Text-based GUI?

Are there any Linux applications that run in the terminal that use a mouse and drop-down menus as we had with DOS in the 1980s prior to Windows?

The nearest I can think of is the ncurses interface (like YasT uses it when run in the terminal). But that does not use a mouse, only the keyboard. Logical because that “terminal” is an emulation of the physical TTYs (and there more modern “glass” emanations). And those hadn’t mouses. IMHO you can not emulate what does not exist in the original.

Sure; Midnight Commander (mc) works this way if you really want it to.


Good luck.

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yes ncurses the console based UI toolkit.
a nice DOS like application for Linux is mc aka Midnight Commander (a Norton Commander clone)
https://software.opensuse.org/package/mc
to get mouse support under runlevel 3 (no X) you’d need to have gpm installed
https://software.opensuse.org/package/gpm

For me the only way to get around a Linux filesystem in text mode is mc with gpm

gpm is also useful with ncurses version of yast and the few text based web-browsers

I think it is installed by default. But you probably have to start the gpm service before you can use it.

I don’t use gpm, and have never explicitly selected it for install. But it always seems to on my system though it doesn’t do anything since I don’t enable the service.

On Mon 08 Jun 2015 12:16:02 PM CDT, susedevfan wrote:

Are there any Linux applications that run in the terminal that use a
mouse and drop-down menus as we had with DOS in the 1980s prior to
Windows?

Hi
If you want the window manager as well, try out twin :wink:
https://software.opensuse.org/package/twin


Cheers Malcolm °¿° LFCS, SUSE Knowledge Partner (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 GNOME 3.10.1 Kernel 3.12.39-47-default
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Hi,

Although i have not use MC and now this TWIN program, it seems it is worth playing with it if one always want to use the terminal or if one is not comfortable using the terminal and forced to use it because the X server went haywire. :slight_smile:

On 2015-06-08 14:16, susedevfan wrote:
>
> Are there any Linux applications that run in the terminal that use a
> mouse and drop-down menus as we had with DOS in the 1980s prior to
> Windows?

Partially.

In real text mode, that is, in the virtual terminals that you reach by
typing ctrl-alt-f1…6, you can have text applications with menus. There
are several, most notably in openSUSE is YaST, ncurses mode. Another
good one is ‘mc’, Midnight Commander. Pine, for mail, web browsers like
links or lynx (I’m unsure), or w3m. Editors like mcedit or joe…

However… no mouse support, not like in MsDos. Yes, if you start the
gpm service the mouse works, yes, but only to copy paste text, not to
work the menu.

However, with several of those same applications, if used in graphical
mode, inside a terminal (xterm, konsole, etc), the mouse becomes fully
functional: it can be used to copy paste and to activate the menu. Not
in all of those apps, only in some.

Linux handling of text mode is peculiar, different than in MsDOS.
Certain features that were rich in MsDOS do not even exist in Linux —
like for instance, colourful applications with menus and mouse support,
in text mode.

Linux, even if about a decade more recent and modern than MsDOS, tried
to emulate the old Unix terminals, much older than MsDOS, that worked
remotely, with fewer keys, similar to typewriters.

There are editors, like joe, that produce an error if you try to go a
word right or left with the ctrl-right/left combo, which is a terrible
“bug” to me. Call it nuisance if you wish.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

Interesting Idea isn’t it. DOS must have been developed while the mouse existed. Of course Unix was earlier. Everybody seems to know about mc, I should check it out. Lynx like the cat. A great way to see the internet without images. Works well with Wikipedia. And an easy way to block all cookies.

lynx www.google.com

Exit the same way you would vi.

Actually the mouse was not available in DOS. Some programs allowed the use of a mouse but mouse operations was not an automatic thing.

On 2015-06-09 14:16, gogalthorp wrote:
>
> Actually the mouse was not available in DOS. Some programs allowed the
> use of a mouse but mouse operations was not an automatic thing.

Yes and no.

The operating system did very little, MsDOS originally fitted in a
single floppy. Version 6 needed 3 or 4, I think, and it did have some
applications that used the mouse. Mouse support came with a driver,
usually supplied by the mouse manufacturer.

At the start there no mouse that I can remember.

But the first PC I bought came with a mouse, and it was supported by the
supplied msdos system (v 3.2, I think).

Most of the original MsDos tools were command line, or with very simple
menus. No mouse. The editor, edlin, was not a full screen editor: you
could only edit one line at a time. You could even edit a file using a
keyboard and a printer, without a display: I know because I did it once.

But MsDOS had a huge ecosystem of applications, and these very soon
started to make use of the mouse: in text mode, or in (stand alone)
graphics mode.

It was an evolution: from no mouse at all to full mouse support, over
some years. So, yes and no :wink:


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

On 2015-06-08, susedevfan <susedevfan@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> Are there any Linux applications that run in the terminal that use a
> mouse and drop-down menus as we had with DOS in the 1980s prior to
> Windows?

Yes. If you install emacs, start gpm (it’s a runlevel service), and run emacs within a virtual terminal, then you can do
almost anything. Perhaps you might want to be more specific?

On 2015-06-09 16:55, flymail wrote:
> On 2015-06-08, susedevfan <> wrote:
>> Are there any Linux applications that run in the terminal that use a
>> mouse and drop-down menus as we had with DOS in the 1980s prior to
>> Windows?
>
> Yes. If you install emacs, start gpm (it’s a runlevel service), and run emacs within a virtual terminal, then you can do
> almost anything. Perhaps you might want to be more specific?

I just tried. There is a mouse cursor, that can be used to copy paste
text, but does not activate menus. Not in a virtual terminal.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

On 2015-06-09, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
>> Yes. If you install emacs, start gpm (it’s a runlevel service), and run emacs within a virtual terminal, then you can do
>> almost anything. Perhaps you might want to be more specific?
>
> I just tried. There is a mouse cursor, that can be used to copy paste
> text, but does not activate menus. Not in a virtual terminal.

On my emacs, if I navigate on a virtual terminal using the mouse to Edit->Select All, it does indeed work.

But we know you’re terminal is slightly pathological since it doesn’t even show the proper startup screen on Vim! :slight_smile:

On 2015-06-09 18:38, flymail wrote:
> On 2015-06-09, Carlos E. R. <> wrote:
>>> Yes. If you install emacs, start gpm (it’s a runlevel service), and run emacs within a virtual terminal, then you can do
>>> almost anything. Perhaps you might want to be more specific?
>>
>> I just tried. There is a mouse cursor, that can be used to copy paste
>> text, but does not activate menus. Not in a virtual terminal.
>
> On my emacs, if I navigate on a virtual terminal using the mouse to Edit->Select All, it does indeed work.
>
> But we know you’re terminal is slightly pathological since it doesn’t even show the proper startup screen on Vim! :slight_smile:

No, it is not.

I have tried on two different computers, and two users, one of them new.

In fact, I have no way to activate the menu. Alt-F does not activate the
File menu, but instead goes right a word on the opened file. According
to the displayed help, the menu activates with the Meta key, which
should be either Esc or Alt. Neither works.

I’m talking of the virtual terminal, ie, full text mode. Init 3.


cer@Telcontar:~> rpm -qa | grep -i emacs
emacs-24.3-6.14.2.x86_64
emacs-x11-24.3-6.14.2.x86_64
emacs-info-24.3-6.14.2.noarch
cer@Telcontar:~>


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” at Telcontar)

On 2015-06-09, Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@no-mx.forums.microfocus.com> wrote:
> I’m talking of the virtual terminal, ie, full text mode. Init 3.

So am I. In which case I have no explanation for your observed behaviour.

Hi,

I guess you haven’t tried

w3m

:wink:

Some OEMs installed mouse and supporting software to make it work

At the start there no mouse that I can remember.

I recall that my first PC (1988, 8086 w/ 64k RAM, 5.25"FDD, 10 Mb HDD and DOS
3.1) did not support a mouse. I was able to use an early Logitech model by
adding a driver from Logitech. The selection of programs that could utilize the
mouse was very limited at first and all “aftermarket”. I’m 99% sure that one could
only use an RS232 mouse.

When I upgraded to a 486 & DOS 5.0 I was able to install Windows 3.1 (had to
bump the RAM to 1Mb). It was then that I began to use CLI less and less. I
didn’t really use commands again until the influx of viruses forced me to use
text based techniques for many repairs.

By the time I began using Linux regularly (2004) I really had to struggle until
I got my head around how much easier it was to use the terminal for many things.

BTW, DOS 3.x fit on two 512k floppies, DOS 5 on a 1.44Mb floppy with room to
Spare, Win 3.1 came on 3 1.44Mb and 1 712Mb floppy IIRC.

On 2015-06-24 16:36, caprus wrote:

> mouse was very limited at first and all “aftermarket”. I’m 99% sure
> that one could
> only use an RS232 mouse.

My first PC was an Amstrad PC, and it had a mouse with dedicated
connector. It was not rs232, but I don’t remember what it was. That PC
had a modified CGA resolution, and the mouse needed to support it. But
nothing used that mode, except the shipped GEM.


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))