From: becka@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
  To  : ggi-develop@eskimo.com
  Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 00:06:26 +0200 (MEST)

Re: GGI 3d cube, glide target, and xggi

Hi !

> I am a sys-admin working for a large commercial software company ( we
> develop on unix platforms ). We are having an internal developer's
> conference and I have taken the opportunity to fight the good fight,
> push Linux!  

Good :-).

> I am giving a presentation on Linux and as part of that
> presentation I would like to demo some GGI stuff. 

Thanks for that great gesture of trust :-).

> This is where you guys come in. If you would be kind enough to answer 
> some I questions I would really appreciate it. 

O.K. - let's try.

> Matrox Millenium I   ( the original millenium )

> Linux Kernel 2.2.5
>     I have compiled in fbcon support and manually set support for all
> bitdepths I HAVE NOT installed kgicon

O.K. - that might explain some problems, as original fbcon drivers (not
kgicon ones) migt have trouble with timing with the
> Beta2 release of GII and GGI

> 1. whenever I run XGGI on the console it comes up but in VERY low
> resolution, and with very few colors ( I am guessing 16 color max ). I
> have tried feeding it a "modes" command line option as follows:
> 
>  xggi -modes 1024x768[C16/16]
> 
> This changes things definatly, but for the worse. The display becomes
> garbled and unreadable. It looks as though it is trying write too much
> data into a very small framebuffer ( This isn't the case I don't think,
> but that is what it LOOKS like ). 

Could it be that this is a problem with monitor sync ?

Try to set up a mode with fbset and _then_ start XGGI without parameters.
If that works, you are probably hitting a problem that was adressed 
recently, shortly after the BETA was out.

Normal fbcon drivers rely on external data on timing when setting up a mode
(kgicon calcs the timings itself).

You can either download a more recent snapshot from LibGGI or use the CVS
version, or I can send you a diff.

> I tried defining a mode with the help
> of the ggiParseMode man page but it says that it is out of date and
> invalid. Could I get a hint on what to do here? BTW xggi works great
> when I run it on an X target.

Try running other demos in other resolutions. You can force most demos
into other resolutions using GGI_DEFMODE="modestring". Some even take it
as a parameter. If they exhibit the same problems, that might be a hint,
that it in deed is the problem I suspect.

> 2. Is it possible for me to run the amazing 6 sided cube desktop thing
> on a glide target? I.E. can I run cube3d on a glide target and start up
> a 4 headed x server and two nixterms on the cube?

I _think_ that should be possible. A screenshot of doing exactly that on the
X target is up on our webpage.
The script I used to start that thingy up is there as well.

Just try it. IIRC it doesn't require DirectBuffer - yes, checked. Just
PutPixel. Not terribly efficient, I know, but very portable.
Your SMP setup might help with performance, though.
Hope we didn't miss too many true SMP races.

> 3. In general what suggestions do you guys have for demoing ggi?

Well - depends on your audience.

To show off the flexbility, show LibGGI performing on a variety of targets.
Showing the _very_same_binary_ running on fbcon, glide, X, libAA (always
a good laugh ...) is usually impressive. If networkability is an issue,
showing a remote X, or the LibGGI tele target might be good.

Emphasize, that it is pretty easy to add new targets, in case you would like
to have it work e.g. on the Solaris fb device or any other graphics
subsystem.

For service issues and such, the multi-target might be impressive ...
"Show me what you see." - you know ...

Tile might make a funny demo if large displays, video walls etc. might be
of interest.

Speed can be demonstrated using the showaccel demo, but that requires a
decently accelerated target, like kgicon.

Cube3D in deed is a very good demo to show many aspects of GGI at once.

wrap is also very good usually, as the effect is nifty, and especially 
as you can easily customize the picture for your audience.

For a presentation to programmers, that are interested in the API, most
demos are already too complicated. A very simplistic
ggiInit();ggiOpen();ggiSetMode();ggiGCSetForeground();ggiDrawSomething();
ggiClose();ggiExit(); is probably better.

Other than that, just pick some app, that you expect the audience to be
interested in. Games are something in that direction for many people,
though usually not for professionals. 

Those tend to rather be impressed by something like :
- an XGGI in an XGGI in an XGGI on fbcon (all running different WMs), 
- starting some arbitrary GGI application from a nixterm on the side of
  a cube3d and having the result pop up on that side
- quickly viewing an image from mc, no matter if you are in X or on the
  console.
- multihead setups, especially, if _one_ application creates both displays.

If you can tell me a little more about your audience, I can try to give 
more detailed suggestions. You can send me PM, in case you don't want
to discuss what your company is up to in too broad a public.

Some other things might e.g. be the modular input system that would be very
valueable to CAD and similar apps that often use "strange" input devices.

CU, ANdy

-- 
= Andreas Beck                    |  Email :  <andreas.beck@ggi-project.org> =