MEX (Multiple EXposure) was a

windowing system In computing, a windowing system (or window system) is software that manages separately different parts of display screens. It is a type of graphical user interface (GUI) which implements the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) paradigm for ...

created by

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

, used on 68k-based IRIS systems and early IRIS 4D systems. Rocky Rhodes, Paul Haeberli, Kipp Hickman, "Mex — A Window Manager for the IRIS", '' USENIX Conference Proceedings'', Summer 1985, pages 381–392. MEX was originally loaded over a network through the utilization of GL1 routines kept on a remote host machine, usually a

VAX VAX (an acronym for Virtual Address eXtension) is a series of computers featuring a 32-bit instruction set architecture (ISA) and virtual memory that was developed and sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 20th century. The V ...

. When the IRIS 1400 workstation and GL2-W (

IRIX IRIX ( ) is a discontinued operating system developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) to run on the company's proprietary MIPS workstations and servers. It is based on UNIX System V with BSD extensions. In IRIX, SGI originated the XFS file system ...

) were introduced, MEX was allowed to run locally. MEX was used in IRIX from the GL2-W2.1.0 release to the 4D1-2.3 release. With the introduction of 4D1-3.0 (IRIX 3.0), and the complete migration to MIPS processors, support for the GL / GL2 powered MEX ended in the late 1980s, replaced by

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...

' NeWS and the 4Sight

window manager A window manager is system software that controls the placement and appearance of windows within a windowing system in a graphical user interface. Most window managers are designed to help provide a desktop environment. They work in conjunct ...

References

{{Silicon Graphics Computer-related introductions in 1985 Windowing systems SGI graphics