X configuration paradigm, and a proposal

[Jim Gettys]

On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 20:18 -0600, Ted Kaminski wrote:
> On Mon, 2004-11-29 at 08:15, Jim Gettys wrote:
> > Underway: Kristian Hogsberg is leading the charge, and I'm helping out.
> > More help, as always, desirable.
> 
> After wondering why I haven't seen any of this on the list... Well...
> Note to self: bugzilla is important. (For reference: bug 971)

It has been some talk, and a bit of code to date.  Kristian did an
implementation last summer that was discussed on the list.

> 
> > Shared projector systems have serious need for multiple simultaneous
> > streams of input.
> > 
> > I recently had a chance to play with the projector table at MERL, and we
> > can expect similar such devices as commercial products over the next
> > couple years; it provides a compelling demonstration of the need.
> 
> That's a really nifty gadget.
> 
> The DiamondTouch system can be interpreted in terms of multiple mice
> (and multiple pointers) attached to one display, and that's probably the
> best way to go for that particular system, since it associates each user
> with a pointer.
> 
> So that requires getting rid of "core" devices (at least, allowing for
> noncore devices and no core device), but what about other types of
> devices? Or, in short, is there an ideological reason joysticks and
> gamepads (for example) aren't handled by the X server, or did it just
> never happen?

Actually, the XInput extension has most of what we need and deals with
pretty arbitrary kinds of input devices; what it doesn't
have are:
	Notifying applications of new input devices appearing (e.g.
	 hotplug).
	Dealing with multiple users input.
So it is clear we'll need to extend XInput.

The other side of the problem will be the
security/authentication/privacy issues raised.
				- Jim