Re: GGI might be the way...

On Sat, Mar 22, 2003 at 02:16:53PM -0800, David Jeske wrote:
> Since you're all considering how to take the next step with X/Xfree, I
> think you should consider absorbing and adopting GGI. Even if you have
> some political beef with GGI or it's implementation choices -- please
> consider the motivations below carefully. 
> 
> HEALTH WARNING: I make several references to how Microsoft has handled
> things because we all know that they have (a) great driver support,
> and (b) rippin fast graphics performance. If you have some mental
> block which makes you mad when reading about someone saying Microsoft
> has done something right, for your own health, please do not read any
> futher.
> 
> 1) Third party driver distribution needs to be the norm, not an
>    afterthought. GGI _is_ a video driver model which is not
>    limited to use inside X.

Was it ever accepted in the linux kernel as it proposed to initialy ? I
don't think so.

Also, as a xfree86 and fbdev driver writer (not that i have done much
for fbdev really, but i nextly intent to, together with a 2.5.X fbdev
driver HOWTO), i am not sure that it would be a easy thing to do. There
are somethings which can (and are shared) like the mode setting stuff
and generally head handling, but that is about it. The needs of the
fbdev accel hooks are vastly different than the X accel hooks, as should
be (after all one is in the kernel and linux specific, while the other
is userland and common to many OSes).

> 2) Moving to a direct rendering model WILL increase performance. GGI
>    provides this model, and also lets us run X today!

Why not fbdev/DirectFB/XDirectFB ? It seem to have more acceptance and
usage than GGI, which as my following of it has died a few years ago.

> 4) Xf86Config files must die

No, it need to be made optional, still there when it is needed, but X
should also work if it is not.

BTW, if you don't have an Xf86Config file, where do you propose to put
user preferences like the resolution and depth to run for example, or
which which of the 3 graphic cards in my system to use ?

Friendly,

Svne Luther