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Xorg and Desktop Eyecandy

BonoLeBonobo writes "Xorg is going to include a new acceleration architecture which will help desktops to have better eye-candy effects thanks to a better XRender, thus composite, acceleration. Developped by Zack Rusin, a KDE and Qt developper, this new feature should be present in Xorg in September. Porting the existing drivers to this new acceleration architecture should be easy."

10 of 416 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Desktop Eyecandy? by AKAImBatman · · Score: 5, Informative

    My reaction to this was "Huh?" so I went and looked it up. Apparently, Burma Shave was the company that developed the idea of stretching a message across several signs along the road. The idea was that people would tune in to the advertisement because they wanted to know what the punch line of the slogan would be. Apparently the scheme worked quite well, and we now see the concept in popular media such as Road Runner cartoons and the movie Rat Race. (You, Should, Have, Bought, A, Squirrel!) ;-)

  2. Re:more extensions by John+Betonschaar · · Score: 3, Informative

    Maybe because Xorg still implements the X specification/protocol, version 11, Release 6? Adding eyecandy does not add to or change this at all...

    Your sig is mine

  3. Please note... by ratta · · Score: 4, Informative

    that, as X developers said, this is only a temporary solution, so that while Xgl matures we will have hardware alpha compositing in hardware. The final solution will be pushing the entire hardware abstaction layer (OpenGL) under the Xserver, in order to take advantage of the 3D hardware on the desktop too.

    --
    Wondering why i am doing so strange posts? I am trying to get a "+5,Flamebait" or "-1,Insightful" rating.
  4. Re:When will we have... by stevef · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you bothered to read the links, you'd know that 6.9 (the (last?) monolithic release) and 7.0 (the modular release) will occur at the same time.

  5. Re:What users would really need for desktop linux. by Nadir · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually X.org uses very little memory: it was designed to run in 16MB (or was it 8MB ?).
    The memory you see being taken up by the X server can be attributed to several things: a mmaped framebuffer (if you have a 256MB videocard, the reported memory usage of X will include that), and server side shared pixmaps. It is really the applications' fault if this gets out of control.

    --
    --
    The world is divided in two categories:
    those with a loaded gun and those who dig. You dig.
  6. Re:more extensions by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

    They'll only make it X12 if and when they break that compatibility, and they won't do that without a good reason.

    There's no requirement that an X12 server be completely incompatible with an X11 server. i.e. The X12 could easily accept commands from an X11 stream. While the X11 server would not be able to understand X12, such issues would be slow in cropping up, and X12 should easily be able to replace X11 long before that happens.

    The extension architecture works fine AFAICS, is there an actual problem you have with it?

    I can't speak for the parent poster, but my primary issue with current X-Windows is not so much the protocol (which could use a good overhaul anyway), and more the current design of X-Servers. Instead of forcing the OS to do its job, current X-Server designs schlep up video card, mouse, joystick, and other hardware control. The reasons for this design aren't entirely clear, but it is obvious that this is a source of many X-Windows issues. Moving these drivers to the OS level would improve reliability and configurability all around.

    Don't take my word for it, however. Mr. Packard has a very good writeup on the issue.

  7. Re:Dual Monitor Support by JVolkman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because eyecandy affects a larger number of people, and most hackers probably don't have dual monitors available on which to test. But it seems that you do, so get to work!

  8. Re:X11 Facelift by chez69 · · Score: 3, Informative

    if you read the mailing list (I do) you would see that a one part of this is that it is architecture is s simpler. simpler drivers == more stable drivers

    development is happening... I assure you

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  9. Re:What users would really need for desktop linux. by DAldredge · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips#oth_me mcache

    This MAY help

    Specify the memory cache usage

    Normally, Firefox determines the memory cache usage dynamically based on the amount of available memory. To specify a specific amount of memory cache, add the following code to your user.js file: // Specify the amount of memory cache: // -1 = determine dynamically (default), 0 = none, n = memory capacity in kilobytes
    user_pref("browser.cache.memory.capacit y", 4096);

    To disable the memory cache completely, add the following code: // Disable memory cache:
    user_pref("browser.cache.memory.enable", false);

  10. Re:Desktop Eyecandy? by pthisis · · Score: 4, Informative
    Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. When was the last time you saw a can of Burma Shave on the store shelf? :)


    They've been bought by American Safety Razor, but the brand is still around (almost entirely because of these ads). They even ran some of the old-style road signs in North Carolina about 5-6 years ago.

    You can buy their current products at (for instance):
    http://www.diamondbeauty.com/brandnames/Burma-Shav e/
    http://store.darisimall.com/798819.html

    Amusing that the brand is now attached to brush shave-cream, since Burma Shave was one of the original brushless creams and often made fun of the brush ("Shaving Brushes/You'll soon see 'em/on a shelf/in some museum/Burma Shave")

    Most of the ads would have 4-5 signs, then the "Burma Shave" tag sign at the end; e.g. "Dinah doesn't/Treat him right/but if he shaved/Dinah might/Burma Shave".

    But there was one series that omitted the Tag, showing how ubiquitous these signs once were:
    If you don't know
    who we are
    you haven't travelled
    very far.

    The original signs ran from the 1920s-1960s.

    And in the mid-80s someone put up a bunch of sets that said:
    Farewell O verse
    Along the road
    How sad to see
    You're out of mode.

    but as I said, the late 1990s saw the return of some Burma-Shave signs.
    --
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