That Non-X Linux Thing

Let’s talk about Linux without X. Sure, there are several nice lists of applications which don’t require X. I use several of them. However, there is a whole range of things not considered if we simply talk console.

I’m aware of INX and I’m hoping it matures to a fully installable distro. I like the menu system and I like the idea of all the good drivers, and the use of various console display controls to make this thing work well. It has a future.

At various times there have been projects aimed at providing a GUI without the two-ton X server grabbing all your RAM. I don’t care how efficient you make it, that beast will never be lean and mean. I don’t hate it, I just dont’ think it’s going in the right direction. It gets fatter and slower every month. That’s fine if you are chasing the hardware inflation curve, but with the growing economic crunch, maybe it’s time to consider keeping that older, wimpy box and making it work.

I recall reading about several different projects, like Berlin, and something beginning with K that sought to come up with a different GUI framework. The problem was these ambitious projects required specific drivers for each chipset. There is also a couple of projects aimed at running a pretty strong GUI from the framebuffer, like FBUI, and the related FWE. I’ve also tried to read a bit about DirectFB, but nothing there is for curious users who don’t write code.

By way of comparison, let’s mention good old Haiku, the current Open Source version of the old BeOS. It’s GUI is far lighter than X, and seems to take advantage of the various chipsets. Two primary items keep me from considering Haiku on my Inspiron 4100: No wifi stack yet upon which to build chipset drivers, and no ACPI implementation to speak of so I can suspend. Reading their discussions and chatter reminds me of the similar stuff I read regarding OS/2-eComStation. So much potential, but not enough developers for all the stuff they want and need. At any rate, those point to possibilities, not likelihoods.

Nobody has to tell me what I really want is never gonna happen. But how close can we come? Tell me, dear Reader: What is being developed to make life on Linux beautiful without X.org?