GP32 Matchbox Window Manager For Desktop?

[nubie]

I ran across this on HandHelds.org:

Newsforge article

Website:

Matchbox homepage

Do you think this would help us make a good, multitasking linux-based OS?

For instance run the eBook reader in one window and the Mp3 player in another.

Any thoughts?

 

[Aimless_E]

Im not sure but I dont think the gp2x uses the X windowing system. I only think this because if it did then we could port native X applcations to the "greatest handheld ever".
I haven't seen any posts or documentation on the subject so Im pretty sure it doesn't use it.

Nice Thought though.

 

[Series-8]

X11 is a monstrous beasty.

Eats memory for breakfast. it would be better to do a GUI in the FB and have your own engine for windows.

but at 320x200 its going to be pretty pointless. Like that wind-ups thing for GP32.

 

[Ravnos]

X11 is a monstrous beasty.

Eats memory for breakfast. it would be better to do a GUI in the FB and have your own engine for windows.

​

X11 does nothing of the sort. Try using a more minimalist WM/DE and you'll watch your memory usage drop considerably. The high memory usage attributed to X is more of a product of Gnome and KDE which have a ton of extra stuff in them (some call this "bloat", which is a matter of opinion) and, in the case of Gnome, uses a fairly inefficient toolkit. X itself is incredibly lightweight all things considered and does little more than provide a framework for the various DEs to use.

 

[haplo]

matchbox certainly isnt a robust linux OS, it's simply a window manager for small devices. Just like KDE's kwin, and GNOMEs metacity, flubbox ,etc. Its just very small and I think only lets you focus on one thing at a time. you'd need X to be ported first, so have fun. Currently the gp2x display i think is just using SDL and a frame buffer or something. much simpler