explain public screens

[Will-i-am]

you'd think by now I would know this but I have looked thru my books and done some googling and still am not sure what to do with/about public screens. I gather that it's a set of criteria for displaying screens like a template, right? And some programs will make their screens conform to that setup if you ask them too, right? If so, how does one do this, setup a public screen, where does that information get stored and which programs use that information?

It sounds to me a bit like MUI (except I can't get MUI to save any settings on the one A4000 I have which seems to be running more or less the way it was meant to, minus the Picasso problems and the Workbench background which refuses to change no matter what I do).... nevertheless public screens confuse me even after two cups of coffee, so could you kindly explain in simple terms what they are and what you can do with them? Thanks

[Piru]

I gather that it's a set of criteria for displaying screens like a template, right?

No.

And some programs will make their screens conform to that setup if you ask them too, right?

No.

Pubscreen is just screen with name, and apps can be set to open on such screen. Workbench screen is called "Workbench", and it is the default screen for apps to open to.

[cgutjahr]

Pubscreen is short for "public screen", it's simply a screen that can be used by any application (i.e. any application can open its window(s) on this screen). The most important pubscreen is "Workbench", i.e. the screen that is displayed when AmigaOS finished booting.

Not all screens are public (though non public screens are a lot less common than a decade ago). A programmer might decide to open a non public screen instead of a pubscreen, because that might make his job easier (he doesn't have to care about other windows that might be open on 'his' screen), it gives him the option of using faster screen drawing routines etc.

[Will-i-am]

oh dear me, I'm about to lose any respect anyone here may have had for me. such as it is. I'm not just a bit thick, it's best if you think of me as stupid, maybe even stupid enough to install Linux on a 486 Compaq. But I can't 'get' the difference between a screen and a window. I know, I know, I have no business owning so many Amigas if this basic information is missing, but there you go. Maybe I knew it when I bought my first A2000 but what with the pain meds and the various recent deaths in the family it has slipped away. So, I have a screen with a title, like "Workbench", call it "Animation" and it has an appearance which differs in what way from a 'window'? Programs like Calligari, say, "open on the screen". (gods I sound stupid) In what way would this look differently than merely booting the machine up and double clicking on the Caliigari icon sitting on the Workbench screen and what would be the impact of any other program opening on that screen?

I've said this before, but Larry had no business dying on me before I managed to acquire enough tech expertise to do something as simple as understanding a term like "screen" vs "window". and then there's all these hard drives sitting on the bench waiting to get cracked open and rebuilt!! Where's my damn Ouija board?

[KThunder]

windows open within screens like calculator and notepad and screens are displays on the amiga. the system can have multiple screens open at the same time an flip between them. you can also drag one screen down and see the others even if they are using completely different video modes.

example start an amiga and let it load workbench, then open a paint program, something that opens its own screen, then move the mouse to the top of the screen and press down the left mouse button and drag down and you will see workbench even if it is at 640x480 and paint is at 320x200. some video cards dont allow dragging screens as it is a hardware funtion of the amiga chipset

[InTheSand]

Will-i-am wrote:
...maybe even stupid enough to install Linux on a 486 Compaq...

Hey, that's not stupid, it's just challenging!! :-)

Give the ol' Compaq as much RAM as it can take, and you'll be fine provided you stick to a distribution with low requirements.

 - Ali

[Will-i-am]

InTheSand wrote:

Will-i-am wrote:
...maybe even stupid enough to install Linux on a 486 Compaq...

Hey, that's not stupid, it's just challenging!! :-)

Give the ol' Compaq as much RAM as it can take, and you'll be fine provided you stick to a distribution with low requirements.

 - Ali

starting to 'get' the screen-window thing. Maybe I'm not as dense as I feel. I just haven't been able to keep up with things as much as I want. I have all the books, even the rom kernel manual, as I wanted to do some programming. My nephew worked for Lucas on the Star Wars Galaxy online game just before it changed. I think he quit then... anyway I was looking into Linux as it seemed very much like Amiga dos and I had a C compiler and some sample code, plus I visit Sourceforge on an irregular basis. So I got Red Hat Fedora because I wear a fedora and no other reason. The ancient Compaq was retired when we got this Sony Vaio. The Compaq was useless as you couldn't add any more ram; I put in 64 megs. I tried a graphics/sound card but the machine did NOT like it and refused to boot with it installed. So I tried Red Hat and the darn thing boots up fine and although the 486 is real slow so far it works fairly good. Hey, I keep an A2000 w/OS 1.3 just for ancient games, why not a Compaq to see what the low end limits for Linux are?

Now back to the Picasso and various screens/windows. This is a basic thing I can't wrap my head around: if a program is set up to use public screens and you tell it to do so, will that change the appearance or functioning of the program in some way?
 
" Pubscreen is short for "public screen", it's simply a screen that can be used by any application (i.e. any application can open its window(s) on this screen)."
...I guess what's confusing to me is in what way does a program "use" a screen as opposed to simply opening a window? I know I can tell Workbench to display without a border, and I can't do that with, say, Deluxe Paint. You can't tell an application to customize it's window, but you can customize a screen, correct? and what difference would that make? I might need another cup of strong tea maybe or maybe I should just boot up the Beast and play with screens and windows til it sinks in. Then maybe I can tackle MUI and why when I try to add gadgets to windows with MUI so far none of my changes happen. I asked this before on another thread and got some movement in the direction of understanding but some of the things I was told to do that would help me understand simply weren't where people said they were so I dropped it until I got this "public screen" question and couldn't answer it myself. It doesn't help that they have me on so many meds that effect the way I remember... ie I have very little short term memory. Okay folks, here's the deal: if you have nerve pain and they give you Neurontin expect to suddenly feel like a senile old fart who has to write everything down in order to retain it. Sucks. Thanks for the help so far, folks, I really appreciate it!