[comp.windows.x] X in overlay planes on HP SRX machines.

neil@yc.estec.nl (Neil Dixon) (12/04/89)

I am currently writing an application that mixes HP Starbase graphics
and X. Our target machine is an 835 SRX machine (98721). Several
questions arise:-

1) Accelerated graphics using the 98721 cannot be performed within an
X window. The suggested solution is to run X in the overlay planes,
and have the accelerated graphics run in the image planes, with a
'transparent' X window suitable placed. Could some HP person tell me
if this is likely to change in future releases of the system, or is it
some restriction due to the hardware involved?

2) Given 1), I have to ensure that the 'Transparent' colour is always
available in the colormap for the overlay planes. How do I do this,
given that we are running xdm? I.e. can I force the colormap to
contain transparent without changing the colormap from within my application.

3) According to the documentation, the colormap for the overlay planes
only supports the 3 primary and seconday colours, plus black & white.
Again, is this a hardware restriction, or is it likely to change in
future releases? It would be nice to have softer colours available for
the windows in the overlay planes, rather than the garish ones
available now.


-- 
Neil Dixon <neil@yc.estec.nl> UUCP:...!mcvax!esatst!neil, BITNET: NDIXON@ESTEC
Thermal Control & Life Support Division (YC) 
European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC),
Noordwijk, The Netherlands.