From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 6 19:03:21 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 99EED1065678 for ; Tue, 6 Mar 2012 19:03:21 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from mwm@mired.org) Received: from mail-gx0-f182.google.com (mail-gx0-f182.google.com [209.85.161.182]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 50DDF8FC0A for ; Tue, 6 Mar 2012 19:03:21 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ggnk4 with SMTP id k4so2808175ggn.13 for ; Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:03:20 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.50.149.163 with SMTP id ub3mr9092307igb.30.1331059207214; Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:40:07 -0800 (PST) Received: from bhuda.mired.org (74-140-201-117.dhcp.insightbb.com. [74.140.201.117]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id ko6sm10596913igc.2.2012.03.06.10.40.06 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:40:06 -0800 (PST) Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2012 13:39:58 -0500 From: Mike Meyer To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20120306133958.008f1df2@bhuda.mired.org> In-Reply-To: References: Organization: Meyer Consulting X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.10 (GTK+ 2.22.1; amd64-portbld-freebsd8.2) Face: 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 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQk6AjhUqcDSfyGvxD5f6pqW3QBvkkSf6yDYbstGujTBc2cYjWqYaOljNP2rodYIx99KPo9K Subject: Re: Graphical Terminal Environment X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:03:21 -0000 On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 23:39:57 -0500 Brandon Falk 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. http://www.mired.org/ Independent Software developer/SCM consultant, email for more information. O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop html mail - www.asciiribbon.org