Whats with X

[Thomas Cameron]

Answers inline, below:

Regards,
Thomas Cameron, RHCE, CNE, MCSE, MCT
Cameron Technical Services, Inc.
http://www.camerontech.com
(512) 454-3200
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Wultsch" <robert.wultsch@asu.edu>
To: <plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2003 4:43 PM
Subject: Whats with X


> What is with it? Why is it that x is larger than a very minimal install
> of 98 (windows lite)?

X is actually a very small package.  I suspect you are talking about all the
window managers included with your distro.

> Could x not be implented in the kernnel with a very basic vesa driver
> (so that it will automaticly kinda work) and have the process of
> changing drivers be nontrivial?

Yes, but that would be a Bad Thing (tm).  X lives in userland for a very
good reason - if it gets hosed, the server keeps running.  Unlike in
Windows, where if your video driver, which is in kernel space gets hosed,
you have to reboot.  Remember, Linux is a milti-user OS - it would really
suck if the user at the console did something stupid with X and killed the
machine while 100 people were logged in.

> Could a distro not package two versions of the kernel one with x and one
> without?

Probably, but think of how much extra work that would be.