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Qt On DirectFB
Ashcrow writes "The feasibility for DirectFB to replace XFree86 just a little stronger thanks Maurizio Monge very first alpha release of Trolltech's Qt library for use in DirectFB. You can check out some screenshots or go straight to the source. And yes, it has been released as Free Software."
I think you are missing the point.. we aren't saying "This is a drop in replacement for X" .. it's NOT X. I'm saying, to build desktop GUIs, we don't necessairily need to use X as a base.
Yes, that might mean that only apps written for that gui would work.. but that gui could be, say, QT (as the article is about) or something else.
See OSX for an example. Can I run X apps? Sure, if I fire up the X server. ANd they run just how you expect them to, they look the right way, and everything... but the apps that work really well use the native display library, not X.... and they work even better. And no, it's not because the X server sucks, in fact, the X server is quite good.
We are adding so much stuff on top of X we have to question if we really need what X provides, and if it can't be better provided better another way.
Not being familiar with it, the first thing I did was read the FAQ:
So. In order to get the supposed benefits of DFB, you have to run apps as root? I guess maybe you could log on as a user and su the DFB apps, but that's a pain. Why should a graphics lib muck up security? That seems inherently broken to me. If it really just abstracts graphics then there should be no problem with user apps running it.
This isn't really my area of expertise. Perhaps there's something I'm missing. Can anybody clue me in?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
In reality, though, to a great many linux users, it's a neat trick that you don't necessairly NEED.
In the midst of citing reality, you're ignoring reality. First of all, Linux isn't the only OS that uses XFree86, X11R6, or another X11 based windowing system. Heck, it ain't even the only free OS that uses it.
Second, even supposing Linux will achieve it's goal of "World Domination", where everyone must use Linux or be branded a luser, it's still ignoring the fact that Linux is a Unix-like operating system, and to confine it to only the home based game machine is to deny it 95% of its potential.
Third, that "neat trick" doesn't cost you a damn thing if you don't need it. The only thing holding back XFree86 performance is the fact that it must operate in userland.
I've heard the phrase "why keep it of 95% of the people don't use it", referring to the remote network capabilities of X11. Well, why not turn that statement on its head? Why support SMP in Linux, if 95% of the users don't use it? Heck, why do I need snowchains for my car if 95% of the time I won't be driving in snow?
Fact of the matter is, most people using Linux, BSD or UNIX outside of the home will want and need the networking capabilities of XFree86. If you want Linux to be confined to home game machines, then go roll your own distro. But in the meantime a lot of us want the capabilities of XFree86.
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many KDE programmers have, because of QT/Embedded (and the zaurus).
Konqueror, KHTML et all already have releases built to not need X (kdenox cvs module).
Now, for the more desktop-ish apps this is certainly true, and X11 usage is (unfortunately) rather sprinkled about.
The biggest single piece is probably replacing kwin, followed by the dcopserver.
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