Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 26 Mar 1998 09:44:47 -0800 (PST) | From | "Jon M. Taylor" <> | Subject | Re: The GGI and EvStack debate -- Linus and such persons please reard. |
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On 26 Mar 1998, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> In article <3519C152.2B438E37@onramp.net>, > Trever Adams <arabian@onramp.net> wrote: > > > >It seems Linus (though I respect him, think he is intelligent, I don't > >believe he is infallible! No one is!) doesn't like the EvStack due to > >the ideas of multiple keyboards. > > No. > > I don't like EvStack because I don't see the point. We can already > support multiple keyboards and multiple displays, and we don't need > EvStack to do so.
AFAIK there is a lot more to EvStack than multiheading stuff. That isn't even the main point, really. The main point is extending to all console IO devices a generic layered message passing system. Multiheading is just a good example of what EvStack can do easily.
I like the EvStack concept of consoles consisting of a series of pluggable event handler/router modules. I like the idea of the kernel having a generic, flexible and fast way to pass abstract messages between itself and userspace. And I like the idea that any console IO device, no matter how wierd, can have all its capabilities encapsulated into a set of abstracted messages.
That last is very important for graphics hardware, where the feature set that can be exported by the kernel to userspace varies widely from card to card. But the same message-based paradigm can allow any sort of odd device to be easily supported by Linux - just write a kernel driver that wraps a thin message layer over the raw hardware functionality and let the userspace stacks contain the logic the glues the devices together into a "console".
Jon
--- 'Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming one with God.' - Scientist G. Richard Seed
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