input device support in xserver

[Alex Deucher]

--- Warren Turkal <wt@midsouth.rr.com> wrote:
> This is a preliminary bit of a plan I am generating for input device
> support
> in xserver. I hope I am headed in the right direction.
> 
> wt
> 
> 
> Reworking the Freedesktop.org Xserver's Input Device Support
> 
> Mr. D. Warren Turkal
>      _________________________________________________________
> 
>    Table of Contents
> 
>    Current State of Input Support
>    Where I Want to Go
>    Xinput Extension Extension
> 
>    Abstract
> 
>    This paper will attempt to describe issues with the current
>    xserver input device support and lay a plan for improvement.
> 
> Current State of Input Support
> 
>    The current state of the input device support in the our
>    xserver appears to be simply drivers for each OS (only Linux
>    appears to be supported right now). These drivers are built
>    into an OS specific library that is linked into the xserver.
>    The xserver then sends input events to the app. This is
>    illustrated in the following.
> 
>    Unix type mouse driver<->xserver<->xapp
> 
>    My cursory research suggests that Xi (X input extension) is
>    not supported in xserver in a meaninful way. While the
>    extension does exist on the server side, xserver cannot
>    deliver extended events like a server with real Xi support. Xi
>    has its own limitations that I will describe later.
> 
> Where I Want to Go
> 
>    Ultimately, I would like the have a HAL based input driver.
>    HAL is built on top of DBUS and should provide the ability to
>    have input devices connected to systems on which the server
>    process is not running.
> 
>    HAL<->mouse reader/dbus sender<->dbus<-> dbus
>    receiver<->xserver<->xapp
> 
>    In the mean time, I believe that it would be very valuable to
>    have a Linux evdev driver. Linux evdev is the abstraction for
>    all input on Linux. Support for evdev should bring along
>    support for all input device currently supported by the Linux
>    kernel.
> 
> Xinput Extension Extension
> 
>    While Xi handles all of the input events that most devices
>    could generate, it does not address the issue of hotplug. Two
>    general problems come up with the addition of hotplug to the
>    Xi specification:
>     1. how to notify apps of input device changes
>     2. how to retain backward compatibility while moving forward
>        gracefully
> 

We should also consider a way to get feedback to/from the input device
on the fly for things like calibration and force feedback.

Alex 

> -- 
> Warren Turkal
> President, GOLUM, Inc.
> http://www.golum.org
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> xserver mailing list
> xserver@freedesktop.org
> http://freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xserver


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