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Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc.
From: |
Alexander Malmberg |
Subject: |
Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc. |
Date: |
Fri, 06 Sep 2002 01:28:09 +0200 |
> Hello all!
> I¹m working on that GNUstep based distribution, SimplyGNUstep. Since the
> goal of the distro is to be very user friendly (developer friendly too) I
> would like to introduce some new aspects to the GNUstep ³system².
> The main thing I¹d like to do is to create a new, non-X11 backend which
> uses a common postscript based imaging model. Instead of X11 I want to
> interact with the kernel framebuffer in a similar fashion as OS X does.
> That is, have a light weight WindowServer process and (my own addition) a
> DisplayManager process (for multiple displays).
> The way I would like to do this is by creating a very generic postscript
> interpreter and implement it as a shared library. I¹m thinking that this PS
> lib would only be able to render to an in memory pixmap, nothing more. That
> way, the exact same code could be used for both printing and the display.
> By using shared memory the graphical result can be transferred to the
> display or a printer device interpreter/converter.
back-art works by rendering to a buffer, blitted to the screen by using
normal X calls, and optionally XShm (I assume that the gslib backend
works similarly). There's _highly_experimental_ proof of concept (ie.
it's mostly broken and unimplemented and not even remotely usable) code
for doing it with an abstract display server at
http://w1.423.telia.com/~u42308495/alex/backart/rds-0.0.1.tar.gz . I'm
not working on it at the moment, but it shows how it could be done.
I fail to see how this would help printing, though.
> I¹ve been reading the PS and DPS references and I know creating a PS
> interpreter is no easy feat.
The backend interface is not a pure PS/DPS interface, it's a mix of
PS/DPS and PDF/Quartz. 'Interpreter' is pushing it.
> The VM is complicated and the generic path
> based graphics is no joke to code (especially to make it run fast). I¹m not
> proposing a completely new code-base be started, rather, I was thinking of
> grabbing the GPL ghostscript and ³cutting and pasting² it into this new
> project. AFAIK the license allows this (feedback?)
AFAIK, yes, but cutting and pasting would be an ugly solution. You might
want to have a look at how gslib works (or simply use it; it sounds
pretty much like what you want).
> Since the PS lib would be very generic, it is plausible it can be used in
> the x11 backend as well. Is anybody else interested in this?
> More specific, is anybody interested in helping?
There are several x11-based backends (-xlib, -xdps, -art, -gslib), and
another backend based on the back/Source/x11 code is possible. However,
this does sound very similar to the gslib backend.
- Alexander Malmberg
- Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., Chad Hardin, 2002/09/05
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc.,
Alexander Malmberg <=
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., BALATON Zoltan, 2002/09/06
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., Chris B. Vetter, 2002/09/06
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., Alexander Malmberg, 2002/09/06
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., Alexander Malmberg, 2002/09/06
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., Adam Fedor, 2002/09/06
- Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc., BALATON Zoltan, 2002/09/09
- XWindowBuffer [Re: Proposal. Looking for feedback, interest, etc.], Alexander Malmberg, 2002/09/10