[directfb-dev] Re: GNOME DirectFB support

[Denis Oliver Kropp <dok@directfb.org>]

Quoting Ali Akcaagac (aliakc@web.de):
> Hello,
> 
> I am following the DirectFB development and System for quite some time
> now and was playing with it for 1-2 weeks now and the results where
> really impressive.

Thanks ;)

> I compiled GTK+ CVS HEAD with directfb support (not linux-fb) and played
> around with the gtk-demo. Later on I had the idea trying to compile
> GNOME using directfb itself since the GDK backend of GTK supports it and
> I know that many GNOME libs/apps support direct GDK calls rather than
> X11 calls.
> 
> Thus my idea was to try to see how many libraries and gnome apps could
> be compiled without X support that this fails was absolutely clear to me
> since certain GNOME libraries are simply tied to X11 functioncalls.
> After spending some days with it I was able to hack around some stuff
> only to see how far I could go having things run wasn't my first
> intention, it was only to see how much of GNOME could be compiled
> without X and I figued out that half of it compiles without significant
> problems.
> 
> The idea of directfb comes really handy because I somehow see it as a
> total replacement of Xfree (maybe not now but maybe in a couple of
> years). Think about the benefits you trash 150mb of Xfree in favor of
> 200kb directfb library, having your linux kernel boot into a framebuffer
> environment will also come closer to what the old Amiga Desktop used to
> be, no Console+Desktop environment anymore. Everything becomes one. You
> boot linux (or any other framebuffer supporting plattform) and voila be
> in your GNOME desktop.
> 
> I have written 2 emails to Desktop-Devel-List some weeks ago and also
> talked with various people about it. The idea itself is brilliant but
> realizing it may be difficult and wasn't thought any deeper by me. But
> here the 2 mails that I wrote, it explains a bit more the benefeits that
> I see of this idea becoming true.
> 
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2003-May/msg00805.html
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2003-May/msg00849.html

This is what we've been thinking about several times, starting with that
sounds like a good idea and will show which desktop functionality is
missing in DirectFB, e.g. a common native window manager.

> Could I interest some people to think about this idea and at least
> helping me to convince the GNOME developers to use and support directfb
> whenever possible so for the future a possible port may become easier ?

I'm interested in Gnome without X11, but I don't have any time for working
on it. I'm not even sure if I want to use the Gnome Panel. I've started
a very simple panel called "Chief" based on lite. It only has a clock and
a text line field for starting apps. This was just a test and things like
limiting the area of the desktop (for maximizing apps) are needed.

> I am now subscribed here because my other email that I sent here
> obviously never showed up. So I would pretty much like to get an answer.
> Having one of the dominating Desktop Environments support DirectFB (not
> XDirectFB) would probably be a big push forward for the directfb team
> and probably results in more people getting interested into it. From my
> personal experience many people heard about DirectFB but simply have no
> clue until one stands up and tell and show them. And from personal
> eperience a lot of people simply were impressed after they got shown.

That's true, the screenshots on the web site can't fully expose the power
of DirectFB, only a few people try DirectFB themselves.

Another problem is that all drivers but Matrox lack full transparency support.

-- 
Best regards,
  Denis Oliver Kropp

.------------------------------------------.
| DirectFB - Hardware accelerated graphics |
| http://www.directfb.org/                 |
"------------------------------------------"

                            Convergence GmbH


-- 
Info:  To unsubscribe send a mail to ecartis@directfb.org with 
"unsubscribe directfb-dev" as subject.