Newsgroups: comp.lang.smalltalk
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From: cohenb@gemstone.com (Bruce Cohen)
Subject: Re: Conversion to 2.5
In-Reply-To: "Alan L. Lovejoy"'s message of Thu, 18 Apr 1996 22:57:50 -0700
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References: <4l33dr$81m@dfw-ixnews8.ix.netcom.com> <3176EACB.41C67EA6@morgan.com>
	<31772B5E.14B9@concentric.net>
Date: 23 Apr 1996 22:06:12 GMT

In article <31772B5E.14B9@concentric.net> "Alan L. Lovejoy" <alovejoy@concentric.net> writes:

> Whow else remembers VI 2.0?  Smalltalk/AT? Textronix Smalltalk and 
> the 4404 and 4406 workstations?  Those were the days when it was easy
> to impress people just by showing them a System Browser--or even just
> the windowing system itself.

 < Nostalgia mode on>
I remember, teacher!  I learned Smalltalk on a Magnolia first, and got
into it in depth on a 4404.  That was when I was trying to learn how to
*use* a windowing system, so I'd have some idea of what people would
want to do with the one I was designing (user-centered design was not a
well-understood concept in the early '80s :-).

> Bonus points: what did "Form toothpaste" do?  I miss it, it was kind
> of fun.  It was great to play with while thinking about one's problem...
> 
> --Alan "getting nostalgic" Lovejoy
> 

Oh goodie, someone else who used to play with the toothpaste when he got
bored or was thinking about something in the back of his head!
Toothpaste graphics was a cute little goodie that would draw on a path
(input with the mouse, typically) by blitting a circle every so often
onto the path.  Move the mouse faster and the circles were farther
apart.  The blit mode was chosen so that the end result looked like
toothpaste squeezed out onto the path from a toothpaste tube.

As far as I know, "Form toothpaste" was only implemented in Tektronix
Smalltalk on the 4404 and 4406 (I think some anal-retentive manager
insisted it be taken out of the 4300 series Smalltalk implementations,
but I'm not sure; I had a 4317, which never had a Smalltalk
impementation).  At least it was on the 4404s I had access to at Tek,
and on the Magnolia I had for awhile on my desk.

Somehow I got the idea that Juanita Ewing implemented toothpaste
graphics, but I could be wrong.  Anyone care to correct me?

Extra bonus points:

Who remembers Rosetta Smalltalk?  Any else ever used the implementation
of it that ran on the Intel iAPX 432 processor?  Anyone but Eliot
Organick remember that chip? :-)

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce Cohen,                               |  email: cohenb@gemstone.com
GemStone Systems, Inc.                     |  phone: (503)690-3602
15400 NW Greenbrier Pkwy, Suite 280        |  fax:   (503)629-8556
Beaverton, OR USA 97006                    |  web:   http://www.gemstone.com
