MacBlit: A microcomputer based multiple window terminal emulator for UNIX operating system
Sidney Wang · The Mathematics Enthusiast · 1987
MACBLIT: A Microcomputer Based Multiple Window Graphic Terminal Emulator for UNIX Operating SystemMacBlit is a multi-window graphic terminal emulator which utilizes the Apple Macintosh personal computer to provide a friendly user interface for hosts which run UNIX BSD 4.2/4.3 and compatible operating systems.UNIX operating system's multitasking capability allows the user to run many programs at once.Unfortunately, the effectiveness of a multitasking environment has long been limited by conventional terminals.Because the concurrently running user programs all share the same terminal, outputs from different programs are sent to the same screen asynchionously, intermix together and become unreadable.MacBlit provides a solution by allowing the user to open many process windows (up to 7) on the Macintosh screen.Each window will be assigned to a different program on the host so that output from that program will appear only in its own window.Since windows can be overlapped and the content of a window is preserved, the user may switch between programs with just a click on the mouse.Windowing systems have been proven capable of increasing one's productivity manyfold.MacBlit can offer such technology to mainframe users at a very low cost -by using a low cost microcomputer.