Frontiers: A New Xlib Compatible Window System

alucard writes "The JourneyOS people have published this overview of their upcoming window system. It looks like it is OpenGL based and uses XML as the communications protocol. The biggest news is that it is supposed to have Xlib compatibility, but uses HyperQueues instead of Unix domain sockets. Could this get rid of the speed problems of XFree86 while still retaining Xlib compatibility? I think this is something everyone wants, but projects to create alternative GUIs such as Fresco and PicoGUI have given up any hope of compatibility with X11 or Xlib. Can we expect another alternative out there soon?"

Comments

Re:could it be...

[10Ghz]

Could it be that the poster hasn't read more than 1 page into the comments on the last dozen times this X-is-slow BS has come up? I thought we all agreed on this one, but apparently not.

When people talk about X, they usually mean Xfree. And Xfree is anything but fast. Window-resizing is choppy, so is moving windows around, for example.

Re:Didn't Apple teach us anything?

[daBass]

I never said to rewrite the OS from scratch, just the windowing system.

There isn't much wrong with Linux, it is great as a server and as base for a GUI desktop. But to be a true desktop OS, there needs to be a better windowing system, not some ancient pile of crap with 20 different "Window Managers" and awfull configuration utilities for the underlying OS.

What it needs is a common look and feel, which customizable within reason. Then there should be a registry-type thing for system settings. I am not an OS X expert, but it seems Apple replaced all config files from /etc with some central config daemon, leaving the files only in place to inform us unix users of that fact with a comment inside of them.

And quit installing 10 different apps to do the same thing (10 for mail, 10 for ftp, 10 media players, etc), none of which are very good or understandable by novices. We need only a single good one, maybe a second, but a distribution should only put in one.

Then there should be a common installer, like windows has. Every application knows how to install itself so you do not have to wait untill a package is available for you version of your distribution. The current way is just insane.

The problem is: this would mean people work together, putting their own ego-stroking aside for the common good. What Linux needs is to be more like Redmond. Not just have some people that decided what goes in the kernel, but have a group of people that decide what goes into the apps, as opposed to vendors just picking what is available. This way developers have standards to work to. If it isn't good enough, it doesn't get released and no egos get stroked at all.

Re:Competing wheels make better cars

[pmz]

At least if an OSS project fails the code is available for other projects to scavenge and incorporate.

Only other GPL projects. This is important to note, as the code is still not public domain, unless the previous maintainers change the license before dissolving the project.