Support for X-Windows, OSF/MOTIF and OpenLook in Release 6.07 Isolde Schell-Haungs, Peter Herbertz-SAS Institute Author: Tom Edds/Mark Brown, SAS Institute INTRODUCTION major competition as a networI<ing window system standard. For vendors and users alike, a standard. vendor-independent window­ Graphical user interfaces (GUls) and windowing systems have ing protocol is key to the development and implementation of heter­ received widespread industry attention and are the foCus of intense ogeneous, distributed computing networks. Therefore, the X competition between vendor coalitions. As users demand better and WIIldow System has the necessary design features and industry inaeasingly more intuitive interfaces to UNIX· operating systems, and vendor support to be accepted as the standard windowing pr0- they also require software applications like the SAS" System to take tocol for distributed network computing. advantage of and support these interfaces. In addition to the requirement for GUI support, interoperalHlity wiD also be a decisive What Is a Graphical User Interface (GUI) ? factor in computing in the 1990's. OrganizationS are and will c0n­ A GUI is a computer interface technology that is visually oriented tinue relying on more than one vendor's architecture. Management instead of character oriented. GUls use bit-mapped graphics. win­ concerns about fragmentation of resources and data plus issues of dowing. icons, and visually dynamic menus to communicate with information sharing and resource sharing will affect users' hardware u~. Users can accomplish actions by simply pointing to graphi­ and software procurements. A distributed computing environment cally displayed images and crocking buttons. GUls provide standard suppoIting industry Standard GU.!s and software appfocations that sets of objects and standard responses to manipulation of these took and leel the same regardless of the hardware platform c:om­ objects. Because of this, all applications running within the envir0n­ prise the model many organizations wiU strive to achieve. With ment of a particular GUI have a simmar took and feet. A GUls main Release 6.07 under UNIX, the SAS System is. strategically p0si­ setting point is that it makes a user more productive. GUls provide tioned to fuHiltboth mandates: native support for popular GUls and an intuitive vehicle for people to interact with computers. thereby MuttJVendor Architecture - (MVA) to provide support for distributed enabling users to be more productive in less time and with less train­ computing, and interoperability across supported platforms. The ing. As a result. many users in the UNIX market are attracted to a objectives of this paper are twofold: to introduce concepts and defi­ platform that was once considered highly technical. In eddition, the nitions of GUts and distributed computing environments and exam­ dominant trend is the adoption of X and the use of GUis based on ine the X Wondow System- in the context of computing trends and X as the windowing system of choice. X has made it possible for benefits to users as wei as the rote windowing systems play in cre­ several GUls to be developed and employed on a wide variety of ating a muttivendor distributed environment; and to Ulustrate the platforms and networks. At present, no single GUI dominates the flexible structure used to impltlment the OPEN LOOK" and UNIX market. However. the two numerically dominant contenders OSF/Motif" interfaces to the SAS System. in the UNIX market are OSFlMotif. offered by the Open Software Foundatio., and favored by Hewlett Packard, IBM Ccxporation, Digi­ THE X WINDOW SYSTEM, GRAPHICAl USER tal Equipment Corporation. and Microsoft Corporation; and OPEN INTERFACES, AND DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING: LOOK, supported by AT&T and SUn Microsysterns and,offered by Unix International. With Release 6.07, the SAS System suppor1s both OSFlMotif and OPEN LOOK. Significant' GUls not based on Why Is the X Window System • Key Technology ? X include the Apple Macintosh environment, MiCI'osoftWondows 3.0 The X Window System is an operating system independent. hard­ in the DOS environment, and Presentation MBAagJII' (PM) under ware independent. netwof1(-based windowing protocol that meets OS/2. With Release 6.06'under0S/2 the SAS system.supports Pre­ several key requirements of a distributed networl< computing envi­ sentation Manager~ Current plans can for support of MiCrosoft WI\­ ronment. It enables easy access to appfications such as the SAS dows. System that can be executed on muttivendor systems in d'rflerent locations on a netwof1(. X fosters the development of devices that How Have User Interfaces Evolved with Hanf_.. Advances can transparently access distributed computing resources regard­ Into Graphical User tnterfaces ? less 01 the location on a networl<. Users are no longer restricted to User interfaces have existed since the beginning of computing his­ a single vendor for hardware or a single operating system. Many tory. When mainframes dominated computing in the 19505 and sites CI.mII1tly utilize X technology to achieve interoperable hetero­ early 1960s. batch computing was the primary method of pr0cess­ geneous networI<s. ing users' tasks. Intermediate layers of personnel and resource c0n­ trol isolated enckJsers from computers. Then hardwwe advances The.X Window System oilers a c1ient15eIVeI' model that separates signaled the advent of the minicomputer in the mid 19605 to early ~ inputIoutput of an application which allows physically' PClr1,ion 1970s. Many more organizations were able to alford the technology independent apptication processing and display processing. As a offered by this less expensive dass of hardware. Tme-sharing l0w­ result. not only can an application program operate on one system ered the cost of computing for many users; however, a typical user on ~ networI< while the VO portion runs elsewhere (on an X display interface was stiR character-<lriented. In the mid 1970s to early terminal, a pc, or a workstation), hardware functioning as an X 1980s, the microprocessor changed the face of computing. The 5eIVeI' can simultaneously execute multiple sessions by providing entry-4evet cost of computing dipped tow enough to be afforded by many windows that operate as separate tenninals. Individuals. Most consumer interfaces were designed III'OlRI char­ acter-based. tine-oriented, monochrome video displays. X does not depend inherently on any specific operating system. In eddition, it is unbiased towardS any specific GUt. Key to the design The 1980s brolight less expensive memory prices and more power­ 01 X is its .0P.en. vendor..neutral standard.• As a result of this design. ful microprocessors. Workstations emerged as a new hardware X has gaJllJd widespread industry .acceptance by both hardware platfoon designed to perform certain classes of technical apptica- and software venclocS and end users, In addition, X enjoys little 563 tions. SUCh as computer-aided design. Workstations were also net­ a network. Because the local node has the capabilites to act as an worked to share data and resources. Typical early workstation X server. the user can access X dient applications (for example SAS displays had fair1y high resolution with some gray scale or color software applications) that are executed on a rernote-n&tworked where necessary. With windowing capabilites and pointing devices system, in this case the UNIX server. Because the X Window Sys­ such as a mouse. these systems supported GUls that provided tem is network based and uses the client/server model, users on users with more sophisticated means of interaction than previous a network can invoke and execute applications such as the SAS systems. Advances in semiconductor technology led to increased System. from hardware that is different and separate from the computing capabilities by the end of the 1980s. Among the signifi­ machine hosting the SAS System. For application software ike the cant developments were the following: SAS System to perform as X clients in a distributed computing envi­ ronment. Release 6.07 of the SAS System (6.07) is written to c0m­ • faster computing technology, such as reduced-instruction­ ply with the operating schema and 110 conventions of the X Window set-<:omputing (RISC) microprocessors; System. • advances in compIex-iostruction-set computing (CISC) Release 6.07 users of the SAS System on a UNIX platform can use processor technology, SUCh as oornbining CPU, memory a distributed network to access other platforms running Version 6 management, and aritlvnetic processing on one chip; of the SAS System SUCh as MVS. VM, VMS. or OS/2. Therefore. distributed computing allows for efficient use of resources • dedicated graphics processors; more at a site, less reliance on any one vendor. greater range of available • larger and faster memory chips and video-specialized memory; resources. easier expansion. and corresponding economic benefits. The MVA- design of Version 6 of the SAS System provides SAS • higher-resolution displays. users with the necessary software ingredients and capabilites for a distributed computing envirorvnent AD the fundamental techn0l­ As history Uiustrates, decreasing costs in entry-level use of new ogy elements for distributed network computing and high­ technology creates a canvas for the emergence of a wide range of . performance X Window displays are now readily available. Adoption applications and new markets. Through. technological break­ of Qistributed computing is no longer fimited by economic consider­ throughs,