Re: [iPAQ] FLTK, NanoX and Microwindows?

> If X11 is small and fast enough, I don't see any points that I have to
> replace it with Microwindows.

I don't think too many would disagree with that, the question is how small
is small enough. X used to run on workstations with far less memory than
most handhelds have today (my monochrome VaxStation had 4meg iirc).

It's been bloated by a lack of concern for footprint, but some of that
bloat may actually be useful for applications, like the vast amount of i18n
work in Xlib which allows the formatting of many languages without
significant work on the applications part.

Of course, some of the bloat is gratiuitous, like the ability to specify
colors in non-RGB spaces using specially formatted strings passed to the
existing Xlib RGB database lookup functions.

What Jim and I have done to date is simply rewrite sections of the system
so that they do everything the old system does in less memory while going
faster at the same time. That's an easy sell to almost everyone. Moving
beyond that simple task will take more time.

As with any large existing system, downsizing it requires a considerable
anount of care to avoid eliminating useful compatibility with other
systems.

keithp@keithp.com XFree86 Core Team SuSE, Inc.
Received on Mon Oct 23 23:18:38 2000