GP32 Retro GUIs for GP32

[Shirohagen]

I'm not a GP32 owner yet, I'm trying to find out everything I can on it before I take the plunge...

...anyway, I have seen WINDUPS and thought that the GUIs from retro computers would make great replacements for the GP32.

What about Frontends based on the Atari ST GEM, Amiga Workbench, Original Mac OS & OSX(!)?

Playing retro software on the GP32 is one thing, but for the complete experience, these GUIs would be the icing on the cake...

I suppose the utlimate would be a firmware GUI which supported skins which the GP32 community could churn out. Desktop images and icons etc could give the non-coders among us the opportunity to get more involved too...

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[ThndrShk2k]

Original Mac OS & OSX(!)?

yeah... the thing is, early macintosh like macOS7 is basically like macOS9, inw hich not much retro

MacOSX? whoa dude, is that retro? i never knew, specially with X standing for 10 and with all the fancy 32 bit GFX! shitdamn man i want an old retro MacOSX

Sarcasm aside, some retro things would be nice, i like my windups , since windows hasn't changed much in a while the only retoness you will get out of it is, well, keep a simple green/aqua green color and not many icons with low 8-16 bit gfx

retro is good , just kinda like now, but less fancy

 

[Shirohagen]

Yes, retro is good. The Atari GEM Desktop would make an amazing GP32 GUI!

When I said Mac, I meant the old Mac OS (1984) which invented the concept of GUI, just black & white and still beautiful! OSX isn't retro but is cool and if the GP32 has a Windows concept then it's only fair!

The GP32 is a much more personal experience than other platforms, so making your own statement with things like the GUI etc is a natural progression. The sort of people who are interested in GP32 strike me as being more individually minded like this.

Skins & icons etc would let everyone have a go.

Just thinking of ways to open it all up a bit and make things more accessible, when I started looking into the GP32 it seemed like it could scare off potential 'newbie' buyers with it's technical side, so a friendly face can't hurt.

Have a look here to see some examples of GUI through the ages:
http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html

Keep the sarcasm, it suits you. ;-)

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[ThndrShk2k]

the main problem with a macintosh like interface is that most people use the PC, since the GP32 doesn't officially have a mac driver i think *and i think the one you can d/l is OSX only, i tried to do some shiz on my school's mac comps, couldn't do squat... had ot wait till i got home*

 

[Shirohagen]

Well, yeah, the point of a good GUI is to be easy to use.

The problem is, as you say, that people have been spoonfed one GUI in particular, that's all and it can be hard to tackle a new one after a something has become second nature.

The more intuitive the GUI is, the less this matters as it should be easy to pick up if you are open minded. All WIMP GUIs are pretty similar really - Windows was an imitation of the Mac OS anyway and they're still playing catchup!

And yes, the Mac REALLY does need some decent Mac support! (Can you tell I'm a Mac user?) That's what is holding me back...



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[ConsoleTom]

Hi !

Really cool idea.

I'd love to have a GUI that looks like Amiga Workbench 1.3. Really nostalgic.

And how about an integrated Amiga Emu ?

How about sending the GUI-idea to the author of windups ? I think it shouldn't be a big problem to change the look.

Greetings

Tobias

 

[Shirohagen]

Thanks for the suggestion, I sent them an email, so maybe we'll hear what they think of it...

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[karthur]

Hi Shirohagen,

Your idea is a good one, and after my first version of wind-ups some
years ago (0.2 was the first one, I think) I added the posibility of
changing the background, adding icons directly (not through editing a
txt file as in the beginning) and things like that. But changing more
things (like the appereance of file browser or windows) is not an easy
task, and I prefer to do new things and experiments with the gp32 during
my free time.

But if you change the background and icons you'll get a "similar
taste" of old and beautifull systems ; )

Best regards,

karthur
------------------------
Wind-ups: http://www.f-labs.com/gp32/wind-ups

 

[Shirohagen]

Thanks karthur...

Does that mean that Windups is no longer in development and there will be no further alterations from now on?

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[ThndrShk2k]

well hopefully kathar will finish 1.0 as he said on his site