I think that there is something that some Linux
developers could learn too..
http://www.be.com/products/beos/mediaos.html
here is little part of the text from above about graphics
...sniff
Because of these factors, the Media OS should not make too many
assumptions about the type of graphics hardware that may be present, nor
assumptions about what type of capabilities application software might
have. What this means is that a Media OS should have a modular,
dynamic, multithreaded graphics system. Graphics hardware drivers
should be modular and dynamically loaded. Graphics APIs should allow
various functions to be handled in OS-level software, or to be overridden
by hardware capabilities or application-level functions. And these APIs
should assume that there are multiple general and specialized processors
in a single system, and be able to dynamically allocate graphics tasks
among these resources.
And perhaps most importantly, applications need to have direct access
to the underlying graphics hardware, when desired. Providing this
capability runs against the grain of conventional modern OS design, which
states that the underlying hardware should be abstracted from applications
for protection and security reasons. However the reality of
graphics design during the last decade, and the anticipation of change in
the next decade, means that providing the user with the fastest, most
interactive media system will sometimes mean that an application needs
direct access to hardware. It is the goal of a Media OS to allow this to
happen in as efficient, and safe, a method as possible.
......
Jarri
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