Re: possibility

[Mike Ciul <mike.ciul@gvox.com>]

>Dan hursh wrote:
>
>>   Ya know, dynamic resizing is pretty easy to do under OpenGL.  }8-P
>> Seriously though, how about we pick a handful of libs to use, and try to
>> limit the project to them.  It might be good for the users.  I'd vote for
>> something like the following:
>> 
>>         ANSI, or POSIX C libraries
>>         SDL (and dependancies)
>>         something for loading images? (Does SDL cover this well enough?)
>>         SDL-mixer (optional? maybe? It will make sound easier)
>>         something for mp3? (incase folks aren't happy with midi or mod)
>>         OpenGL & GLUT (FPS DEATHMATCH ON THE BATTLEFIELD!!!!) 8->

Galen Johnson wrote:
>We definitely want to stick with ANSI C as much as possible.  SDL
>actually can probably handle just about any part of the project well. 
>There are several "plug-ins" available.  And I am fairly certain it uses
>the libpng libraries as well.  I know it can handle xpms.  Check out the
>link I sent and let me know how you guys feel about it.   Mike, Rob? 
>your input would be welcome since you guys have done quite a bit of
>coding lately.

Let me start with a small disclaimer... all my programming has been in AI and field behavior, stuff that doesn't involve GUI, graphics, or sound. I also don't have experience with any of these interfaces, GTK+, EsoundD, SDL, etc.

The first thing I see about SDL is that it looks good for portability. I like that a lot. I'm thinking about maybe doing a Mac port of XArchon one day. (I see, however, that the Mac port of SDL isn't finished.)

On the other hand, I'm uncomfortable changing a whole lot of stuff that's already been done, especially since I wasn't that familiar with it to begin with. If someone has actually used SDL, I'd like to hear their review.

Would using SDL really make things easier for the user? Right now the user has to have GTK+ and EsounD. Is there something else, like the xpm library? With SDL, the user would have to have GTK+ and SDL. Is that easier?

About music: I think it would be great if we could have mod files. It would allow us to recreate the old music exactly or make cool new music, with relatively small file sizes. If nobody can make mod files, I think MIDI files would be acceptable. How does that work with the different sound APIs?

- Mike
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