet community, I here post a summary of my
current investigations. I arranged things in categories, and within
each category more-or-less according to price (well, how would *you* do
it?)


Here are some Books & Articles that have been recommended in this
context:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
$?? "Graphical User Interface Programming" by Steve Rimmer (~1992)
$25 "Graphical User Interfaces With Turbo C++" by Ted Faison (~1994?)
$30 "Teach Yourself Advanced C in 21 Days" by Jones & Guntle (1994)
(These are all rather old, try amazon.com, borders.com, abebooks.com)
$n/a D-Flat, in Al Stevens' C Programming column, "Dr. Dobb's Journal"
starting May 1991


Here are some DOS Text UI Libraries for plain C:
------------------------------------------------
SUIT - Univ. VA
$0 Source avail. in principle Demo impossible to get
Multi-platform, thru BGI, GP, SRGP layers.
This seems to be an ambitious acedemic project ca. 1994 that didn't
catch on and has been abandoned.
www.cs.virginia.edu/~suit
MGUI - Morello
$0/500 Source $5000 Demo avail.
$0 non-commercial, $500 commercial; cross-platform; large memory
model only; uses BGI; also have a good C++ wrapper
volftp.tin.it/italiani/MORELLO/index_e.htm
GameSmith - GameSmith
$0-100 Source $20 Demo avail.
$0 to use, $20 for source w/o support, $100 support w/ source
limited GUI; medium memory model; Xmode
users.uniserve.com/~alexad3
C/Windows Toolchest Mix Software
$40 Source +$10 Demo avail.
>250 fns; looks pretty good! block text select? memory models?
This product has elicited the most posive testimonials on Usenet
over the years.
www.mixsoftware.com
Steph - Stephen Morphet
25# S. No source? Demo avail.
That's 25 pds Sterling
Not bad; large library; fixed width (80 col) windows
Simtel free/shareware archive: www.simtel.net/simtel.net
CodeScreens - Sequiter Software
$67/95 Source incl. No demo avail.
May be OK; w/ source => no model restrictions.
Sequiter ($95): www.sequiter.com
ProVantage ($67): www.provantage.com
Vitamin C 4.5 - Creative Programming Consultants
$224/300 Source incl. Demo avail.
May be OK; w/ source => no model restrictions; can use plain text or
truly "graphical" buttons & widgets.
Creative Programming Consultants ($300): www.netpath.com/~cpc
ProVantage ($224): www.provantage.com
Vermont Views - Vermont Creative Software
$433/495/683 Source incl. Demo avail.
>630 fns; apparently complete, looks good; may order for 60-day no-
risk trial.
Vermont Creative Software ($495): www.vtsoft.com
ProVantage ($433/$683): www.provantage.com


Here are some DOS Text/Graphic UI Libraries that are object-oriented
(C++):
--------------------------------------------------------------------
JPTUI - Jean-Pierre Delprat
$0 Source avail. Demo avail.
Requires BC++ 4.0 or above, even for demo; huge memory model
w3.teaser.fr/~jpdelprat
TurboVision for DOS - Borland
$??
This is the classic OO DOS GUI class library standard. No longer
sold by Borland. I heard (13Sep96) it's available free at their ftp
site -- good luck!
try ftp.borland.com
DOS Buttons - Annasoft
$149 Source incl. Demo avail.
True GUI; pretty, but not useful; emphasis on buttons.
www.annasoft.com
Fastgraph + FastGUI - Ted Gruber Software + JB Systems
$345 FastGUI source Demo avail.
>275 fns; C++ class lib, true GUI; text, chk, radio, slides.
fastgraph.com
MGUI - Morello
see above


Here are some DOS Graphic or Window (*not* GUI or TUI) Libraries for C
or C++ that often get tossed into the discussion:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
curses - freeware
$0 Comes from Unix, of course it includes source! Demo avail.
Basic window & cursor fns, but no GUI or mouse fns.
Simtel free/shareware archive: www.simtel.net/simtel.net
Look for, e.g., cursesp.zip, dcurses2.zip, swears10.zip.
MGL - SciTech Software
$0 Source $0 Demo avail.
Win 3.1 look; 32-bit, C & C++, multi-platform API
www.scitechsoft.com
MetaWindow - MetaGraphics MetaGraphics
$215 Source +$400 Demo avail.
Full, solid graphics & mouse toolkit, but no GUI (3rd party)
www.metagraphics.com
Virt-Win - TeraTech
$295 No source? Demo avail.
Good text & window handling; GUI support uncertain; should have all
memory models, asm source.
www.teratech.com
Fastgraph - Ted Gruber Software
$299 No source? Demo avail.
>275 fns; C++ class lib. Much recommended in Usenet posts.
fastgraph.com


Here are some GUI tools that are marketed expressly as Multi-Platform
Toolkits:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
C++ Views - Liant Software Liant Software
$0 Source avail. Demo?
Object oriented (Byte, Jan94); std template lib extension
www.liant.com
Zinc Application Frameworks - Zinc Software
$0-?? Source avail. Demo avail.
Object oriented; DOS support?
www.zinc.com
XVT - XVT Software
$??
Plain C (Byte, Jan94); OOP; DOS?
www.xvt.com
Galaxy
As of 13Jan99, can't find this.
Utah
As of 13Jan99, can't find this.
zApp
As of 13Jan99, can't find this.


I've seen these mentioned, but they seem to have dropped out of sight:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
unnamed library to emulate Win95 look under DOS - www.debs.org
$0
In a Usenet post on 28Jan98 Ms. Wiles hoped to create such a
library,, but no sight of it as of 13Jan99 - probably abandoned.
www.debs.org
DataWindows - Greenleaf Software
$231
Sighted on 13Feb98, offered by Greenleaf and Provantage, but gone as
of 13Jan99.
www.greenleafsoftware.com, www.provantage.com
MEWEL - Magma Systems
ma...@bix.com (Marc Adler) promoted this product in several Usenet
post thru 1995 and 1996, last post 24Aug96.
ma...@bix.com; www.uno.com (??)
C-Scape - ??
Mentioned in Usenet post 19-Dec-95.
TCXL - Innovative Data Concepts
Mentioned in Usenet post 8Jan98.


Of course, I don't expect this survey to be complete, I expect those of
you who have additional info will contribute it, and if I have the
energy I'll incorporate it into a later revision of this summary.

I will post this as a followup to a few appropriate threads. I hope
this does not offend Usenet spam sensibilities, and I expect I will be
told if it does <g>.

-- David McFarlane 22 Jan 1999

Disclaimers:
The above info is based on what I gathered from other sources, and I do
not guarantee its accuracy. So USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! In particular, I
will not be responsible for any losses or damages that arise from the
use of this info.
Of course, any opinions expressed here are purely my own and not those
of anyone or anything that is associated with me.

Credits:
Thanks are due to all the software publishers above, and to many
contributors on Usenet. Here are some contributors, in more-or-less
reverse chronological order: Dr. Luca Poretti, Steve J. Thornburg, Paul
Camilleri, grafbobo, John Kopp, Denis Gleeson, Robert Morrison,
Christoph Merten, Knut Roll-Lund, David Glick, Debbie Wiles, Mark Nance,
Ryan Phillips, Robert Templeton, MJB, Vincenzo Morello, Allison,
RennieOcon, Matthew Diesch, Walt Silva, Cris Berneburg, Doug Huggard,
James Lynch, Alexander Russell, Jean-Pierre Delprat, Sumo Steve, Anthony
Holbert, Bruce Wedding, Marc Adler, Ted Davis, Molaro Paolo, Kelly
Koblun, Vijay Parikh, Kendall Bennett, Richard Shepard, Thomas Leathley,
Bob Stout, Laura Michaels, Jeff Jones, Starduster.


bowman

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Jan 22, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/22/99
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David McFarlane wrote:
>
> Here are some Books & Articles that have been recommended in this
> context:

> $n/a D-Flat, in Al Stevens' C Programming column, "Dr. Dobb's Journal"
> starting May 1991


You don't mention it explicitly, but several versions of the dFlat
source are available from the Dr. Dobbs site. Most are compatible with
ms or borland compilers. I ported one version to djgpp 32bit pmode. A
C++ version is also there, though I have heard it is buggy. Al Stevens
is apparently working on dFlat 2000, though I can't quite figure out
what he is trying to do. Somehow a TUI that uses the Windows API seems a
bit strange. And, if it is a GUI, I have to ask "why bother?"

Len Philpot

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Jan 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/23/99
to
On Fri, 22 Jan 1999 17:51:56 -0700, bowman <bow...@montana.com> wrote:

>>> Here are some Books & Articles that have been recommended in this
>>> context:

>>> $n/a D-Flat, in Al Stevens' C Programming column, "Dr. Dobb's Journal"
>>> starting May 1991
>>
>>

>>You don't mention it explicitly, but several versions of the dFlat
>>source are available from the Dr. Dobbs site. Most are compatible with
>>ms or borland compilers. I ported one version to djgpp 32bit pmode. A
>>C++ version is also there, though I have heard it is buggy. Al Stevens
>>is apparently working on dFlat 2000, though I can't quite figure out
>>what he is trying to do. Somehow a TUI that uses the Windows API seems a
>>bit strange. And, if it is a GUI, I have to ask "why bother?"

I don't know - I like the idea of 32-bit console programs (like
Z-TreeWin, for example). A framework for that API would be nice.

Irv Mullins

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Jan 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/23/99
to
Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan wrote:

> Hi
>
> I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
> djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?
> Thank you
>
> mohan

Well, it isn't djgpp, but there are a couple of GUI packages available
for Euphoria,which emulate Win 95/Win 3.1/Mac, Motif ....etc. as well as
plain old text
mode (Borland IDE look) Requires 386 up, all code is 32bit.

http://members.aol.com/FilesEu

Regards,
Irv


luv...@andru.sonoma.edu

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Jan 23, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/23/99
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Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan <sara...@bigfoot.com> writes:
> I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
> djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?

I don't know how easily it'll port to DOS, but one option is
Xterminal, a C++ widget set based on curses (for which dos ports *do*
exist).

http://www.arbornet.org:81/~dragos/Xterminal/

pdcurses:
http://www.lightlink.com/hessling/

Anthony C Howe also has a small curses clone in:
http://www.snert.com/software/Download/tools.95.tar.Z

which has other cute things in it, like a vi clone in 1536 bytes of C.

best of luck,
andru

Christoph Merten

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Jan 25, 1999, 3:00:00 AM1/25/99
to
Mohanaraj Gopala Krishnan wrote:

> Hi
>


> I am a beginner in the world of programming and currently am using
> djgpp. Is there no free GUI library for DOS?

> Thank you
>
> mohan

Try using "ULTRAWIN". Its old, but fast and very good!


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