James Simmons wrote:
> > * Direct Rendering is necessary for performance reasons
>
> This is where people disagree the most on. One side states graphics should
> be done completely in userland (Linus and XFree86). Some want everything
> in the kernel, been tried with other UNIX systems. The best solution is to
> virtualize the graphics pipeline. Here you have a solution that is a
> balance of both.
>
> > * X is not obsolete
>
> X is alright for a windowing system.
Don't these two points contradict each other ? Virtualizing the graphics pipeline
requires the graphics API used by application programmers to be much more abstract.
If the protocol uses pixels as the basic unit, how can you write a resolution
independent (and coordinate system independent) graphics server ? (just to name
an example). This is seen nicely in font handling. Of course, anti aliasing and
all the advanced text rendering jazz like hinting, kerning, etc. is fine, but can't
be implemented if all you have are pixmaps and device coordinates.
openGL can't be implemented on top of X, only beside it. So with all these extensions
you are effectively stepping outside the 'X domain'. It is an euphemism that all this
is discussed under the 'X' label.
There are other principal limits in the X (protocol) architecture, which prevent
features such as translucency to be added, at least in a clean way.
In short, I'd not say X is obsolete, as we all depend on it. But new effords such
as Fresco/Berlin are nevertheless very much needed, and could profit very much from
a standardized console/graphics system.
Regards, Stefan
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Stefan Seefeld
Departement de Physique
Universite de Montreal
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...
