GEM/5

GEM/5 was used as the underlying GUI for GST Publisher. Although it is quite similar to GEM/4 (and still reports itself as 4.0) there is support for 3D controls. This support goes far beyond what was implemented in ViewMAX/2 - or, indeed, Windows 1, 2 or 3.

The GEM/5 "about" box, which is also displayed as a splash screen ("OK" button and all).

The desktop program hasn't changed that much - but all the window decorations are now very 3D. Titlebars are now coloured.

All colours used in GEM/5 are fixed; the palette is set when GEM starts. Unfortunately it is not set after (say) a DOS prompt is run, so you can get the standard VGA palette - it looks unpleasing.

Menus in GEM/5 didn't escape the 3D treatment. Selected menu options go white and have a "pressed" look. The tick beside "Sort by name" is the built-in tickbox control.

The file date "01-07-10" is a Year 2000 bug. It's trying to say "01-07-100", ie 01-07-2000.

The preferences screen now uses the built-in radio button control (one of the best-looking radio buttons I've seen). The "OK" button is the default button, so it has a little "return" symbol on it.

The item selector screen is functionally not much different from previous GEM versions, but has been made rather prettier. The "?:" button is new, and takes you straight to the "Disk drives" window at the top of the directory heirarchy. The "<" button moves to the next directory up.