RE: [iPAQ] FLTK, NanoX and Microwindows?

> X11 is certainly great but over-killed somehow and
> still, can't simply port most desktop applications to small LCD like iPAQ.

When people talk of easily porting software to the handheld, it occurs to me
that the only thing that can be ported effectively is the "lower level" s/w.
That is, anything without a UI that has sufficient power to communicate
state to the calling routine. Aside from libraries (after some dieting, I
suppose) utilities that have no GUI such as gzip, or RPM might be a good
example. A GUI app that calls these without re-implementing them allows us
to re-use software by re-implementing the UI (not the logic of the
underlying functionality) on the handheld.

I'm certain a number of older X apps did just this. I don't know if the more
modern apps (GNOME and KDE stuff) still do. I don't know enough about them.
But it seems to me that the UI on apps for handhelds is so significantly
different from desktops that they merit *a lot* of consideration.

I think the key to software re-use is the (prior) separation of app function
from UI presentation.

> Anyway, it's application rather than OS that grasps the user.

Yeah, but generally no app can grasp anyone without an OS that supports
"graspy" functionality.

Just another $.02 to toss in the bucket.

Raj
Received on Tue Oct 24 09:53:51 2000