Workbench (AmigaOS)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (July 2007) |
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2008) |
Contents |
[edit] Workbench Overview [Classic Amiga]
With the Amiga computer, the name Workbench refers to the native graphical interface file manager and application launcher of the Amiga Operating System typically presented to users upon booting the Amiga. The Workbench was not required to boot the Amiga or run other applications, but was a standalone application listed in the startup-sequence script.
The Amiga Workbench used the metaphor of a workbench rather than the now standard desktop for exposing file management and application launching functionallity. The Workbench application appeared similar to other consumer Operating Systems of the era by utilising a trash can, menu bar, and icons to represent files, folder and volumes (filesystem devices). The underlying AmigaOS was much more advanced allowing the Workbench to launch multiple applications that could execute at the same time and communicate with each other. The Amiga used a two button mouse for left click and right menu.
The Amiga did not use file extensions to normally distinguish file types. Instead the Workbench used a separate file of the same name but followed by .info. That was the only file extension Workbench recognized. This file supplied information such as the icon graphic to display, the application to launch with, etc. Similar in many ways to a Windows .pif file. Most files were human recognized by name (32 cased characters) or associated icon, or by applications using embedded metadata. The common format containing open metadata was the Interchange File Format which allowed applications to access the known parts of even a completely foreign IFF format file.
The Workbench utilized the underlying AmigaOS API to provide the GUI interface. Much in the same manner that Windows did prior to the NT Kernel (Windows NT, Windows 95) with MS-DOS. The actual Workbench in its executable format (loadWB AmigaDOS command + Workbench.library) was quite small only taking a fraction of an Amiga 880k 3.5 inch floppy disc or other medium. Workbench.library in its first versions even occupied no space in system floppyies, because it was included into system ROM. Starting from 2.0 it is quite a common liberary in Libs: and could be replaced by third party made GUIs.
The AmigaOS library API's required by WorkBench were stored in ROM, or on the earliest Amigas loaded into WCS/WOM (Lockable/Write Once Memory) by the Kickstart system. Applications launched via either the CLI or Workbench executed equivalently, both having full GUI functionallity. Workbench launched application were meant to report their successful launch back the Workbench but it was not enforced, and few actually did. The CLI was entirely graphically based as they Amiga hardware did not support character mapped displays.
The AmigaOS provided the ability to use multiple draggable Virtual Desktop screens. All gadgets of the Operating System could be used on any screen, and applications often did but Workbench did not utilise that feature. The Desktop screens were not persisent and even now (nearly 25 years later) Operating Systems are struggling to handle multiple desktops effectively. Extending to physical screens would have not affected applications as the screens were entirely managed by the AmigaOS.
Underlying the Workbench is the Intuition.library windowing system. This library controlled the logicistics of clipping, rendering and preserving overlapping screens, windows and gadgets. The graphics.library provided the rendering to memory via both software and hardware means. The exec.library handled low level functions such as input from the keyboard and mouse, passing messages to programs, allocating memory and tasking switching.
The Workbench name can also refer to the main OS floppy disk for AmigaOS versions 1.1 to 1.3 (the "Workbench disk"). This was due to an error of Commodore marketing. This fact led some Amiga users to believe that all of the AmigaOS was named "Workbench". Commodore re-introduced proper names for the AmigaOS disks, starting from version 2.0.
[edit] Paradigm
The Amiga workbench follows the interface paradigm of a standard workbench of manual labour. The desktop itself is called Work-bench, the programs are called tools, program attributes (options) are called tooltypes, directories are called drawers (and there is a closet drawer icon representing directories on the screen of Workbench), data files are considered projects, etcetera. This could be considered somewhat confusing or even odd for a nowadays user, but in the early age of computer desktop GUIs, was clear enough to users who approached a computer for the first time, and were generally unacculturated of computer usage and computing science but were born and raised in a pre-computer era. The only labour term of Amiga Workbench that was uesd also in another operating systems with more or less the same meaning, is Utilities, that indicates in Amiga the service utilities programs to enhance computer experience and usability. for example the Calculator tool/program in Amiga is stored into Utility drawer/directory.