Medley

This repository is for the Lisp environment of Medley Interlisp.

We've made great process in sorting out what we have (some dusty corners notwithstanding), but there's quite a bit more work to do. Please report problems!

See Medley Interlisp Wiki for an overview, and other pointers.

A sub-project is Interlisp/maiko, which is the implementation (in C) of the Medley virtual machine.

Instructions for Building and Running

Setting up X

Medley Interlisp needs an X-Server to manage its display. Most Linux desktops have one. There are a number of free open source X-servers for windows. Mac users should head over to XQuartz.org -- be sure to pick a version if you have a newer Mac.

If you have a high-resolution display, note that much of the graphics was designed for a low-resolution display, so an X-server that does "pixel doublilng" is best. (E.g., Raspberry Pi does pixel doubling on 4K displays.) It also presumes you have a 3-button mouse; the scroll-wheel on some mice act as one with some difficulty.) XQuartz Preferences/Input has "Emulate three button mouse" option.

Running Medley Interlisp

The run-medley script in this repo sets up some convenient defaults. Running Medley can be done by typing:

$ cd medley
$ ./run-medley

Or, if you wish to start Medley up with a different SYSOUT:

$ cd medley
$ ./run-medley <SYSOUT-file-name>

Once the system comes up, give it a few seconds to initialize.

The first time the system is run it loads the system image that comes with the system. When you exit the system (or "do a SaveVM" menu option) the state of your machine is saved in a file named ~/lisp.virtualmem. Subsequent system startups load the ~/lisp.virtualmem image by default.

Exiting The System

The system may be exited from the Interlisp prompt by typing:

(LOGOUT)

Or from the Common Lisp prompt with:

(IL:LOGOUT)

When you logout of the system, Medley automatically creates a binary dump of your system located in your home directory named lisp.virtualmem. The next time you run the system, if you don't specify a specific image to run, Medley restores that image so that you can continue right where you left off.

Using Medley Interlisp

Naming conventions and directory structure

File Names and Extensions: Most Interlisp source file names are UPPERCASE and Interlisp didn't use file extensions for its source files. A .TEDIT or .TXT file is probably documentation for the package of same name, at least in the library, internal/library, lispusers.

The current repo has both Lisp sources and compiled .LCOM and .DFASL files, because some files don't compile in a vanilla lisp.sysout .

Each directory should have a README.md, but briefly

docs -- Documentation files (either PDFs or online help)
fonts -- raster fonts (or font widths) in various resolutions for display, postscript, interpress, press formats
greetfiles -- various configuration setups
internal -- These were internal to Venue; now internal/library and internal/test
library -- packages that were supported (30 years ago)
lispusers -- packages that were only half supported (ditto)
loadups -- has sysouts and other builds
patches -- for cases where reloading doesn't wor
scripts -- some scripts for fixing up things
sunloadup -- support information for making a new lisp.sysout from scratch
sources -- sources for Interlisp and Common Lisp implementations
unicode -- data files for support of XCCS to and from Unicode mappings