[nas] Writing Win9X NAS Server

[Michel Bardiaux]

Jon Trulson wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Michel Bardiaux wrote:
> 
> >
> > With Cygnus porting XFree4 to WinXX, wouldn't it be better to consider a
> > 'straight' port of NAS to WinXX, and maybe an integration of NAS *in*
> > XFree? Multiple implementation trees are not necessarily a bad thing -
> > when a protocol is an RFC or even a de facto standard. But a the stage
> > NAS is now, IMHO multiple implementations would be a problem. The
> > license is certainly not so restrictive that a rewrite from scratch
> > might be needed!
> >
> 
>         Well a straight port of the NAS server to windows is probably the
> best way to do it, but I don't see how trying to stick it in the Xfree
> tree would do anything useful.  I suspect they are not interested in doing
> the port to winxx for us ;-)

On the features side: I think it is very important that time be
synchronized between audio and graphics streams, and that requires
cooperation between X and NAS.

On the implementation side: one would make the economy of duplicating
all the 'logistic' work already done for XFree4 (HOWTO install cygnus,
HOWTO build the server, install it, etc)

It is probably too soon to try and push NAS as 'the' or even 'the best'
standard for network audio; but it is a chicken-and-egg case: lack of
acceptance because lack of a server on one important platform! But the
integration could be done as an X-Extension (and I mean on all
platforms! After all, if XFree can cope with umpteen different graphics
boards, sound should not be much more difficult!)
> 
>         If the Xfree server and X11 environment could be ported to winxx,

According to http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/xfree/ it has *already*
been done.

> then I think a straight NAS port would be made alot easier, since much of
> the code dealing with network setup and teardown would have to be done for
> the xf server as well, and you would then have a psuedo-guide to NAS...
> I have 0 windows programming experience so I have no idea what the real
> effort of a port would entail.

My point is: one could start on Linux rather; make NAS an X extension on
a *non-WIN* platform (so no problems with the lack of Windows
experience). *Then* in the context of cygwin XFree, the port to Windows
would only :-) involve finding the right Win32 APIs to call (there are
so many, it is very likely there are some that match well what NAS
needs). I think this road offers better hope than trying independently
from Cygwin and X to bend the architecture of the NAS server into
something suitable for Windows.


> --
> Jon Trulson    mailto:jon at radscan.com
> ID: 1A9A2B09, FP: C23F328A721264E7 B6188192EC733962
> PGP keys at http://radscan.com/~jon/PGPKeys.txt
> #include <std/disclaimer.h>
> You talk like a Ferengi.

I *know* what that means! NuqNEH!

-- 
Michel Bardiaux
Peaktime Belgium S.A.  Rue Margot, 37  B-1457 Nil St Vincent
Tel : +32 10 65.44.15  Fax : +32 10 65.44.10