Re: [iPAQ] FLTK, NanoX and Microwindows?

On Tue, Oct 24, 2000 at 11:19:22AM +0800, xinchong wrote:
> After read all these replies, I'm still a bit confused ;-) Actually, I'm in
> the stage of making critical decision of choosing X window or Nano-X with
> Mcrowindows as fundamental platform. My effort is to create a new kind of
> user interface for mobile user. Mobile users don't need sophisticate user
> interface as X11 or MS Windows. They just need the right thing to be done
> with a simple way. The overall feeling is that Microwindows is good approach
> but fewer legacies. X11 is certainly great but over-killed somehow and
> still, can't simply port most desktop applications to small LCD like iPAQ.

One of the great things about X is its design philosofy: mechanism, not
policy. This means that X doesn't specify how the user interface should
look like (policy), but instead it gives you the functions to build a
user interface (mechanism). If you want a lean interface: go ahead and
build it with X.

> Anyway, it's application rather than OS that grasps the user. Copying
> desktop stuffs to mobile device directly wouldn't work for "consumer" (it
> works with us only). It's too complicated for them. I guess we need a
> general consistent user interface for mobile applications on PDA with very
> simple controls, say to do navigation and inputs within five keys (one hand
> operation). I don't like stylus somehow, because I can't use it when I walk
> or drive.

This again is policy. X gives you the mechanisms to implement it.

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

I have been running X on a 386/40 with 4MB and a Trident 9000 VGA with
512KB: if you used the lean applications (fvwm, rxvt, emacs), it
actually ran quite smooth. Adding an extra 4MB made it all smoother,
though. The iPaq has a faster CPU and a linear mapped frame buffer
(instead of the 64kB window on old VGAs), so overal performance is much
better.

Erik

-- 
J.A.K. (Erik) Mouw, Information and Communication Theory Group, Department
of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Information Technology and Systems,
Delft University of Technology, PO BOX 5031,  2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
Phone: +31-15-2783635  Fax: +31-15-2781843  Email: J.A.K.Mouw@its.tudelft.nl
WWW: http://www-ict.its.tudelft.nl/~erik/