James Simmons wrote:
> > 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.
>
> You are thinking PC here. The graphics pipelines on a SGI servers are not
> pixel based. You can't even access any buffers. Its all based around a
> geometeric pipeline. It also isn't just program a few registers and you
> get a triangle. Its much more complex than that. So the rendering protocol
> at the driver is none. It just manages hardware access and state in a SMP
> environment.
I was not arguing about a graphics pipeline, I was arguing about the restrictions
imposed by the X protocol, which are circumvent either by adding extensions and
claiming it is still X (an 'X extension' :), or by dropping X entirely, and starting
from scratch.
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...
