[PD] Does GEM need X-Server to be running

IOhannes m zmölnig zmoelnig at iem.at
Fri May 14 11:26:05 CEST 2010


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Ingo Scherzinger wrote:
>>> Does GEM need X-Server to be running or does it connect directly to the
>>> graphic card?
>>>
>> whether you need an X-server, depends on your platform.
>> on windows, Gem uses platform dependend code to create windows and to
>> establish an openGL context.
>> on X-platforms (linux, bsd, irix,...) it will use X/glx, so you will
>> need an X-server somewhere to display (not necessarily the machine you
>> are running Pd on).
>> on OSX it will use Carbon/AGL.
>> on w32 it will use windows/wgl.
>>
>> i don't know of any program that "directly connects to the graphics
>> card" and still wants to do more than copying pixels into some legacy
>> buffer.
> 
> Sorry, I forgot to mention that I'm on Linux (Ubuntu 10.04).
> I need to display the GEM window with the machine I'm running it on.
> So that means I basically have to keep the system graphics turned on I
> guess.

yes.
butt after all, you want graphics, don't you? so why would you want to
turn them off?
get rid of your desktop environment and your window manager if you want
to keep ressources low.

(maybe this is a misunderstanding? you don't want all the fancy wm and
de stuff, when you talk about "system graphics" and "Xserver"? Gem
doesn't need anything fancy, but it does need an Xserver.

the Xserver really only provides an abstracted interface to the gfx card
(and to devices like mouse/keyboard), so your application doesn't need
to know that it is talking to an "Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME
Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)" or whatever card you
have installed on your system. this is quite nice, as you don't need
special binaries of Gem depending on your gfx card)

> 
>> Try pdp_xv or if it’s build pdp_sdl
> 
> Would this allow me to turn the system graphics off and only display the GEM
> window?

pdp_xv creates an XVisual; the X already hints that you need an X-server.

the pdp_sdl should be able to work without X (depending on the SDL
backends you have installed on your system; e.g. you might be able to
output in AsciiArt)
however, if you want to work with Gem (e.g. by using the gem2pdp bridge
to display via pdp) you will still need to allow Gem to create a window,
for which you need an Xserver.


mfgasdr
IOhannes
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