I just read that Shanghai and Poppubscreen are global flags and not screen specific. So my comments about SetPSM are incorrect. There is no need to specify a screen name so the question is whether PSI is actually setting a screen as the system default or whether its jump function is broken.

NathanH

@NathanH

First of all thank you very much for detailed description how things are working on AmigaOS. It's extremly valuable, especially to me as I don't know all these detailed ways to use AmigaOS.

Now, Kalamatee did one more update trying to implement the public screen support in Zune. This area is not that well documented, so any comparison tests of AmigaOS vs AROS are invaluable.

Here is experimental muimaster.library. Note that "Use" button in PSI will not work. You need to create your public screen and then "Save" and reboot for muimaster to reload the config. I tried now using "Jump" and PSI was moved to new screen.

Wow, that's great; 95% success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here's my experience.

Burned new muimaster.library to an iso and copied it to classes/zune and set the executable bit. Made a new system default screen with PSI and hit 'save'. Rebooted AROS, opened PSI, and opened the saved screen. Jumped psi to new screen.

I tried a bunch of combinations and timing of SetPsm and opening various things but here's the minimum to get things to work. Nothing works until you find a program that will open on the new screen with nothing needed but running it. Sys:Tools/Calculator and KeyShow are two such applications. Once they automatically open on the new screen something internally in AROS is triggered. Now, everything you open (shell, drawer, editor, demo, etc.) opens on the new screen.

These programs open on the new public screen but the public screen does not pop forward. Now if you use 'SetPSM shanghai pop', whenever you open a new program from workbench it will open on the new public screen and the screen will pop to the front too so POPpubscreen flag works great.

The problem now is how to turn it off so that things open on Workbench again rather than the public screen. I used PSI to uncheck the System Default flag hoping that would do it but hitting 'Use' as you mentioned isn't working. Perhaps if that worked you could turn it off that way. Perhaps an unset shanghai program?

Very cool to be able to use the new public screens. Haven't found a way to make things open on Workbench again once they start opening on the public screen. Thanks for all of your work. Very exciting.

NathanH

@AMIGASYSTEM

Here's the dock for 32-bit AROS I mentioned.

@NathanH

Can you describe how your workflow looks on AmigaOS? How do you set things up and how and why programs open on Workbench or custom public screen. This should give us some additional information how it is intended to be used and possibly will give us hints how to get this implemented.

@deadwood

On AmigaOS I use public screens to 1) accommodate older programs which only run on legacy screen modes, to 2) keep workbench uncluttered, to 3) group software needed for a single task, and to 4) separate GuestPipe shells.

1. Several of my publications were written with Wordperfect 4.1 which only works on a 640x200 screen with Topaz as the default font. The Shanghai flag is used so that it opens directly to the only screen on which it won't crash. Similarly, the maximum resolution that Black's Editor works with is 1064 x 768 so it gets its own screen with differing resolution from Workbench.

2. I often have to rely on amigaguides, readmes, pdfs, or html while using a program or programming. They don't minimize well to keep Workbench clear. If they're on their own screen I can easily flip back and forth to them without having to rearrange windows or window sizes. I kinda worked on that problem already on AROS by writing a program which minimizes windows via hot key to boxes neatly arranged in rows at the bottom of the screen (kinda like MS Windows) large enough to see their titles and size gadget to maximize them again when needed. Workbench is kept as the switchboard with DOpus4, docks, and menus to open things and perform routine tasks. Don't like the minimize to icon that some programs have and some don't.

3. Likely what they were intended for and are used for on most platforms.

4. I have a program called Guestpipe which pipes commands to other shells. It has daemons attached to shells on Linux, AROS Hosted, AmigaOS via WinUAE via Wine, Windows 32-bit via Wine, and Windows 64 bit via Virtualbox which wait for commands to execute and then return output to the calling shell. For frequently used pipes I have dedicated shells which are hard to keep straight so need to be physically separated.

Hope this helps some. Probably other's input could be solicited as well.

NathanH

Ok and within these four separate workflows how do you use the PSI and "other screen management tools" to get programs to open on your selected screens? (assume I have no knowledge of working with public screens)

For 1) what actions do you do before and after starting Wordperfect to get it on your selected screen but then get the other software on Workbench screen?

For 2) how do you managed to redirect those documents to separate screen while having other programs being opened on Workbench screen?

- As you can see from the attached screenshot, the ‘MUI’ preference is located in the Help menu, but it should be in a Preferences or EDIT menu instead.

- The MUI preferences should work from the ArDOCK Editor, so you could embellish the GUI with backgrounds, or for example add buttons and save them as MUI preferences, as you can see on Dopus, somehow ArDOCK has saved the MUI preferences (without modification).

- The icons show only one side; when clicked, they should behave like a real icon.

Regarding the ‘Public Screen’ post, it is best to copy the muimaster.library library to the ‘Libs’ library folder, otherwise it may be ignored and the one in Libs may be used instead.

@deadwood,

I'm a scripter. Traditionally I've used DOpus, AREXX, AmigaDOS, and parForth scripts. Lately, I've been using Hollywood and compiling the scripts as Hollywood applets so they are tiny and work on all platforms Hollywood accommodates.

I use activewin a lot on AROS and wsz on AmigaOS. I have an AmigaOS cli program called PubScreen which does the same things for screens that the previous do for windows. I've saved the specs and names of all of the screens ever needed via PSI in advance so they're always available when needed. Then the script uses PubScreen to open the screen by name, set as system default, set the Shanghai bit, asynchronously run via 'run' or 'wbrun' ('open' Wordperfect or whatever program(s) you want on that screen, and clear the system default and Shanghai bit with PubScreen on the last line so the system is in the same state as before running the script. The screens can be set up so that when the last program on it closes, it closes. These things can all be done manually but it takes a lot of manipulation and time. It is kinda like editors that allow you to save sessions so that all of the documents are opened at the same time when the editor is opened.

NathanH

Ok, thanks now I get it. You essentially set a desired public script before launching the program and them immediatelly reset back to defaults afterwards.

So for your workflows to work under AROS you'd essentially need a way to reset the flags set by SetPSM?

Just to say StartOnPubscreen basically does the above. Set the screen you want in the program's icon (or start it from a script as StartOnPubscreen can be run from the cli); muliple programs can be mixed on one pubscreen and the screen will be closed once the last program has been closed. Also as your programs it's a Hollywood app so very small but at the moment limited to 32 bit.

Cheers,
Nigel.

Thanks Nigel,

That will really help for using public screens. I need to try it out.

I think though, that what they're working on was handled by intuition within the operating system itself in AmigaDOS 2.0 and above. My understanding is that one of the goals of AROS is to be compatible or somehow be a work-alike to AmigaDOS 3.0. So at least some of the functionality that you're building would be part of AROS itself.

NathanH

Thanks Nigel,

That will really help for using public screens. I need to try it out.

I think though, that what they're working on was handled by intuition within the operating system itself in AmigaDOS 2.0 and above. My understanding is that one of the goals of AROS is to be compatible or somehow be a work-alike to AmigaDOS 3.0. So at least some of the functionality that you're building would be part of AROS itself.

NathanH

Thanks for the feedback AmigaSystem,

Still have some work to do before ready for primetime release I guess.

NathanH

@NathanH

Another update from Kalamatee:

- "use" in PSI now makes muimaster re-load screen list (no need to save & reboot)
- auto close screen option now should work

Thanks again guys, here's my experience with 'USE'.

Actions to open a public screen:
PSI
New
Edit
Rename as KeepMe
Check SystemDefault
OK
Use
PSI
KeepMe
Open
Most all applications I tried respect the SystemDefault setting and open on the KeepMe screen now. An exception is Editor which still opens on Workbench. But you can get it to open on the public screen by closing the drawer window on Workbench and then reopening it where it will reopen on KeepMe. Launching Editor when the drawer window is on KeepMe opens Editor on KeepMe. That method would probably work with other programs too.

I thought now that all I would have to do was:
PSI
KeepMe
Edit
Uncheck SystemDefault
Use
I thought that if I unset KeepMe as the SystemDefault the default screen would become Workbench again but it doesn't. It keeps KeepMe as the SystemDefault even though when you look at it again SystemDefault is unchecked. The following steps, however, will work around that problem to make Workbench the default again.

PSI
New
Edit
Rename as Dummy
Check as SystemDefault
OK
KeepMe
Edit
Uncheck SystemDefault
Use

PSI
Dummy
Open (becomes new SystemDefault)
Dummy
Close (no other Public Screen is marked as system default so it falls back to Workbench)
Now Workbench is the default screen again and the public screen KeepMe is open with all of your work able to be done there. Dummy is closed.

Thanks for making Public Screens useful and workable!!!

NathanH

My experience with AuttoClose:

Screen with AutoClose checked stays open for you to place apps on it. When the last app is closed the screen automatically closes. Yeah!!!

NathanH

Scripts to automate the above steps:

Save a screen called Work with AutoClose and SystemDefault checked
Save a screen called Dummy with SystemDefault checked

Script S:Work.sh is:
psi open work
;open your apps here
run time
run clock
run newshell
;psi Work unset SystemDefault

From the shell in work open psi then uncheck SystemDefault in Work

Script S:RestoreWB.sh is:
psi open dummy
psi close dummy

Workbench is now the default screen again. When you close the last window from the Work screen it too will close.

NathanH

Sorry, proper syntax for psi is:
psi work open

psi dummy open
psi dummy close

NathanH

Kalamatee did some final clean on this functionality. It should not change anything - I'm attaching the build for completeness.