Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:08:51 -0500 From: Brandon Falk <bfalk_bsd@brandonfa.lk> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Graphical Terminal Environment Message-ID: <4F5660C3.5090700@brandonfa.lk> In-Reply-To: <20120306133958.008f1df2@bhuda.mired.org> References: <CAGSJxJ7yRZJydw7fNGyTnsykfsJf2Q0VzoFbKX-%2BSgNspiOhoA@mail.gmail.com> <20120306133958.008f1df2@bhuda.mired.org>
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On 3/6/2012 1:39 PM, Mike Meyer wrote: > On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 23:39:57 -0500 > Brandon Falk <bfalk_bsd@brandonfa.lk> wrote: > >> I've been thinking for a while about possibly making an extremely >> lightweight environment that supports full monitor resolution, custom >> fonts, and terminals... that's about it. >> >> Essentially, an x11 that only supports tiling xterms all over the place. I >> do everything through terminals, and I think it'd be a fun project to make >> something that's only purpose is to make it so you can use your entire >> screen to its fullest (larger resolutions, smaller fonts, etc). Just a >> graphical tty. > Since no one has mentioned it, if that's all you want, then all you > really need to do is figure out how create one max-sized terminal on > each physical screen. The screen command (ports/sysutils/screen) will > then let you create multiple shell sessions on each screen, including > tiling multiple sessions on the screen. It didn't interact well with > emacs, and emacs would do pretty much everything I wanted it to do, so > I stopped using it a while back for that kind of thing. > > I also find the comment that "X is quite large" amusing, because I > wind up comparing it to the competition (the Mac UI being the only > other current one that runs on top of Unix), and it looks quite > compact. You might try a custom build of X, turning off all the stuff > you don't need, and disabling the loading of any extensions you don't > need, and see how much you can shrink it by before tackling rewriting > it. You may even be able to lose the requirement for a pointer. > > I'm also curious as to why you want the ability to draw lines, > circles, etc. to handle an array of terminals. Screen shows that can > be done with nothing but a CGA. It might be education, though. > > <mike You seem to understand exactly want I want. Just small font terminals on all screens, and I was actually thinking `screen` would do the trick for the splitting/management of them. As for stripping down X, I might do so as a proof of concept, but in the end I want to develop my own for my own learning. When I mention lines, circles, etc I was thinking moreso at the very low level of fonts being drawn by lines and dots (although I would like to branch it eventually to support 2d graphics where people could maybe make some 2d games, but keep the high-res terminal on the side to keep it minimal). I also may want to draw some lines to border terminal windows (screen would eliminate this obviously). -Brandon
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