David T. Lewis <lewis <at> mail.msen.com> writes:

> 
> On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 12:02:28PM +0200, Bert Freudenberg wrote:
> > >
> > >But if using host windows is non-trivial or involves rebuilding the  
> > >VM, I'd rather find another way to solve my problem.
> > >
> > >Is there multiple host window support on Linux?
> > 
> > Dave Lewis started working on it, but I do not know its current state.  
> > Linux is the only one of the three major platforms not supporting  
> > multiple windows yet. Where are the X hackers when you need them? ;)
> 
> I did make a start at it, and have gotten as far as getting windows to
> open, set title and dimensions and so forth. I got distracted by other
> things and set it aside, so I guess I should go back and either finish
> it or post the bits that do work.
> 
> I'm no expert on X. I was just trying to work it out by reading the
> book (Sheiffler & Gettys), stealing code from Ian, and experimenting.
> It's not trivial, and most definitely does involve building (and
> modifying) VMs.
> 
> Dave
> 
> 

If I would have to experiment such a thing, i would take following approach :
- Do not touch Squeak UI, but develop something completely parallel
- Do not touch any VMMaker bit, but develop a lightweight FFI library,
  and maximize the Smalltalk written code.
- Do not use a Smalltalk BitBlt rendering engine, 
  rather use some FFI OS primitives to draw on OS surfaces.

The VW approach to define a Smalltalk GraphicsContext wrapper to OS
Graphicsontext seems rather natural.

Once you get something interesting, it will be time to deal with plugins, BitBlt
and all the complications.

Nicolas