In my on-going research for alternatives to the X.org full server, I ran across references to a “TinyX” which led me to SmallX, AKA Kdrive. Aside from one, very obsolete reference written for mere mortal users, the whole thing is buried in code-jockey talk. The standard blurb is fairly clear about having one set of drivers for keyboard, mouse and graphics hardware, but little else. I see references from a few years ago about 2D acceleration, and sometimes notes about ancient cards no longer available. I see nothing I can use right now on my Radeon-based system.
This strikes me as a good alternative for low-powered machines, such as my Inspiron 4100. I dug into it freshly and found my Radeon M6 has only 16MB VRAM, so it’s all the more interesting if I can just find out what I can do with Kdrive on something like Lenny or Squeeze. Sadly, there’s nothing I can understand.
Okay, so I understand it’s part of the Puppy. Great; I don’t want to use the simple framebuffer, I want to take full advantage of my wimpy Radeon chip. Oh, yeah — the procedure for getting a Radeon driver on Puppy is incomprehensible to anyone who hasn’t used it for at least a year.
It reminds me of INX and all the other Linux projects. If the thing you seek is in any way out of the ordinary or mainstream, you get no help at all. You can either install the latest and greatest rolling-release, a good solid but stodgy distro, or you can become a coder and forget having any chance of actually using your computer — that is, using it for anything besides coding. At this point, I’m about ready to try some fund-raising to pay someone to help produce a real console distro, something with stability and long-term care for users. Oh, wait, the economy is crashing. No spare money available.
*sigh*
