200 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
200 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
README
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======
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Twm4Nx is a port of twm, Tab Window Manager (or Tom's Window Manager)
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version 1.0.10 to NuttX NX windows server. No, a port is not the right
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word. It is a re-design of TWM from the inside out to work with the NuttX
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NX server. The name Twm4Nx reflects this legacy. But Twm4Nx is more a
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homage to TWM than a port of TWM.
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The original TWM was based on X11 which provides a rich set of features.
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TWM provided titlebars, shaped windows, several forms of icon management,
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user-defined macro functions, click-to-type and pointer-driven keyboard
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focus, graphic contexts, and user-specified key and pointer button bindings,
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etc.
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Twm4Nx, on the other hand is based on the NuttX NX server which provides
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comparatively minimal support. Additional drawing support comes from
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the NuttX NxWidgets library (which necessitated the change to C++).
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Twm4Nx is greatly stripped down and targeted on small embedded systems
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with minimal resources. For example, no assumption is made about the
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availability of a file system; no .twmrc file is used. Bitmaps are not
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used (other than for fonts).
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The TWM license is, I believe compatible with the BSD license used by NuttX.
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The origin TWM license required notice of copyrights within each file and
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a full copy of the original license which you can find in the COPYING file.
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within this directory.
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STATUS
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======
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Progress:
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2019-04-28: This port was brutal. Much TWM logic was removed because it
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depended on X11 features (or just because I could not understand how to
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use it). The replacement logic is only mostly in place but more
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needs to be done to have a complete system (hence, it is marked
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EXPERIMENTAL). The kinds of things that need to done are:
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1. Right click should bring up a window list (like the icon manager???)
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2. For TWM-like behavior, a window frame and toolbar should be highlighted
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when the window has focus.
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3. A right click on the toolbar should bring up a window-specific menu.
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2019-05-02: Some testing progress. The system comes up, connects to and
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initializes the VNC window. For some reason, the VNC client breaks the
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connection. The server is no longer connected so Twm4Nx constipates and
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and eventually hangs.
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2019-05-08: I abandoned the VNC interface and found that things are much
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better using a direct, hardware framebuffer. The background comes up
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properly and the Icon Manager appears properly in the upper right hand
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corner. The Icon Manager Window can be iconified or de-iconified.
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The Icon Manager window can be grabbed by the toolbar title and moved
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about on the window (the movement is not very smooth on the particular
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hardware that I am working with).
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2019-05-10: A left click on the background brings up the main menu. At
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present there are only two options: "Desktop" which will iconify all
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windows and "Twm4Nx Icon Manager" which will de-iconify and/or raise
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the Icon Manager window to the top of the hierarchy. That latter option
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is only meaningful when the desktop is very crowded.
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2019-05-13: Added the NxTerm application. If enabled via
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CONFIG_TWM4XN_NXTERM, there will now be a "NuttShell" entry in the Main
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Menu. When pressed, this will bring up an NSH session in a Twm4Nx
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window.
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2019-05-14: We can now move an icon on the desktop. Includes logic to
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avoid collisions with other icons and with the background image. That
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later is an issue. The background image image widget needs to be
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removed; it can occlude a desktop icon. We need to paint the image
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directly on the background without the use of a widget.
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2019-05-15: Resizing now seems to work correctly in Twm4Nx.
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2019-05-20: Calibration screen is now in place.
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2019-05-21: A "CONTEMPORARY" theme was added. Still has a few glitches.
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How To:
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Icon Manager
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- At start up, only the Icon Manager window is shown. The Icon Manager
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is a TWM alternative to more common desktop icons. Currently Twm4Nx
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supports both desktop icons and the Icon Manager.
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Whenever a new application is started from the Main Menu, its name
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shows up in the Icon Manager. Selecting the name will either de-
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iconify the window, or just raise it to the top of the display.
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Main Menu:
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- A touch/click at any open location on the background (except the
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image at the center or on another icon) will bring up the Main Menu.
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Options:
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o Desktop. Iconify all windows and show the desktop
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o Twm4Nx Icom Manager. De-iconify and/or raise the Icon Manager to
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the top of the display.
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o Calibration. Perform touchscreen re-calibration.
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o NuttShell. Start and instance of NSH running in an NxTerm.
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- All windows close after the terminal menu option is selected.
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Window Toolbar
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- Most windows have a toolbar at the top. It is optional but used
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in most windows.
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- The toolbar contains window title and from zero to 4 buttons:
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o Right side: A menu button may be presented. The menu button
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is not used by anything in the current implementation and is
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always suppressed
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o Left side: The far left is (1)the terminate button (if present).
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If present, it will close window when selected. Not all windows can
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be closed. You can't close the Icon Manager or menu windows, for
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example. Then (2) a resize button. If presented and is selected,
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then the resize sequence described below it started. This may
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the be preceded by a minimize button that iconifies the window.
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Moving a Window:
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- Grab the title in the toolbar and move the window to the desired
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position.
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Resizing a Window:
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- A window must have the green resize button with the square or it
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cannot be resized.
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- Press resize button. A small window should pop-up in the upper
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left hand corner showing the current window size.
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- Touch anywhere in window (not the toolbar) and slide your finger.
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The resize window will show the new size but there will be no other
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update to the display. It is thought that continuous size updates
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would overwhelm lower end MCUs. Movements support include:
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o Move toward the right increases the width of the window
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o Move toward the left decreases the width of the window
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o Move toward the bottom increases the height of the window
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o Move toward the top decreases the height of the Window
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o Other moves will affect both the height and width of the window.
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- NOTE: While resizing, non-critical events from all other windows
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are ignored.
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Themes
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- There are two themes support by the configuration system:
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o CONFIG_TWM4NX_CLASSIC. Strong bordered windows with dark primary
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colors. Reminiscent of Windows 98.
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o CONFIG_TWM4NX_CONTEMPORARY. Border-less windows in pastel shades
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for a more contemporary look.
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Issues:
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2019-05-16:
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Twm4Nx is in a very complete state but only at perhaps "alpha" in its
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maturity. You should expect to see some undocumented problems. If
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you see such problems and can describe a sequence to actions to
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reproduce the problem, let me know and I will try to resolve the
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problems.
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Here are all known issues and features that are missing:
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TWM Compatibilities Issues:
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1. Resizing works a little differently in Twm4Nx.
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2. Right click should bring up a window list
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3. For TWM-like behavior, a window frame and toolbar should be highlighted
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when the window has focus.
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4. A right click on the toolbar should bring up a window-specific menu.
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There are no near-term plans to address these compatibility issues.
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Other issues/bugs
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1. Icon drag movement includes logic to avoid collisions with other
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icons and with the background image. That later is an issue. We
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need to paint the image directly on the background without the
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use of a widget.
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2. There are a few color artifacts in the toolbar of the CONTEMPORARY
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theme. These look like borders are being drawn around the toolbar
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widgets (even though the are configured to be borderless).
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3. Most Twm4Nx configuration settings are hard-coded in *_config.hxx header
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files. These all need to be brought out and made accessible via Kconfig
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files
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4. I have seen some odd behavior when many NxTerm windows have been
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opened (around 15). Specifically, I see failures to start NSH in the
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windows so they come up blank. All other behaviors are normal. Most
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likely, some NxTerm resource allocation is failing silently and leaving
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things in an unusable. The board I am using has 128Mb of SDRAM so I
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can't believe that memory is the limiting factor. These are, however,
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RAM-backed windows and will use significant amounts of memory.
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The primary issue is that the number of windows should probably be
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managed in some way to assure that the end-user does not experience
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odd behaviors when resource usage is high.
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5. Menus with sub-menus have not been verified. There is no use of sub-
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menus in the current code base so I expect that there are issues when,
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for example, and item from a sub-menu item: That menu and all of its
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antecedent menus should be closed.
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6. There is an optional MENU button that may appear at the far left on
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the toolbar. It is not used by any window in the current code base
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and, hence, is unverified. I would expect some issues with generating
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and routing the MENU button events to applications. There are likely
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other unverified features.
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7. X/Y input may be either via a touchscreen or a mouse. Only
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touchscreen input has been verified. There is, however, very little
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difference. The primary issue is in cursor support: Cursors are
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needed with a mouse. Cursor images also change depending on the
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state (like grabbing and dragging or resizing). There is also a
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possibility of using auto-raise with a mouse as well. All of this
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logic is in place, but none has been verifed.
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