VanLUG Email Archive
bbarnett@L8R.net
Tue, 19 Jan 1999 03:53:48 -0800 (PST)
On 19-Jan-99 Curt Sampson wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Jan 1999 chef@mindlink.net wrote:
>
>> Does this mean that changing bit depth and virtual resolution necessitate
>> terminating the server (and therefore all client apps) and then re-starting
>> the server?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Are the client apps unable to persist in the absence of the server, while
>> the server is resetting itself?
>
> Yes. Some of the state of the client apps is stored in the server
> itself. Windows is similar in this regard; programs that use the
> GUI cannot persist when the GUI is shut down.
>
>> And just to piss everyone off...Windows can do it! What is different about
>> the Windows GUI design that makes this possible?
>
> Windows has apparently implemented some hackery to deal with sending
> resize messages to applications when the screen size changes, and
> deal with applications that no longer have the number of colours
> they did when they started. Note that Windows 95 didn't allow
> changing colour depth, and even Windows 98 usually warns you that
> some applications may not work correctly after the change.
>
>
I must interject here, and mention that multiple screen sizes, with multiple
depths, is not a new thing. You CAN change and/or add a screen of different
depth, without effecting current applications.. the api just has to be set up
to handle this.
Let me put it another way. If the amiga, a 12 year old os can do it, then
linux can do it. It has supported multiple screens, of multiple screen
sizes/depths for over 12 years. Certainly X11 can do this, or there is
something desperately wrong ;)
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