GEM (desktop environment)
GEM (for Graphics Environment Manager) is a discontinued operating environment released by Digital Research in 1985. GEM is known primarily as the native graphical user interface of the Atari ST series of computers, providing a WIMP desktop. It was also available for IBM PC compatibles and shipped with some models from Amstrad. GEM is used as the core for some commercial MS-DOS programs, the most notable being Ventura Publisher. It was ported to other computers that previously lacked graphical interfaces, but never gained traction. The final retail version of GEM was released in 1988.
IBM PC displaying GEM desktop in EGA on a monochrome monitor | |
| Developer(s) | Digital Research Lee Jay Lorenzen |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 28 February 1985 |
| Stable release | GEM/3 3.11
/ 3 November 1988 |
| Operating system | MS-DOS, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, CP/M-68K, GEMDOS, TOS |
| Platform | Intel 8088, Motorola 68000 |
| Type | Windowing system |
| License | GPL-2.0-only |
| Website | www |
Digital Research later produced X/GEM for their FlexOS real-time operating system with adaptations for OS/2 Presentation Manager and the X Window System under preparation as well.