> Path: shubashi.physik.tu-chemnitz.de!seeger
> From: Steffen Seeger <seeger@shubashi.physik.tu-chemnitz.de>
> Subject: GGI-0.0.9 public release
> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce comp.os.development.system
> comp.os.development.apps comp.os.linux.x
> Summary:
> Keywords: GGI graphics X
>
>
> Hello All People Reading,
>
>
> This message is to announce the release of GGI-0.0.9 public.
>
> What is GGI?
> ============
>
> GGI - The General Graphics Interface Project is an attempt to
> setup a general, fast, efficient and secure interface to graphics
> and human-machine interaction hardware for UNIX-like operating
> systems. It allows normal applications to have direct but
> controlled access to the underlying graphics hardware without
> compromising system stability. The basic design consists of
> two parts. First a kernel part, which does all the critical
> operations that may cause the system to hang or may cause damage
> to the hardware. Second is a library, that translates the drawing
> requests from applications into 'commands' for the kernel part.
>
> More detailed information can be found at
> http://synergy.foo.net/~ggi
>
> GGI-0.0.9 Features
> ==================
>
> The highlights of GGI-0.0.9 can be summarized as:
>
> * XGGI, a non-SUID X server running with GGI is now
> available. The kernel part is not backward compatible
> yet, but this will be fixed with the next release.
> You will be able to choose between old SUID servers
> and the new, hardware independent XGGI server then.
>
> * first implementation of libGGI. This library allows
> GGI applications to run in various environments without
> a change. E.g. you can simply run the XGGI server
> ´on the hardware´ and ´on itself´. LibGGI has been
> ported to various platforms, like AIX and IRIX, and more
> platforms will be supported in the next release. You
> can use libGGI without the kernel part, if your card
> is not supported yet.
>
> * A replacement for SVGAlib that allows you to run older
> SVGAlib applications is included. However, they should
> not need root-rights anymore. This lib is still under
> development, so please report us your experiences
> with it.
>
> * easy to use support for mixed brand multi-display
> configurations. You can plug in two video cards, from
> different vendors and run independent graphics
> applications (or consoles) on both. Configurations
> tested include S3 968 with normal VGA, 3Dlabs Permedia
> based cards, another (two) S3 968 cards and lots more.
> But multihead capability depends on the particular
> drivers and hardware, so not all supported cards
> can be run multi-display.
>
> * support for mixed brand multi-input configurations.
> Connect as many mice to your computer as you want and
> use them with your favourite graphics application or
> even on the console. No extra configuration needed, just
> load the driver. Together with the multi-display
> capability this allows you to run multi-terminal
> machines. Simply connect two keyboards (one to the
> keyboard port and one to the ps/2 aux port), plus
> two serial mice and run two independent graphics
> applications (e.g. a game on one and XGGI on the
> other). Of course none of them needs other than
> access permissions to some special files.
>
> * greatly extended driver base. The following hardware
> is supported:
>
> - various multisync and monosync monitors.
> - chipsets:
> Chips & Technologies 655xx
> Cirrus Logic 542x, Laguna 3D (CL-GD546x)
> Cyrix Media GX, thanks to Cyrix Corporation
> IBM VGA, Hercules MGA (text mode only)
> Matrox MGA 2x64 (Millenium I/II) and
> MGA 1064 (Mystique)
> S3 86c765 (Trio64V+), S3 928, S3 86c968,
> S3 86c964
> Tseng ET4000 (including W32, W32i, W32p),
> ET 6000
>
> Thanks to 3Dlabs Incorporated, a Permedia
> driver has been developed and will be
> released within the next days. Source
> release conditions are not fully figured
> out yet, but will probably be similar to
> that of the SUSE/ELSA X servers. A
> Permedia2 driver is in the works and will
> be announced separately.
>
> - clock chips:
> various fixed frequency clock chips
> found on S3, Western Digital, Tseng Labs
> and Cirrus Logic cards
>
> various programmable clock chips
>
> - DAC´s:
> ATT 20c504, ATT 20c505, Bt485,
> TI TVP 3026, SC 15026 and various
> integrated DAC´s.
>
> So, if all the parts on your particular graphics card
> are supported, chances are very good it runs with GGI.
> However, we have tested only on our boards, so test results
> are very welcome.
>
> * first applications are available for GGI. Please
> check our website for more information, this is changing
> daily.
>
> If you got interested, you may download a copy of the
> GGI 0.0.9 public release from the following sites:
>
> http://synergy.foo.net/~ggi and its various mirrors
> ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/pub/org/g/ggi
>
> ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/Linux/ALPHA/ggi
> [uploaded today, so it should appear by the end of the week]
>
> However, though this software is still in ALPHA stage, but we
> encourage everyone interested to test and contribute to the
> development.
>
> Future Plans
> ============
>
> As you see, GGI-0.0.9 is a milestone that marks the first version
> showing a useable proof of concepts to the public. We are now
> heading towards the next release of GGI, code-named DEGAS.
> Its main features will be:
>
> * accelerated X server
> * fully accelerated libGGI
> * accelerated OpenGL-like API for the supported chipsets.
> * backward compatible kernel part. We also plan to work
> closely with the Linux/SGI effort to ensure compatiblity
> of the /dev/graphic special file interfaces between the
> two platforms.
> * enhanced support for graphical consoles, allowing you to
> run GGI-enabled kernels on any VESA card. You will not
> have acceleratation then, but may have X even on not
> supported cards. This will also allow to take a second
> attempt at the m68k port of KGI.
>
> This is a lot to do, but we look forward to present the next version
> of GGI to the UNIX community, perhaps being out of ALPHA state then.
>
> Thanks
> ======
>
> The GGI Project team wishes to thank all developers involved in
> this effort. Also, we would like to thank Stone Microsystems,
> ELSA GmbH, Cyrix Inc., S3 Inc, Matrox Inc and 3Dlabs Inc. for
> their support of our efforts.
>
> Also, we thank the Freiburger Linux Users Group for their donation
> that will enable us to provide Permedia2 support.
>
> Finally, we want to thank you for reading, testing and commenting
> on GGI. We would like to know your opinion and/or experiences
> with GGI. If you like it, tell us, and if you don´t like it,
> please tell us why.
>
> More information about GGI can be found on
> http://synergy.foo.net/~ggi
>
>
> Whatever is your taste, we wish you a happy new year and a lot of
> fun with GGI-0.0.9
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Steffen Seeger on behalf of The GGI Project Team.
>
> ------------- The GGI Project: http://synergy.foo.net/~ggi -------------
>
-- Jordan Mendelson : www.wserv.com/~jordy/ Web Services, Inc. : www.wserv.com