Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Google Introduces Freon, a Replacement For X11 On Chrome OS

Posted by timothy on from the low-level-churn-at-a-high-level dept.

An anonymous reader writes With this week's release of Chrome OS M41, there is the new Freon graphics stack to replace X11 on some platforms. Freon is a very limited graphics stack to replace Chrome OS usage of X11/X.Org by having the Chrome browser communicate directly with the Linux kernel's KMS/DRM API and OpenGL ES interfaces for drawing. This design is much simpler and yields various power and performance improvements though it's not based on Wayland nor Mir (though Chrome plans to support these display server models).

6 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. DRM stands for by tepples · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here I'm assuming that "KMS/DRM" refers to "kernel mode setting and direct rendering manager", not anything to do with "digital restrictions management" such as establishing a protected video path for use with the Content Decryption Module draft stuff in HTML5.

  2. Re:The Browser is NOT the OS by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Just a variant of Linux" is a little understatement I think. It would be more accurate to say it's Linux with everything NOT needed to run the Chrome browser ripped out or trimmed down... this Freon is another improvement in that area.

  3. Re:Isnt freon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Freon is an organic chemical, not a noble gas. Actually, it's freons (plural) because the name is a trademarked trade name for a class of hydrocarbon products produced by DuPont.

  4. Re:The Penislicker Is Not Smart by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 3, Informative

    I worked breakfast time at a Hardee's while at school, and we had to suck out all the oil, run it through a filter, and scrub the inside of the fryer every morning at the end of the shift. Of course this was back in the 80s, things might have changed since then.

    --
    Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  5. Linux is not an OS by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 3, Informative

    " The OS also happens to be called Chrome but it is just a variant of Linux."

    WTF is this modded insightful. Linux is just the kernel, maybe the heart of the operating system, but not the OS itself. The OS is the kernel and the whole bunch of other stuff that allows you to run the program you click, type or tap at. See: Ubuntu can be called an OS, a variant of what some free software advocates call GNU/Linux (but actually a little bit more). Android is an OS, mostly without GNU components, also based on the Linux kernel. OpenWRT is an embedded Linux-based OS for routers and other network devices. Chrome OS is another OS that runs on top of the Linux kernel.

  6. Re: The Browser is NOT the OS by muirhead · · Score: 2, Informative

    Really kinda wanna know this, too, as I'm still considering a Chromebook Pixel, but it this breaks Crouton, I'll pass.

    Looks like they've got it covered. https://www.openhub.net/p/crouton/commits/367012555