Re: kernel

[JF Martinez <jfm2@club-internet.fr>]

> 
> On Wed, 09 Feb 2000, JF Martinez wrote:
> > > 
> > > Hopefully by the next Indy release we will have XFree86-4.0 and KDE 2.0.
> > > They both should be ready by then. I also intend to start work soon on
> > > the Indesktop project. I would like to experiment with MGR for this.
> > > Sounds interesting.
> > > 
> > 
> > AFAIK MGR is dead now.  I used it in my Minix times.  It is lean, nice
> > and fast but doesn't have much appluications or hardware support.
> > 
> Exactly what I need. Lean, nice and fast. The application and hardware
> support can be worked on. I do not intend to build a replacement for
> X-Window or start the next GGI or Berlin project,  but a middle level
> between X and console. Just a very useful interface that will hope fully
> run on any console natively. I am still not sure MGR will do that, but
> the doc's I have read lead me to believe that it can.
> 
> It would be very helpful (I think anyway) to have that layer between raw
> console and X.  We could give the user a choice, a (bash, etc) shell or
> MGR on the console.
> 
> I think it would be an interesting concept, but you have used it Jean,
> not I. Do you believe MGR could (should) be used in this way? Or would I
> be wasting my time?
> 

Problem is hardware support.  Don't know if it will be able to run in
VGA mode on, say a GeForce card and also VGA mode is sloooow.  On teh
other hand MGR is black and white and I think VGA mode is not so slow
when you are in monochrome.

However don't forget that we are in 2000 and not in 1992: a fast and
lean graphics system was needed for the limited resources of 1992
boxes but today you can account that most old boxes will be at least
Pentiums with 16 megs of memory and have more than enough horse
power/memory to run X provided you are not running KDE/Gnome

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

Project Independence: Linux for the Masses
http://www.independence.seul.org