Date:	Tue, 20 May 1997 04:41:33 -0400 (EDT)
From:	Pierre Phaneuf <pp AT dilu DOT ml DOT org>
Reply-To:	pierre AT tycho DOT com
To:	OpenDOS Mailing List <opendos AT delorie DOT com>
Subject:	A clarification (was "Re: X -- ugh")
In-Reply-To:	<199705192239.KAA26308@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz>
Message-ID:	<Pine.LNX.3.95.970520041907.11989D-100000@dilu.ml.org>
MIME-Version:	1.0

On Tue, 20 May 1997, Mr M S Aitchison wrote:

> I think what is needed is not just a GUI like X11 but a program
> developement system to allow everybody from novices to experts create a
> wide range of software.  To begin to decide on something like that we
> have to look really hard at what it is that people who use systems like
> X11, OS/2's object-oriented GUI, NeXTSTEP, etc appreciate, and then
> look at what is going to be doable and popular in a MS-led world.

Ok, I think we need a clarification here...

We were talking about game performance between DOS games and DirectX games
running on either Windows 95 or Windows NT. One pro of DirectX games over
DOS games is that DirectX gives abstracted use of accelerated hardware to
games, but a con is that it is running in a multitasking environment that
isn't very good for games. In fact it has been accepted that Microsoft
that DirectX is meant as an "equalizer" to get gaming performance closer
to DOS.

What I and some other proposed was some library that would use
DirectX-like "drivers" to give the same abstraction layer of accelerated
hardware DirectX gives. This would have all the advantages of DOS games
and DirectX games!

Where the thing mixed up is where someone (obviously not knowledgeable of 
what we were talking about) proposed we should instead use an already
existing standard like OpenGL or X Window. The problem is, while OpenGL
could be used as a basis for the call interface of the 3D part of such a
library, X Window doesn't have heck to do with fast games! Though the
library *ITSELF*, once finished, could be used to build a X compatible
windowing system or whatever...

IMHO, we should develop such a library before getting to a GUI system, but
before developing such a library, we need a dynamic loader system to load
the various drivers and probably have the library itself shared between
the games that use it.

Pierre Phaneuf

"The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be
regarded as a criminal offense." - Edsger W. Dijkstra.

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