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Subject: Info-Graphics Digest
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Date: Sun, 28-Dec-86 06:00:19 EST
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Posted: Sun Dec 28 06:00:19 1986
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Info-Graphics Digest	Sun Dec 28 03:00:19 PST 1986

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Today's Topics:

 Q: high line rate image hardcopy ?
 information request for contouring program
 X and GKS

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Date: Fri, 19 Dec 86 10:13:15 pst
From: Thierry Pun 
Mmdf-Warning:  Parse error in original version of preceding line at SWITZERLAND.CSNET
Subject: Q: high line rate image hardcopy ?
Status: R

Does anyone has experience with a reliable image hardcopy, monochrome
and color, preferably on film (35mm, Polaroid ..), whose interface would allow
very high transfer rate ?

The source images come from SUN 3's (/50,/160): 1152*900 points, 8 bits
per point (mono or color), 66 Hz NON interleaved refresh rate. The
easily accessible connectors are R,G,B, sync.
We would like to avoid solutions implying halftoning (electrostatic or
ink jet).

More precisely :
 * has anyone succeeded in hooking a Matrix 3000 up to a SUN ? It seems
   that there is no way to transfer the whole image (too much data).
 * has anyone experience with the MicroColor system from Dunn ?

Thanks a lot for any information.

Thierry Pun
UUCP : seismo!mcvax!cernvax!cui!pun
BITNET : pun@cgeuge51

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Date: Mon, 01 Dec 86 20:12:16 GMT
From: TSOMMER%IRLEARN.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: information request for contouring program

Hi,
   I am looking for a program ( in Fortran perferably ) that will do
   contouring for me, and produces ouput for a calcomp plotter.
   I needed it for polar plots of uniform data. If a fortran version is not
   available perhaps one in some other language then.


                                yours TSOMMER at IRLEARN

                                  Terence Sommerville.
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Date: Tue, 23 Dec 86 23:14:13 pst
From: tektronix!reed!omssw2!pmw@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Patrick Walsh)
Subject: X and GKS
Keywords: Graphics, Windowing Systems, User Interfaces

In a recent issue of this digest a reader asked about the relationship
between windowing systems such as X and graphics standards such as GKS.

One way to contrast windowing systems such as "X" with graphics
languages such as GKS or CGI is to think of the windowing system as
part of the operating system - a manager of resources and ultimately
the "owner" of all resources including display(s), keyboard(s),
amd locator(s).  Applications that primarily draw pictures that are
intended to be displayed on many different devices will use portable
file formats like CGM and will draw pictures using the standard
primitives of CGI or GKS.  All drawing by these applications is
performed on a "logical display" that is really a window on some
physical display managed by the O/S (X or uSoft Windows if you are so
inclined).  
The application will typically use windowing system primitives to 
obtain input from the operator but will store graphical images using 
CGM formats for portability.

Now for a discussion topic - it seems that windowing systems are designed to
be good for raster text, cursor tracking, rectangular region manipulation,
and other raster operations specific to window management; while
graphics systems are designed to provide standard drawing primitives,
full support for graphics transformations, and portable file formats for
display on a wide range of devices.  Furthermore, these two different
goals tend to produce divergent application structures - applications
that make heavy use of menus and icons tend to become more "event
driven" [introducing some of the most bizarre extensions to signal
handling...]; while applications that make use of graphics standards
tend to be less interactive [more computation than user interaction] and
consequently more portable to a wide variety fo machine architectures.

While much of the divergence in application structure can be traced 
historically to different language/machine architectures in the early
1970's, today we must fit the two views together to produce a complete user
interface management system that provides the advantages of both
approaches to graphics applications.

The above brings us back to the original query - Is there overlap
between "X" and GKS?  The answer is "yes" - both "X" as a windowing
system and GKS as a graphics system need to draw lines and raster
text on the display.  A quick look at the primary PC windowing systems
(uSoft Windows, DRI GEM, and GSS DEGIS) will confirm this if the
observer notes that a "CGI-like" set of output primitives are found
at the core of the drawing operations.  

In looking at "X", I find most disconcerting the complete lack of use
of existing output primitive sets such as CGI - we should stop
reinventing "line", "polygon", and "circle".  The places windowing
systems can help are in defining an efficient set of input functions
to be *added* to existing graphics interfaces without drastically
changing the *structure* of the application [uSoft Windows, MAC, and X
all impose a new structure on applications causing them to become less
portable, more complex, very dependent upon application builders and
other O/S support etc.].  This is the focus of the ANSI committee
currently working on an interface definition for windowing systems.
I am interested in hearing comments from users/implementers of window
management systems such as "X", News, GEM, DEGIS, WIN, or any other
system - Do you think there is a problem?  How are you solving it?


Patrick Walsh
Intel Corporation


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End of INFO-GRAPHICS
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