

The X11 Files - ank
http://fixingsoftware.blogspot.com/2009/02/x11-is-scary.html

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thwarted
I never understood the confusion over how X11 refers to the "server" and the
"client". You hit a key in xterm, the client, it requests, to the server, that
certain pixels light up in such a way as to represent a character. Clients
make requests, servers carry them out. The apparent confusion is more
confounding when you consider that, today, few people actually run X clients
remotely for everyday purposes, so the server and the client are right in
front of you on the same machine, so confusion over the "server" being a
"remote" resource are unfounded. On top of that, I can not comprehend what
kinds of requests could be made by the video hardware, and the software that
drives it, that would make it a client and the X application the server.

~~~
plaes
And it is even scarier with the 3D stuff :P

Fortunately there is some API refinement going on throughout the whole stack -
Gallium3D, kernel modesetting and of course - companies finally releasing
their chip specs (except Nvidia).

