[initramfs]

Sorry, I meant one of the early X-Window predecessors from the Alto era- I don't remember which one(s), but it had a pixel perfect rendering aspect that appeared at least much lower level and the GUI used far less memory. The most recent one that resembled that is X11R1, which I have tested on a VM linux image from ~2005, called Xwoaf.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#History I recall some pdfs of the Xeroc PARC showed more info on it.

Edit: I might have confused LaTex with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXTSTEP. I think it was more efficient in handling data, but then again, platforms age whenever a new application needs more memory, so they got abandoned because it was more efficient to bundle it into something like Wayland...

[dredmorbius]

Possibly Interpress, a precursor to PostScript.

Otherwise the Alto used Bravo and Gypsy for WYSIWYG typesetting:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto>

[initramfs]

Yes, that's it- Interpress/PostScript. I remember Forth used it. There's something about the typesetting that I love and can't figure out. But I notice it, even on old monitors. Wonderful stuff. I really like the DTSN displays too: https://retro.swarm.cz/20170902/1143/