> > From: Dr Andrew C Aitchison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Where does the pointer come in ? > > > > I'm not saying that for a flight simulator it isn't useful to have > > more than one mouse or trackball; I'm all in favour of an X > > extension for that (I wouldn't be suprised to hear that there > > already is one) but that is 2 mice, not 2 pointers.
I've been looking at xc/doc/hardcopy/Xi/lib.PS.gz the X Input Device Extension Library, which is implemented by XFree86 and some other X servers. Is the request for 2 pointers based on page 2, where it says "All extension input devices are treated like the core X keyboard in determining their location and focus" ? I think the next line, about explict focus, is your answer. As I understand it, an application can grab an input device and make it control anything it wishes. > maybe I can add some examples: > > I am working on a container terminal simulation (might be any robotic > type simulation in that regard...) where I visualize the crane movement > during waggon loading and unloading movements (4 degrees of freedom: > along tracks, transverse to tracks, lifting/lowering, rotation about > z-axis). > > I'm using both a SpaceMouse _and_ a regular mouse for my user > interface which already introduces the notion of distint foci: > Spacemouse for crane interactive movement, 2D-Mouse for viewpoint > manipulation at the same time. I can see why you want lots of degrees of freedom, and lots of inputs, but I don't really see why more of them are "pointers" in the sense I understand. It may be appropriate to show "cursors" for these independent actors, but they are application specific. In this case I think the fact that they are likely to be 3D is significant. I'm familiar with the idea of a mouse moving cross-hairs to rotate an object in 3D, but I'm not sure that I'd expect to see the cross-hairs if I had a track-ball - I'd just move the ball and expect the object to follow. Anyway, an application can take a device and draw its own cursor. I see an X pointer being as much connected with a keyboard as a mouse; what should the X server do with 2 pointers ? Shouldn't it leave the control of foci within an app up to that app. I don't know anything more about XInput, so I'll stop here, but I hope that I've given you a feeling for why some of us don't understand the request for more than one pointer as well as more than one mouse ? -- Dr. Andrew C. Aitchison Computer Officer, DPMMS, Cambridge [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~werdna _______________________________________________ Xpert mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/xpert