Another Rabbit hole...

[dmemphis]

SO on the Visi On wiki, there is this gem:

"In July 1981 Xerox announced the Xerox Star, an advanced workstation computer featuring a graphical user interface, and by that point it was a well known "secret" that Apple Computer was working on a low-cost computer with a GUI that would later be released as the Apple Lisa. Personal Software's president, Terry Opdendyk, knew of a two-man team in Texas that was working on a GUI, and arranged for Scott Warren and Dennis Abbe to visit Personal Software's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. They demonstrated a version of the Smalltalk programming language running on the TRS-80 microcomputer, a seriously underpowered machine for the task. Personal Software was extremely impressed."

Smalltalk on a TRS-80?

:O

 

[commodorejohn]

I know someone (Chuck, I think?) mentioned a Z80 version of Smalltalk in another thread that actually existed. Don't remember if it was for TRS-80 or CP/M or what. Though from the documentation it used text-based windowing rather than a full GUI.

 

[mloewen]

I know someone (Chuck, I think?) mentioned a Z80 version of Smalltalk in another thread that actually existed. Don't remember if it was for TRS-80 or CP/M or what. Though from the documentation it used text-based windowing rather than a full GUI.

Perhaps Rosetta Smalltalk?

http://esug.org/data/HistoricalDocuments/Misc/RosettaSmalltalk.pdf

 

[dmemphis]

Yes that's what was mentioned in the other thread... checking it out.

A poster added this http://macgui.com/usenet/?group=26&id=7467

 

[commodorejohn]

Yeah...unfortunately, that PDF is about the only thing I could find on it. It'd be fascinating to see it in action if anybody had the software.

 

[dmemphis]

I'm going to doubt that Rosetta was the one seen on the TRS-80. They don't mention it
in the paper. However it does show that it was possible for a Z80 to run it.
Might it be more likely though that what they saw on the TRS-80 was Xenix based instead?

 

[commodorejohn]

They mention a two-man team in Texas, though, that's pretty specific to be a mismatch.

 

[krebizfan]

There were only a few copies made before Rosetta canceled the project. http://web.archive.org/web/20040401144646/http://www.rosetta.com/TechHistory.html#rosetta-smalltalk

 

[dmemphis]

Ah! Excellent observation- I missed that the Rosetta document itself was by two guys in Tx.
That's heavy evidence!

 

[dmemphis]

Oh and now I see their website... Sorry I was slow on this. Been pulled a bunch of directions today.
Yes. Yes. Yes. These guys are the ones.
AND... looking down that website on web.archive...
I find an answer to the question nagging me on my 5150 thread...
... who technically authored Visi On? Answer: Rosetta!!!

This is frickin awesome!