Status Update
Harold Hunt
Harold@compasstechnologies.com
Mon Oct 16 23:41:00 GMT 2000
All,
Today I achieved some desired results with the Win9X compatible
Cygwin/XFree86 server. I now have a server that places the overlay within a
window (giving the appearance that the server is a normal windows program),
it disappears when you press Alt-Tab, and it handles switching back and
forth to the server without any major problems. Also, my readings on
DirectInput have given me a couple ideas that I may be able to pursue to fix
the keyboard problems being reported by several users.
I need some sort of definition of what the server should be before I start
writing some serious code, as I now have a firm enough grasp on the
technologies involved and the source code for the project. I'm going to
start with a list of all the features that I have in mind, and I'd
appreciate it if other list subscribers voiced their support and disinterest
in the various features.
Proposed Cygwin/XFree86 X Server Features
1) Full screen display mode (primary surface on NT,
full screen overlay on Win9X)
Difficulty: not bad, my test implementation is nearly complete
2) Windowed display mode (non full screen overlay on all platforms)
Difficulty: not bad, my test implementation is nearly complete
3) Read full screen display mode from command line (vs. ?)
Difficulty: already implemented
4) Check desired full screen mode against hardware capabilities
Difficulty: not bad, haven't started yet
5) Use current display settings for windowed mode
Difficulty: easy, haven't started yet
6) Safer keyboard initialization
Difficulty: medium, doesn't look hard, haven't started
7) Color depths greater than 8 bits (anybody *need* this soon?)
Difficulty: unknown, performance may suck
8) Use graphics hardware acceleration (rather than the current flat frame
buffer)
Difficulty: hard, not started, would take several months
9) Devise a server start method that doesn't launch a ton of DOS prompts
Difficulty: unknown, might cause more confusion than benefit
That's all I can think of for right now; I could probably get out a stable
release in a month if I stick to the easy tasks. I think that a simple,
stable release that works on Windows 9X would probably make a lot of people
happy very quickly, as opposed to the more far-fetched ideas like hardware
acceleration and International keyboard support. What do you all think?
Harold
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