From: "Tim Bird" <tbird AT caldera DOT com>
Message-Id: <9705160948.ZM12222@caldera.com>
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 09:48:03 -0600
In-Reply-To: chambersb@juno.com (Benjamin D Chambers)
        "Graphics Drivers / X" (May 15,  9:11pm)
References: <19970515 DOT 180813 DOT 7511 DOT 1 DOT chambersb AT juno DOT com>
To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Graphics Drivers / X
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Benjamin D Chambers wrote:
> It seems some people love X.  It also seems some people hate X.  I have
> an idea:
>
> Before we glorify or slaughter any method of solving this problem, let's
> just make a list of available solutions.  Then we can figure out which
> one to use.  This list is just that - a list.  Nothing on here should be
> scratched off until we get enough (I'd say at least 10 different
> possibilities).
> The options I know of so far are:
>
> XWindows
> VBE (w/wo) AF
> DirectX
> OD Specific
>
> Any other ideas?

I've heard Sun's NeWS is pretty good, but I haven't looked at it myself.
I guess GEM falls into the OD Specific category.  Also, in my opinion
GEOS ought to seriously be considered for low end use.  What those
guys have accomplished with 16-bit code, in ~100K is truly remarkable.
(It's commercial, though)

X does have problems.  It's massively overengineered for the local
user case, while still successfully avoiding providing user interface
consistency (that old "mechanism, not policy" mantra).  X is way too
heavy to be back-ported to 16-bit systems.

Tim Bird