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(Last updated: Jan. 26, 2000)

Microwindows is an Open Source project aimed at bringing the features of modern graphical windowing environments to smaller devices and platforms. Microwindows allows applications to be built and tested on the Linux desktop, as well as cross-compiled for the target device.

Microwindows' genesis was with the NanoGUI project, and has now been combined into a single distribution. The Win32 API implementation is known as Microwindows, and the Xlib-like API implementation is known as Nano-X.

Since the WinCE API is mostly a subset of the Win32 API for graphics-related functions, the Microwindows API is also WinCE compatible, and can be used to implement WinCE graphics functions on platforms Microwindows is running on.

What is Microwindows?

Microwindows is an Open Source project that brings some of the features of modern graphical windowing systems to the programming community not wanting or requiring the large disk and ram requirements of higher-end windowing systems like Microsoft Windows or the X Window System. Microwindows does not require any operating system or other graphics system support, as it writes directly to the display hardware, although it runs well on Linux framebuffer systems. Microwindows is designed to be portable, and can run in a wide variety of hardware and software environments. One the of more interesting targets is the emerging market of portable handheld and pocket PC's running Linux, also known as LinuxCE.

What does Microwindows run on?

Microwindows currently runs on 32-bit Linux systems with kernel framebuffer support, or through the popular SVGAlib library. In addition, it has been ported to 16-bit Linux ELKS, and real-mode MSDOS. Microwindows screen drivers for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 bits-per-pixel have been written, as well as a VGA 16 color 4 planes driver. Microwindows has been ported to a number of Handheld and Pocket PC's, as well. The Microwindows graphics engine is capable of running on any system that supports readpixel, writepixel, drawhorzline and drawvertline, and setpalette. Blitting support is optional, but if implemented allows enhanced functionality. All bitmap, font, cursor and color support is implemented on top of these routines. Support for 8, 15, 16 and 32 bit truecolor systems as well as 1, 2, 4 and 8bpp palletized systems is implemented.

Recently, an X11 driver was completed that allows Microwindows applications to be run on top of the X Window desktop. This driver emulates all of Microwindows' truecolor and palette modes so that an application can be previewed using the target system's display characteristics directly on the desktop display, regardless of the desktop display characteristics.

What CPU's are supported?

Microwindows is extremely portable, and completely written in C, although some routines have been recoded in assembly for speed. It has been ported to the Intel 16 and 32 bit cpu's, as well as MIPS R4000 (NEC Vr41xx) and ARM chips found on popular handheld and pocket PC's.

How big is Microwindows?

On 16 bit systems, the entire system, including screen, mouse and keyboard drivers runs in less than 64k. On 32-bit systems, support includes proportional fonts and applications are typically less than 100k.

What is Microwindows' architecture and what API's are supported?

Microwindows is essentially a layered design that allows different layers to be used or rewritten to suite the needs of the implementation. At the lowest level, screen, mouse/touchpad and keyboard drivers provide access to the actual display and other user-input hardware. At the mid level, a portable graphics engine is implemented, providing support for line draws, area fills, polygons, clipping and color models. At the upper level, various API's are implemented providing access to the graphics applications programmer. These APIs may or may not provide desktop and/or window look and feel. Currently, Microwindows supports the Win32 and Nano-X APIs. These APIs provide close compatibility with the Win32 and X Window systems, allowing programs to be ported from other systems easily.

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