[SDL] Linux input event problems without video

[Eric Vidal]

> Not really, since on most OSes you can't get input events until after
> you have initialized a video device. Not to mention that to make that

Why does it have to be the video device?  AFAIK in Windows, events don't 
need to be associated to a video device; just to a window handle (which 
may even be NULL at times).  I don't know how it works on unices, though.


> change would cause *all* existing SDL programs to stop working. That
> would seriously upset a very large number of people. 

Oops, sorry about that, people.  But it may be a good idea for new 
versions of SDL, perhaps a new semantic in 1.3 (wow, will we ever get 
there?) along with multiple windowing and others?


> No 2d hardware video stuff ever needs to be initialized when
> initializing the video subsystem. At least not on platforms that
> implement OpenGL because you have two choices, use the 2D API or use
> OpenGL. 

In that case, I think there might be a problem with the PS2 version in 
that it screws my video royally (even requiring a reboot) when I 
initialize the video subsystem without actually using it.   Maybe SDL 
does something funky to the GS and the VPUs already before setting video 
modes?  (Can anyone give me a heads up on how SDL uses the PS2 hardware 
currently?  I'll be looking into this more closely, but I would really 
appreciate it if anyone can help me get up to speed.  :))


> It would seem that what you want to do is modify the ps2 version of SDL
> to support ps2gl the same way SDL supports OpenGL on other platforms.

That's exactly what I want to do.  :)  I've been reading old posts in 
this list and it seems like quite a few people have been waiting for 
this for a long time.  I'm just glad I've now got 7 PS2 linux kits lying 
around in my cube...  (cue beowulf cluster jokes)


>>since events are the preferred method of handling 
>>joystick actions.
> 
> Which also is the preferred what to handle keyboard, mouse, and all
> other types of events. In other words, I don't see the point you are
> trying to make here.

Sorry about that.  I was just trying to say that maybe having a separate 
subsystem for events would be a better way to go about doing things, 
since it's so ubiquitous and yet there doesn't seem to be a good reason 
to couple it with video, of all things.

-- 
Eric Vidal
Lecturer / Graduate Research Assistant, DISCS
Ateneo de Manila University
http://aegis.ateneo.net/evidal/