ex11, esdl

[Eric Merritt]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 09:55:18 +0200, Vlad Dumitrescu
<vlad_dumitrescu@REDACTED> wrote:
> I was once (seems so long ago) thinking about the same thing. My conclusion was
> that at the current stage ex11 is, it wouldn't be very difficult. 

 Your  right! I have been working on it the last couple  of days.

> What needs to
> be done is in fact implement a X server that uses SDL to talk to the system.
> This means that if ex11 is going to evolve and use more advanced X features,
> then the server's implementation will have to follow, which is no easy thing.

 Actually,  I have gone a different route. Ex11 makes use of allot of
x11 specific functionality, so the only real way to  port directly is
to do what you say, make a 'x11 server' that uses SDL for  its 
drawing. I decided to go a different route, which is to take all of
Joes great functionality and port it over to using gl/sdl directly.
This basically means large  amount of rewriting, but no changes in
core design. Unfortunatly, this means that  the backend is a complete
rewrite (along ex11 functionality) and all the widgets have to be
touched (I hope to  minimize that quite a bit).

> SDL has another issue, that restricts its use: one can't have more than one OS
> window from the same instance. So there won't be a nice desktop integration...
> (and no running wings at the same time either :-) Also esdl doesn't yet support
> SDL_ttf, which would improve greatly the looks.

 Actually, with imput from Dan and Karl I am making use of a gl
specific backend that they are working on for wings. It  doesn't yet
have  multiple windows, but thats a future item they want. Better yet
it should be more stable and robust then the SDL engine.

> Aside, I think that for any new graphics system to succeed it needs firstly to
> be able to run gs applications, i.e. one has to write a gs translation layer.
> Otherwise I don't think people will start using it very quickly. After all,
> probably over 95% of Erlang's use today doesn't need any graphics.

 I will cross that bridge  when I come to it. My main goal right now
is to get something together for my own use, and maybe as an
alternative front end for erlide. After that I will worry about larger
acceptance.
 
> /Vlad
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Merritt" <cyberlync@REDACTED>
> To: <erlang-questions@REDACTED>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 6:46 PM
> Subject: ex11, esdl
> 
> > Hello all,
> >
> >  I have  embarked  on a  project to  port the backend of ex11 to esdl
> > instead of  x11.  I am of the opinion that this  would give  me a nice
> > crossplatform gui package for  erlang. If  anyone   else is interested
> > let  me know. If I get one or more people interested in helping, I
> > will put the source out somewhere like sourceforge (at  least once I
> > find out what  the license to  ex11 is ;)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Eric
> >
> 


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I'm a programmer, I don't have to spell correctly; I just have to
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