Development History of MiniGUI

About seven years have pasted since MiniGUI was initially created at the end of 1998, and now it becomes much reliable and stable. During the past years, many remarkable changes have taken place in the MiniGUI project.

At the original, the version 0.2.xx was based on SVGALib and PThread (LinuxThreads). Then the version 0.3.xx had many enhanced features including Graphics Abstract Layer (GAL), Input Abstract Layer (IAL), and the support for multiple charsets and multiple fonts.

In version 1.0.00, we designed MiniGUI-Lite, which was more fit for some complex embedded systems, such as PDAs, Thin-Clients, or STBs. MiniGUI-Lite made the embedded systems more stable and efficient. The version 1.0.00 provided the native fbcon engine based on Linux FrameBuffer device directly as well.

In the development of version 1.1.00, we re-wrote the GAL and GDI interfaces, and provided some advanced video features, such as raster operation, transparent blitting, alpha blending, and video hardware acceleration. We also provided some important GDI functions, such as Ellipse, Arc, Polygon, and FloodFill.

In the development of version 1.5.0, we added advanced 2D graphics functions to MiniGUI. It provides the abstract logical pen and brush objects, and can be used to render advanced graphics objects.

In the development of version 2.0.0, we developed MiniGUI-Processes.

A brief history description of the developement progress lay below:

  1. 1994 ~ 1996: MiniGUI DOS version.
  2. Dec, 1998: Began to write.
  3. Apr, 1999: The skeleton of MiniGUI, windowing sub-system and basic graphics device interfaces.
  4. May, 1999: Timer, menu, and the sekleton of control sub-system.
  5. Jun, 1999: Chinese input method (by Kang Xiaoning).
  6. July, 1999: GIF and JPG loading support (by LI Zhuo).
  7. Aug, 1999: Some standard controls (Portion by Zhao Jianghua).
  8. Sep, 1999: Dialog boxes and message boxes.
  9. Sep, 1999: Snapshot of screen or window.
  10. Jan., 2000: VCOnGUI (Virtual Console on MiniGUI) version 0.2.02.
  11. Mar., 2000: Linux distribution installer based-on MiniGUI for HappyLinux 1.0.
  12. Jun., 2000: Began to develop version 1.0.xx.
  13. Sep., 2000: MiniGUI version 0.3.06 released.
  14. Oct., 2000: MiniGUI version 0.9.00 released.
  15. Nov., 2000: MiniGUI version 0.9.96 released.
  16. Jan., 2001: MiniGUI version 0.9.98 released. You can build MiniGUI-Lite from this version.
  17. Jan., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.0.00Beta1 released.
  18. Feb., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.0.00Pre1 released.
  19. Apr., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.0.00 released (2001/04/16).
  20. Sep., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.1.0Pre1 released (2001/09/12).
  21. Sep., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.0.9 released (2001/09/17), this will be the last version of source branch 1.0.x.
  22. Oct., 2001: MiniGUI version 1.1.0Pre4 released (2001/10/22). This version have new GAL and GDI interfaces.
  23. Mar., 2002: MiniGUI official version 1.1.0 released (2002/03/08). MiniGUI API Reference documentation version 0.9 released.
  24. Mar., 2002: MiniGUI API Reference documentation version 1.0 released.
  25. Apr., 2002: MiniGUI the new stable version 1.2.0 released (2002/04/11).
  26. Sep., 2002: The main developers of MiniGUI founded a new software corporation: Beijing Feynman Software Technology Co., Ltd.. And the development and maintenance of MiniGUI changes from loosely-knit team to business organization.
  27. Mar., 2003: MiniGUI official version 1.2.5 released (2003/03/23).
  28. May., 2003: MiniGUI official version 1.2.6 released (2003/05/18).
  29. Sep., 2003: MiniGUI official version 1.3.1 released (2003/09/11).
  30. Jan., 2004: MiniGUI official version 1.5.1 released (2004/01/18).
  31. Feb., 2004: MiniGUI tested on eCos and uC/OS-II.
  32. Jun., 2004: MiniGUI tested on VxWorks.
  33. Jan., 2005: MiniGUI tested on ThreadX and pSOS.
  34. Feb., 2005: MiniGUI official version 1.6.1 released.
  35. Aug., 2005: MiniGUI beta version 2.0.0 released.
  36. Sep., 2005: MiniGUI official version 1.6.8 released.
  37. Oct., 2005: MiniGUI official version 2.0.2 released.
  38. Oct., 2007: MiniGUI official version 2.0.4 released.
  39. Jul., 2008: MiniGUI official version 3.0.0 released.