Messages in this thread | | | From | (Jason McMullan) | Subject | Re: [Feature Wish] GGI in Linux 2.3 | Date | 12 Jan 1998 21:20:26 GMT |
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Alan Cox (alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk) wrote: > I had a good look at the current GGI and it has several problems to say the > least.
> o Its console emulation isnt Linux but a sort of pseudo xterminal
That's a design decision on our part. The console code is segmented and replacable. [via compile-time in the current rev, and module-load in our EvStack devel tree]. If you want a `true' Linux console, more power to you.
> o It appears to have no provision for non byte wide fonts
We have realized that, and are working on it. The EvStack devel tree (http://salsa.visus.com/~ggi) is following the FBcon model for console support, and allows up to 256 simultaneous Unicode fonts, each in Blink, Bold, Underline, etc. I have personally been working on the new codebase (EvStack) and welcome your perusal of the codebase. It isn't `ready for prime time' yet, but the includes (http://salsa.visus.com/~ggi/projects/ggi-evstack/include/ggi) can give you a flavor of what we're working one.
Of (probable) interest to you is the console.h and scroll_struct.h includes, which define out multihead console interface.
> o It breaks all the existing low level mouse/keyboard interfaces > and replaces them with its own which has policy in kernel space
Again, a design decision. We treat all input devices as, well, input devices - they generate events, which the GGI kernel either processes (for the console) or delivers raw (/dev/event). This is similiar is spirit to how there is one SCSI subsystem which manages scsi controllers, as opposed to a /dev/aic7xxx, a /dev/ncr5850, etc..
> Having said that if combined with the current fbcon code it does give you > support for reliable SVGA mode switching and kernel side acceleration > where useful (eg DMA driven video blits from main memory) and there is > useful stuff that can be salvaged from it.
We're working on that combination - in spirit - in the EvStack code. I'm planning to attend Linux Expo'98 in NC, and hope to have the new EvStack GGI kernel codebase in Beta by then.
> The nicest looking bits are actually the userspace support libraries which > show some promise.
These are the bits we're most proud of. Having a single binary that can work on X, GGI, or SVGAlib without a recompile or display-specific coding is nice.
-- Jason McMullan - Linux - GGI - http://synergy.foo.net/~ggi NT 5.0 is the last nail in the Unix coffin. Interestingly, Unix isn't in the coffin... It's wondering what the heck is sealing itself into a wooden box 6 feet underground...
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