[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

No, and this just shows you lack knowledge. Graphics cards like the Cirrus5446 or the S3Virge (or even the S3Trio64V+) can mix different modes together

Even ones as old as the Cirrus or S3 can do it.

So please, get your history right. What the Amiga chipset offered back then was later on available on contemporary VGA chips as well

Thanks for that. I read the data sheet of one Cirrus Logic chip and nothing was mentioned about this feature as far as I could tell. I didn't study it very closely though. I had an RTG card back in the day and it did do limited 'screen dragging', but I guess that was just a driver limitation, right?

So all I can say is that this 100% Amiga compatible screen dragging ability of PC graphics chips 'back in the day' (1990's) was unknown to me.

However I did some research and found out that (according to the AROS team) screen dragging was actually patented by Commodore, so anyone else who implemented it without permission would be violating that patent.

BTW all those cards you mention were introduced in 1995 or later, so at the time Hombre was developed it was more advanced than PC VGA cards, most (all?) of which did not have the hardware to do proper screen dragging.

The "shortcoming" is that the average PC "window manager" does not support the metaphor of "screens", but the hardware easily could. It is just not requested much and thus not implemented. It is a pure software restriction and a pure matter of user demand.

Pity. Of course there is no demand for screen dragging today because why would you want something you don't know about?

My Linux machine has 'workspaces' which are described as 'virtual desktops'. They are not very useful because you can only work in one 'desktop' at a time.

But today, it makes no sense to restrict "screen movement" to vertical only. Instead, you call them windows, and you can drag them wherever you want, and whatever colors or resolutions you want.

Windows are not screens. Arranging them can be frustrating. I tend to run apps in maximized windows so I don't have to fiddle with them, but then to see two windows at once I have to change them back to sizable, then resize and move them to where I can see a part of both. It's a slow and frustrating way to do what the Amiga does naturally.

Restricting movement to vertical is better because then you don't have to worry about horizontal mouse movement - just grab and drag knowing it will go up and down perfectly vertical without wobbling around.

But of course you will just say that for wanting that I am a 'very funny man' with peculiar desires that nobody else has. You see, if a modern PC doesn't do something you want, that's your fault for not accepting the wisdom of the OS gods when they say 'it makes no sense'.