Digital Research's GEM opens a new window on Linux
A radical new way to resolve the Gordian knot of X11 versus Wayland
Digital Research's GEM graphical environment, originally designed for PC compatibles, has been resurrected on Linux. This achievement is the result of a clever adaptation by Slovenian developer Tomaž Štih. Štih's port utilizes a shared display server to output the GEM desktop either directly through Linux's framebuffer or within a window using his SDL2-based Rasta framebuffer emulator.
The GEM for Linux is derived from the Atari ST's GEM, a graphical desktop that was bundled with the Amstrad PC1512 and PC1640 in the 1980s. Apple once threatened legal action against Digital Research over GEM's similarity to the Macintosh interface, but the lawsuit did not affect Atari's version. Caldera released the PC version as open source in 1999, which later inspired Štih's GEM for Linux.
The FreeGEM community has enhanced the open source version beyond its ST counterpart, adding features like Bézier curve drawing and 3D-shaded buttons. GEM for Linux is one of the first secure, optimized, and source-compatible implementations of Atari ST GEM, derived from the Digital Research GEM source code released by Caldera in 1999.
Despite its revival, GEM for Linux is not expected to render Wayland obsolete or trigger a new era of Atari-inspired Linux development.
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