[Cuis-dev] VectorEnginePlugin: parts in motion

[Juan Vuletich]

Nice! This is the most reasonable way to set up a "Cuis Notebook"!

On 8/8/2021 12:06 PM, ken.dickey--- via Cuis-dev wrote:
> On 2021-08-07 15:58, Joseph Turco wrote:
>
>> You were able to get Cuis to start without windowing and use it?
>> Meaning booting into a console and starting Cuis? Kinda like using
>> Cuis as "the" operating system?
>
> Yes.
>
> I like simplicity and think about "value added".  Where can I add value?
>
> Doing device drivers, setting up page tables, interrupt code, writing 
> file systems and network drivers and testing them et cetera is _not_ 
> where my interests and abilities reside.
>
> So why not use a minimalist Linux "OS shim".  Like using Git.  
> Leverage other people's work and do fun things in Smalltalk!
>
> As Smalltalk pre-dated _other_ window systems, there is a FrameBuffer 
> display option, vm-display-fbdev.
>
> So one can use a minimalist Linux, like Alpine Linux, which uses 
> BusyBox for basic utilities and MUSL in place of libc.  It was made to 
> be a clean & secure router solution.  You can also "startxfce4" if you 
> install XFCE, but it boots into a console.  Armbian Linux in another 
> good, reliable solution for SBCs.
>
> I will write something up in the wiki after my latest fix gets released.
>
> Basically, one used command line arguments or shell variables to set 
> up for mouse/keyboard/framebuffer and things just work.
>
> In the OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm/platforms/unix/vm-display-fbdev 
> there are notes on how to set things up.
>
> E.g. in my .bashrc
>
> # to allow    'squeak <image>"
> # rather than 'squeak -vm-display-fbdev -fbdev /dev/fb0 <image>'
> export SQUEAK_KBDEV=/dev/input/event0
> export SQUEAK_VM=display-fbdev
> export SQUEAK_FBDEV=/dev/fb0
> export SQUEAK_MSDEV=/dev/input/event1
>
> Depending on your hardware, mouse and keyboard may be bound to 
> different input devices.  If the default keyboard is not right, you 
> have to get me to help or to wait until my fix for this is released 
> into opensmalltlk-vm.
>
> You need libevdev and framebuffer support libraries.  Again, check the 
> notes in the text files.
>
> ls -lasth /dev/fb*
> ls -lasth /dev/input/*
>
> Should tell you if these libs are already installed.  Again, see the 
> *Notes.txt in the vm-display-fbdev directory.  If available, teach 
> your system to boot into console mode and have a go.
>
> Good on ya,
> -KenD
>


-- 
Juan Vuletich
www.cuis-smalltalk.org
https://github.com/Cuis-Smalltalk/Cuis-Smalltalk-Dev
https://github.com/jvuletich
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-vuletich-75611b3
@JuanVuletich