poofyhairguy
August 31st, 2005, 08:50 AM
This is really cool. I've never seen anything like this. Its a write up by the guy who worked on Xgl for a year!
http://dri.freedesktop.org/~jonsmirl/graphics.html
Has a lot of info...kinda nerdy but has good formating.
Quotes that struck me:
Intel provides open source drivers for some of their chips. Nvidia/ATI provides proprietary drivers but they lag the Windows versions. The overall result is a very mixed set of drivers ranging in quality from decent to non-existent.
Finally you can remove the 2D limitations on application windows and give them thickness or other 3D shapes. For example, a pop-up menu really could pop-up in higher 3D coordinates. When you combine this with a lighting source, drop shadows appear naturally instead of being artificially constructed as in 2D. Sun’s Project Looking Glass is this type of window manager. Window thickness is demonstrated in the Looking Glass demo video. Looking Glass runs existing X applications using a rootless X server. The windows and then given thickness and combine with true 3D applications like the CD changer demo.
Linux is now guaranteed to be the last major desktop to implement a desktop GUI that takes full advantage of the GPU. Given that there is no longer any time pressure, perhaps a longer term solution is in order.
My experience with the failure of Xegl has taught me that building a graphics subsystem is a large and complicated job, far too large for one or two people to tackle. As a whole, the X.org community barely has enough resources to build a single server.
http://dri.freedesktop.org/~jonsmirl/graphics.html
Has a lot of info...kinda nerdy but has good formating.
Quotes that struck me:
Intel provides open source drivers for some of their chips. Nvidia/ATI provides proprietary drivers but they lag the Windows versions. The overall result is a very mixed set of drivers ranging in quality from decent to non-existent.
Finally you can remove the 2D limitations on application windows and give them thickness or other 3D shapes. For example, a pop-up menu really could pop-up in higher 3D coordinates. When you combine this with a lighting source, drop shadows appear naturally instead of being artificially constructed as in 2D. Sun’s Project Looking Glass is this type of window manager. Window thickness is demonstrated in the Looking Glass demo video. Looking Glass runs existing X applications using a rootless X server. The windows and then given thickness and combine with true 3D applications like the CD changer demo.
Linux is now guaranteed to be the last major desktop to implement a desktop GUI that takes full advantage of the GPU. Given that there is no longer any time pressure, perhaps a longer term solution is in order.
My experience with the failure of Xegl has taught me that building a graphics subsystem is a large and complicated job, far too large for one or two people to tackle. As a whole, the X.org community barely has enough resources to build a single server.