Hi! 

I answered as best I can inline, although there are more expert DFB users than 
I out there....

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Im Auftrag von 
> Pandit Panburana
> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 07. Dezember 2006 21:35
> An: directfb-dev
> Betreff: [directfb-dev] DirectFB questions.
> 
> Hello,
> 
>      I am interested in using directFB and starting to gather 
> information. I am also new with graphical interface areas.  I 
>  have a few questions about directFB.
> 
>     1)  I see the architecture document for fusion describes 
> the intention of fusion to allow multiple directFB processes 
> to work together using shared memory with master/slave 
> approach but I could see it describes how each process 
> interact through directFB. I appreciate if some one can 
> explain or point to any examples.
> 
>     2) I am unclear whether fusion needs any kernel patch to 
> work or it is just another device that is in kernel space?
> 

The fusion module is a kernel module (driver, device), and not really a kernel 
"patch". It's a character device for shared communication.
It can be build and loaded without patching the kernel. In general you do need 
the right version to match your kernel version though.

>     3) Does fusion allow interprocess communication similar to X11?
> 

Yes, it allows IPC. It allows the creation of shared data structures in shared 
memory, and sending of messages (events).

>     4) From source code, code always uses fusion library 
> independent of the "--enable-multi" option. My understanding 
> is fusion is for multiple processes work but it seems that 
> directFB core uses fusion all the time. Please help clarify this.
> 

DFB always uses fusion. In --enable-multi you need the fusion kernel device, 
and the DFB processes will attempt to connect to the kernel device and use a 
shared fusion session.
In this case the processes can use the same framebuffer device (eg each process 
might control a window or a layer in DFB).
Without --enable-multi, fusion is still used internally by DFB, but there is no 
need for the kernel device. Each DFB process is seperate, they cannot talk to 
each other internally. This also means they cannot use the same framebuffer 
device.

>     5) Is there any window manager for directFB? I am looking 
> for a simple window manager that can switch window of 
> different processes in particular.
> 

Yes DFB has this built in. You can show and hide, move and resize the windows 
used by DFB applications. If you expect the user to do this with the mouse, you 
will probably have some work to do on the GUI side.

>     6) It seems that directFB should fit well in embedded 
> environment than variety of small X implementations but I do 
> not see example of small embedded device using directFB. Any 
> one use directFB in small embedded environment such as PDA etc?
> 

AFAIK many people are using DFB for this type of setup: STB applications, POS 
terminals, Cellphone and other mobile applications. The Debian Linux project is 
using it for its graphical installer. It is definately most useful in an 
embedded environment, where the full "weight" of X may be too much for the 
devices used.

Regards,

Richard Unger

> Thank you,
> -Pandit
> 
> 
> 
> 
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