On Sun, Jul 29, 2001 at 12:15:35PM -0700, Michael Wolfson wrote:
> Wouldn't it be better to get ofb attached to some dumb framebuffer device
> in XFree86?  Then we would only need one X server for all systems.

Short answer: sure, but this is simpler, since Xmacppc already
exists and it's just some minor debugging to fix it.

Long answer: it is my personal belief that XFree86 sucks. Not to say
that it doesn't do what it does well, but it does it in an
inappropriate way, imho. Our X server does *not* require running at
securelevel 0 (or with options INSECURE, which is, of course, the
same semblance), XF86 does on every platform it runs on. Sure, that
means it can use accelerated drivers and run in higher bit depths,
but you don't always want that. I want a console machine which I
can still classify as secure for remote users which runs X. This
is the reason that other ports also still have internally-maintained
X servers (Xsun comes to mind as a prime example). Further, making
XF86 recognize our ofb means figuring out stuff that Xmacppc just
gets handed to it (OF initialization handles). I don't want anything
pretty, I just *don't* want daily hangs that require the system to
be rebooted.

I'm not saying I'm against XF86 knowing about our ofb, nor that it
shouldn't be done (it probably should, and would be applicable for
most macppc workstations; XF86 already works on newer macs that use
an industry-standard chipset or a PCI video card, as I know you know
well), just that it's not what I'm after right now, and, to be done
right and committed as a permanent chunk of the distribution,
requires a little more getting-to-know-you work with code than I've
got time for on a Sunday afternoon. I just want something
(code-wise) ugly that'll work for me for now, but that I may feel is
to hideous to seriously send-pr without some cleaning up (which I'd
probably go ahead and do later, or hand off to someone else to do). 

-- 
       ~ g r @ eclipsed.net