timbobsteve
November 14th, 2006, 02:39 PM
Hi All,
Just trying to do some reading about developments in X technology and came across a few 100 terms that confuse the hell out of me. I thought I would post here and see if anyone can clarify them for me.
As far as I can tell AIGLX and Xgl are two different approaches at the same problem, hardware accelerated X servers.
Xegl and Xglx are both early implimentations of the Xgl idea, but Xglx is being used while people wait for Xegl to be finished and still requires a running standard X server to work, whereas Xegl is a completely rewritten X server based on DRI and Direct Framebuffer (directfb) technology.
AIGLX as far as I can tell is a project with identical goals to Xgl, but started from scratch because the Xgl design specs were created away from the community behind closed doors. AIGLX members felt that this introduced a bunch of problems in using it as the new standard and set out to create their own truly-open spec for Accelerated X Server.
As far as I can tell Compiz and Beryl, at this stage, are very similar and provide window management and have sub-programs to handle decorations+effects.
As far as I can tell both Xgl and AIGLX both require Binary Drivers to run properly (is this correct?).
(Xgl)
Xglx --> Compiz / Beryl --> Window Decorations = Cool Graphics
(AIGLX)
AIGLX --> Compiz --> Window Decorations = Cool Graphics
Now... is that right or have I got things all wrong? Just wanted to know this stuff for future reference. Also, what do people think of in general about replacing Xorg / XFree86? I personaly think that a custom written X Server with 3D Acceleration is a step in the right direction, if only to keep up with modern hardware. Also I think alot of cool features could come out of a accelerated desktop (things like Expose from Apple's OS X) to really improve usability.
Thanks.
-Timbobsteve
Just trying to do some reading about developments in X technology and came across a few 100 terms that confuse the hell out of me. I thought I would post here and see if anyone can clarify them for me.
As far as I can tell AIGLX and Xgl are two different approaches at the same problem, hardware accelerated X servers.
Xegl and Xglx are both early implimentations of the Xgl idea, but Xglx is being used while people wait for Xegl to be finished and still requires a running standard X server to work, whereas Xegl is a completely rewritten X server based on DRI and Direct Framebuffer (directfb) technology.
AIGLX as far as I can tell is a project with identical goals to Xgl, but started from scratch because the Xgl design specs were created away from the community behind closed doors. AIGLX members felt that this introduced a bunch of problems in using it as the new standard and set out to create their own truly-open spec for Accelerated X Server.
As far as I can tell Compiz and Beryl, at this stage, are very similar and provide window management and have sub-programs to handle decorations+effects.
As far as I can tell both Xgl and AIGLX both require Binary Drivers to run properly (is this correct?).
(Xgl)
Xglx --> Compiz / Beryl --> Window Decorations = Cool Graphics
(AIGLX)
AIGLX --> Compiz --> Window Decorations = Cool Graphics
Now... is that right or have I got things all wrong? Just wanted to know this stuff for future reference. Also, what do people think of in general about replacing Xorg / XFree86? I personaly think that a custom written X Server with 3D Acceleration is a step in the right direction, if only to keep up with modern hardware. Also I think alot of cool features could come out of a accelerated desktop (things like Expose from Apple's OS X) to really improve usability.
Thanks.
-Timbobsteve