FAQ: [ASCII] Comp.Windows.NeWS CHARTER/FAQ
cwn-request\@phoenix.volant.org
Comp.Windows.NeWS FAQ
This is the ASCII version of a frequent posting intended explain the
purpose of this newsgroup, and the moderation policies; and to answer
some of the more frequently asked questions (if anything can be
considered frequent in such a low-volume group...) Feel free to
suggest additions or alterations.
There is an HTML version of this document available at:
http://www.phoenix.volant.org/NeWS/FAQ
Note that this is an entirely personal effort, and does not represent
any sort of official statement from Sun Microsystems, Inc, or any of
its subsidiaries or divisions.
NeWS is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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WHAT THIS GROUP IS (AND ISN'T) ABOUT
(This section wouldn't be necessary if netnews allowed mixed-case
groupnames; or if Microsoft hadn't shanghaied a perfectly good generic
computer science term into a specific product name...)
This group is for discussions about Sun's Network extensible Window
System (NeWS); it is -NOT- for news about MS WINDOWS. There are a
number of newsgroups for WINDOWS-related postings under the
comp.os.ms-windows hierarchy; and a few scattered elsewhere.All of the
MS WINDOWS groups have `ms' in their name somewhere.
Often you can find the answer you want without the need to post the
question. Check news:news.answers, news:news.groups.questions,
news:news.announce.newusers and news:news.newusers.questions first.
Even if they don't answer your question directly, they will often
point you to a better source of info.
For many years this newsgroup was unmoderated; however the recent
explosion of internet use has caused a corresponding increase in
the number of postings to various comp.windows groups by people who
believe that if it says 'windows', it must be talking about 'MS-Windows'.
(I blame the large Internet Service Providers who simply toss their new
users a set of keys and say "Here, take a cruise on the Infobahn",
without offering any sort of driver's training course first). As a
consequence, this group changed status, and is now moderated.
(Submission address: cwn-sub...@Phoenix.Volant.ORG,
administrative requests to: cwn-r...@Phoenix.Volant.ORG.)
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Moderation Policy
As moderator, I will approve any message which meets the following
constraints:
* It is on-topic. That means that it relates to NeWS, NeWS
clones, work-alikes, similar systems, or components which might be
used to build a NeWS-like system.
* It is not cross-posted to other groups.
* It is not obviously slanderous, libelous, obscene, or otherwise
likely to cause adverse legal action...
Most cross-posted messages relating to NeWS will also be approved;
particularly if none of the other groups are moderated, if the message
contains a 'Followup-To:' header, and if I agree that the other groups
are appropriate.
SPAMs will -NEVER- be approved for posting; otherwise, handling will
be arbitrary. They may be forwarded to the usenet administrators or
abuse addresses at the actual and apparent originating site, to their
major netnews supplier, and to any other forum I feel will aid in
preventing the sender from SPAMming again. In particular, Make Money
Fast schemes are likely to be forwarded to the IRS net-abuse address
(net-...@nocs.insp.irs.gov).
Other rejected articles will be returned to the sender with an indication
of the reason for rejection. If mail delivery fails there will be no
further attempt at notification.
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THE FUTURE OF NeWS
SunSoft has shifted from the X11/NeWS server to an X11+DPS based
windowing system; and NeWS and TNT have entered End Of Life. As
far as SunSoft is concerned, NeWS has no future (although some of
the technology might wind up in other products.)
But some NeWS fans aren't willing to just quietly accept the demise
of such an elegant and powerful environment. Some of them are working
on NeWS clones; at least one of which is intended to support TNT.
What reliable information I have on these projects is listed at the
end of this document.
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THE FUTURE OF NeWSprint
NeWSprint support continued for a couple of years after NeWS was EOL'd,
but Sun's new printers don't need it, and it has now been EOL'd as well.
NeWSprint is not supported on Solaris 2.6 and beyond. Sun is recommending
PostShop by Vividata, Inc. as a replacement. PostShop supports the old
SPARCprinter and NewsPrinter hardware.
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Known NeWS applications
The following commercial applications are known to have either been
written using NeWS, or have had NeWS ports:
* FrameMaker 3.x (OpenLook version)
* Altsys Virtuoso
* SimCity
* HyperLook (formerly HyperNeWS, formerly GoodNeWS)
* NeWSprint
* ShowMe (Later ported to X11. I'm not sure whether the
NeWS version was publicly released.)
Non-commercial NeWS applications:
* jet (excellent terminal emulator)
* hexsweeper (game)
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NeWS References
The NeWS 3.1 Programmer's Guide
SunSoft, Inc., 1992
The NeWS Toolkit 3.1 Reference Manual
SunSoft, Inc., 1992
The NeWS Book
James Gosling, David S. H. Rosenthal, and Michelle Arden
Springer-Verlag, 1989
NeWS Classes; an Update
Fifth computer Graphics Workshop
Owen Densmore
Usenix, 1989
Object Oriented Programming in NeWS
Computer Graphics Workshop
Owen Densmore
Usenix, 1986
A Window on the Future?
Unix Review, Volume 6, Number 6
Samuel J. Leffler
Methodology of Windoww Management,
F.R.A. Hopgood, D.A. Duce, E.V.C. Fielding, K. Robinson, and A.S. Williams
Springer-Verlag, 1986
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Freely Available NeWS Clones
RBuss
Josh Siegel and Robert Kroeger started writing a NeWS clone; but
never completed. Version 0.1 is available at
ftp://ftp.phoenix.volant.org/pub/rbuss.tar.gz
If you use it for anything, please contact Robert Kroeger at
rjkr...@liquimedia.com
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