nanogui: Big Endian vs. Little Endian
Subject:
RE: Big Endian vs. Little Endian
From:
Greg Haerr ####@####.####
Date:
3 Nov 1999 18:22:48 -0000
Message-Id: <01BF25ED.CD92F3A0.greg@censoft.com>
: Will the architecture of nano gui allow for the case where the host system and
: the memory of the graphic device are of different endianess (sp) ?
:
Microwindows isn't currently written with the idea to run on systems where
the client is a different machine than the server. For this, use X. However,
currently the source is almost portable for machines that are big-endian. (that is,
the graphics memory and client)
To answer your question: No, the Nano-X protocol is completely non-portable
across cross-endian systems. It won't work as currently written. This is the
case for the Nano-X API. The Microwindows API isn't even client/server yet,
and I was hoping to use a more standard marshalling protocol for it, like
perhaps XDR, or perhaps one slightly more modern, that doesn't require
flipping if the machines are the same. So, I think the answer is no, it doesn't handle it.
: I'm fighting this case now with XF86_FBDev. My Little Endian x86 machine is
: using a graphic device that can only view its memory as Big Endian. My Frame
: Buffer driver handles this easily, but trying to get X11 to recognize this
: weird arrangement is a _real_ pain.
Now, there's nothing preventing you from hacking a new screen driver for
Microwindows that makes this work. None of the actual framebuffer contents are
actually passed across to the client, except that returned by ReadPixel().
Greg
