Re: [Gnash] Gnash in embedded systems

[Rob Savoye]

Udo Giacomozzi wrote:

> We're using GTK along with DirectFB at the moment (graphics chip is an

  GTK is only used to create the window to render in. There is also work
in the gui/ directory to add an FLTK backend for a smaller footprint, or
SDL can also be used.

> Anyway, as long as the GUI is reasonably responsive everything is OK.

  This is being improved, as the newer gui/ front ends are event driven
instead of being in a big polling loop. The SDL version of the front end
is the slowest.

> Our idea would be to allow other people to develop own projects with
> our hardware, so we would need a somewhat stable version in the near
> future. Flash 6 or at least Flash 5 support would be completely
> enough.

  Currently Gnash plays many v6 movies, and most v5 ones.

> Also I'm sure embedded applications are the second most important
> applications areas - right after Mozilla plugins - for Gnash. That

  I actually see Gnash running embedded as the primary platform, with
the plugin just to add desktop support. Since they share the same code,
the plugin in merely the additional code to make it run in the browser.
Gnash was originally designed for the desktop however, so much of the
work required to make Gnash more suitable for embedded platforms is an
ongoing project right now.

> I had a look at Cairo. It seems that it anti-aliasing is a fundamental
> aspect of it because it uses sub-pixel coordinates. How far is the
> Cairo implementation? I think OpenGL would be the wrong solution for a
> embedded system.

  OpenGL is likely the wrong toolkit for an embedded system. Cairo may
be too. Gnash does all of it's own graphic manipulations, so a direct 2D
backend without Cairo is definitely possible. The Cairo backend (unless
somebody improved it while I was on vacation) is minimal, and not really
functional yet.

> Cairo can access framebuffer directly by itself, correct? I think I

  As of a few months ago, Cairo gained a direct framebuffer driver.

  Back from my vacation to a massive email backlog...

        - rob -