• A Taste Of CDE

    From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.folklore.computers on Sat Feb 28 22:43:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    An emulation of an early-1990s Linux GUI in a browser <https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/nostalgic-developer-recreates-the-1994-linux-desktop-as-a-modern-web-app-for-your-browser-open-source-project-brings-old-school-cde-interface-back-from-the-dead-and-features-classic-90s-web-browser-text-editor-and-more>.

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version
    of the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be available in Linux distros to this day.
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  • From rbowman@bowman@montana.com to alt.folklore.computers on Sun Mar 1 01:18:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added
    some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that
    made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones
    moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd
    better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X,
    Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I
    know :)
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  • From Sebastian Barthel@naitsabes@freenet.de to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 13:33:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    Am Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 +0000 schrub Meister Lawrence DrCOOliveiro:

    An emulation of an early-1990s Linux GUI in a browser <https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/nostalgic-developer-
    recreates-the-1994-linux-desktop-as-a-modern-web-app-for-your-browser- open-source-project-brings-old-school-cde-interface-back-from-the-dead- and-features-classic-90s-web-browser-text-editor-and-more>.

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be available in Linux distros to this day.

    There is a 'real' modern variant too

    https://github.com/NsCDE
    https://github.com/NsCDE/NsCDE

    https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/battle_of_the_retro_desktops/

    Works fine.


    -
    kork der ork k|+mmert sich um den traminer
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  • From ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan@tednolan to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 14:35:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    In article <n0hifrFfbu2U1@mid.individual.net>,
    rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of >> the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be
    available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added >some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that >made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones >moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd >better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X, >Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I >know :)

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in
    VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD
    for that...)
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 15:35:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <n0hifrFfbu2U1@mid.individual.net>,
    rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of
    the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be
    available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added >>some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that >>made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones >>moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd >>better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X, >>Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I >>know :)

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in
    VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD
    for that...)

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan@tednolan to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 15:38:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    In article <77ipR.55919$tm1.18792@fx14.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <n0hifrFfbu2U1@mid.individual.net>,
    rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of
    the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be >>>> available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added >>>some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that >>>made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones >>>moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd >>>better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X, >>>Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I >>>know :)

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in
    VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD
    for that...)

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    That's the default in tightvnc, and the "new windows don't open fully until
    you click" is annoying. I always exit it and, as I said, use mwm.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 16:12:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <77ipR.55919$tm1.18792@fx14.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <n0hifrFfbu2U1@mid.individual.net>,
    rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own version of
    the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be >>>>> available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added >>>>some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that >>>>made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones >>>>moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd >>>>better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X, >>>>Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I >>>>know :)

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in
    VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD
    for that...)

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    That's the default in tightvnc, and the "new windows don't open fully until >you click" is annoying.

    That's not a feature of TWM that I'm aware of, and I've been using it
    since 1990. Windows open fully and immediately without any user
    interaction. It may be the "RandomPlacement" keyword that enables that.



    #**********************************************************************
    #
    # .twmrc
    #
    #**********************************************************************

    # WarpCursor
    BorderWidth 2
    TitleFont "6x13"
    MenuFont "6x13"
    IconFont "6x13"

    #TitleFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--17-120-100-100-p-92-iso8859-1" #MenuFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--17-120-100-100-p-92-iso8859-1" #IconFont "-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--17-120-100-100-p-92-iso8859-1" ResizeFont "fg-22"

    #NoTitleFocus
    Zoom 8
    RandomPlacement
    DecorateTransients
    #NoRaiseOnMove
    #NoRaiseOnResize
    #NoRaiseOnDeiconify
    DontMoveOff
    #NoGrabServer
    #OpaqueMove
    SortIconManager
    #NoSaveUnders
    #NoBackingStore
    #ListRings
    SqueezeTitle
    {
    "slp53_1" left 0 0
    "slp53_2" center 0 0
    "work" right 0 0
    }

    IconifyByUnMapping
    DontIconifyByUnmapping
    {
    "Xmh"
    }

    StartIconified {
    "Le tX menu"
    "login to 129.226.128.11"
    "xlock"
    "pase70"
    }

    ...


    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan@tednolan to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 16:56:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    In article <UFipR.207584$HxU3.2047@fx33.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <77ipR.55919$tm1.18792@fx14.iad>,
    Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote:
    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
    In article <n0hifrFfbu2U1@mid.individual.net>,
    rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
    On Sat, 28 Feb 2026 22:43:33 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote: >>>>>
    Actually, who says CDE was ever rCLdeadrCY? GNU created their own >version of
    the OSF Motif GUI toolkit, called rCLLesstifrCY, and it continues to be >>>>>> available in Linux distros to this day.

    Lesstif died about 15 years ago and never made it to Motif 2.x that added >>>>>some widgets. OSF/Motif was open-sources with a LGPL license in 2012 that >>>>>made Lesstif redundant.

    I don't know how many distros make it available, particularly the ones >>>>>moving to Wayland. If you're planning a little Motif programmimg, you'd >>>>>better have space on the bookshelf for Volume 1 - Volume 6B covering X, >>>>>Xlib, Xt, and Motif. You probably don't need Volume 0. Don't ask me how I >>>>>know :)

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in >>>>VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD >>>>for that...)

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    That's the default in tightvnc, and the "new windows don't open fully until >>you click" is annoying.

    That's not a feature of TWM that I'm aware of, and I've been using it
    since 1990. Windows open fully and immediately without any user >interaction. It may be the "RandomPlacement" keyword that enables that.


    Quite possibly. Google AI thinks so:

    ====
    The behavior in the Tab Window Manager (twm), where windows do not
    immediately appear or are not immediately focused until you click,
    is by design. twm is a very old, primitive window manager that
    defaults to showing an outline of the window (a "wireframe") for
    you to place, or it requires manual interaction to bring windows
    to the foreground.

    ...
    ...

    To stop having to click to place windows, you can add lines to
    your .twmrc to define default placements, such as:
    text

    RandomPlacement

    ====

    I'll probably just stick with mwm though.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..
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  • From jayjwa@jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 12:19:06 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:

    Motif mwm continues to be a nice unobtrusive window manager to use in
    VNC sessions. (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD
    for that...)
    emwm is a bit better if you want mwm though I think I had to do
    something different with the xresources file because the as-shipped one
    didn't work here.

    https://fastestcode.org/emwm.html

    If you want to try it and run into the app-defaults/xresources issue
    with text not displaying properly, ask and I'll copy/paste my /etc/X11/app-defaults/Emwm .

    I had NsCDE (which is actually a fvwm theme plus a few other things)
    going when I was using X11. The actual CDE is up on Sourceforge now;
    I've not tried building it on modern Linux or Sun. I do like the
    look/feel of it when I use Solaris 9.

    I recall Lesstif. It was the stand-in for some time before Motif got
    opened up for mere mortals to use.
    --
    PGP Key ID: 781C A3E2 C6ED 70A6 B356 7AF5 B510 542E D460 5CAE
    "The Internet should always be the Wild West!"
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 20:14:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    On 2 Mar 2026 14:35:49 GMT, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

    (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD for that...)

    Does it work in any other BSD?
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan@tednolan to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 20:29:03 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    In article <10o4r2b$1f4m7$1@dont-email.me>,
    Lawrence D Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
    On 2 Mar 2026 14:35:49 GMT, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

    (Now if they would get xterm working again in FreeBSD for that...)

    Does it work in any other BSD?

    I don't know, it's an annoyance not worth switching distros over, but
    you kind of expect a basic progam like xterm to work. I ended up using
    roxterm in VNC and that seems to work OK modulo the hassle of getting
    the first one running.
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Mike Spencer@mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 17:12:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers


    scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    Me too. (Although my documentation says it's "Tab Window Manager": man
    twm.)

    Only real annoyance so far (after many years) is that some apps refuse
    to function without a "tray" provided by the wm. Allegedly there's a workaround but using wicd instead of networkmanager keeps me happy.
    --
    Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 21:41:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:

    scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    Me too. (Although my documentation says it's "Tab Window Manager": man
    twm.)

    It was renamed between X11R3 and X11R4, if I recall correctly.

    /***********************************************************************
    *
    * $XConsortium: twm.c,v 1.104 89/12/14 14:52:20 jim Exp $
    *
    * twm - "Tom's Window Manager"
    *
    * 27-Oct-87 Thomas E. LaStrange File created
    *
    ***********************************************************************/

    #ifndef lint
    static char RCSinfo[] =
    "$XConsortium: twm.c,v 1.104 89/12/14 14:52:20 jim Exp $";
    #endif

    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 21:50:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:

    scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    Me too. (Although my documentation says it's "Tab Window Manager": man
    twm.)

    Only real annoyance so far (after many years) is that some apps refuse
    to function without a "tray" provided by the wm. Allegedly there's a >workaround but using wicd instead of networkmanager keeps me happy.

    I do prefer twm's icon manager over the modern desktop menubars or docks.
    --- Synchronet 3.21d-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Mike Spencer@mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere to alt.folklore.computers on Mon Mar 2 23:47:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers


    scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

    Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> writes:

    scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

    I'm still using Tom's window manager (twm).

    Me too. (Although my documentation says it's "Tab Window Manager": man >>twm.)

    It was renamed between X11R3 and X11R4, if I recall correctly.

    /***********************************************************************
    *
    * $XConsortium: twm.c,v 1.104 89/12/14 14:52:20 jim Exp $
    *
    * twm - "Tom's Window Manager"
    *
    * 27-Oct-87 Thomas E. LaStrange File created
    *
    ***********************************************************************/

    Well and good. Personal credit wherever possible.

    Sombody should update the (undated) manpage.

    #ifndef lint
    static char RCSinfo[] =
    "$XConsortium: twm.c,v 1.104 89/12/14 14:52:20 jim Exp $";
    #endif

    --
    Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
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