Hello all!
I’m working on that GNUstep based distribution, SimplyGNUstep. Since the goal of the distro is to be very user friendly (developer friendly too) I would like to introduce some new aspects to the GNUstep “system”.
The main thing I’d like to do is to create a new, non-X11 backend which uses a common postscript based imaging model. Instead of X11 I want to interact with the kernel framebuffer in a similar fashion as OS X does. That is, have a light weight WindowServer process and (my own addition) a DisplayManager process (for multiple displays).
The way I would like to do this is by creating a very generic postscript interpreter and implement it as a shared library. I’m thinking that this PS lib would only be able to render to an in memory pixmap, nothing more. That way, the exact same code could be used for both printing and the display. By using shared memory the graphical result can be transferred to the display or a printer device interpreter/converter.
I’ve been reading the PS and DPS references and I know creating a PS interpreter is no easy feat. The VM is complicated and the generic path based graphics is no joke to code (especially to make it run fast). I’m not proposing a completely new code-base be started, rather, I was thinking of grabbing the GPL ghostscript and “cutting and pasting” it into this new project. AFAIK the license allows this (feedback?)
Since the PS lib would be very generic, it is plausible it can be used in the x11 backend as well. Is anybody else interested in this? More specific, is anybody interested in helping?
Thanks,
Chad
P.S. There will be “real” release of SimplyGNUstep soon. A true-to-honest bootable cd-rom which installs to the HD!