The folks Unity3D are currently doing a "HackWeek" when they work on special projects. It looks like the Linux team are working on using SDL instead of X11 directly which will bring Mir & Wayland support amongst other things.
For those that don't know: X11, Mir and Wayland are what allow you to see windows, drag them around and generally do everything on your Linux computer. X11 is really old and Wayland/Mir will eventually replace it.
I follow Unity developer Na'Tosha Bard on twitter, and it has been fun to see the progress on it, here's what they have done so far!
#unity3d #HackWeek End of Day 1 Status: X11 is out. SDL is partially in. pic.twitter.com/YrWSY6unWk
— Na'Tosha Bard (@natosha_bard) May 9, 2016
#unity3d #HackWeek Day 2: Switch to SDL mostly complete. Partial input handling working. No more assertion failures. pic.twitter.com/4XWYwavziL
— Na'Tosha Bard (@natosha_bard) May 10, 2016
OK, Bonus #unity3d #HackWeek Status: #unity3d running on Wayland! pic.twitter.com/agsZT4kLpE
— Na'Tosha Bard (@natosha_bard) May 10, 2016
I love that Unity developers do things like this. SDL support should make things like multiple monitor handling much better. That is something I am especially keen for, as multiple monitor handling in a lot of Unity games is often really poor. SDL could also help them improve things like gamepad/controller support too.
Worth noting that these changes may not end up in the official Unity builds, but we can hope it all works out.
Quoting: z3ntuYou should also include: https://twitter.com/natosha_bard/status/730147691372646401Yeah, that was supposed to be in, I accidentally duplicated one. Fixed.
Last edited by legluondunet on 11 May 2016 at 11:51 am UTC
Hopefully you guys haven't forgotten. :)
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/unity3d-games-phone-home-with-details-of-your-hardware-software.4452
Last edited by devland on 11 May 2016 at 12:06 pm UTC
Quoting: TemplateRWhat is the difference between SDL and X11?
One is a complete windowing system that is based around a 20-something year old design (x11), one is a toolkit that can generate windows and handle input for multiple windowing systems and is substantial more modern in it's design (sdl)
Quoting: TemplateRWhat is the difference between SDL and X11?SDL in an abstraction layer with multiple backends. It provides access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware. X11 is a windowing system that functions as a backend for SDL, but also can be used directly. They are moving away from using X11 directly to SDL abstraction, which allows it to work on other backends such as Wayland.
Not sure if it is good for a game engine to put a additional layer between it and the system in general, but for unity I personally dont care much as long as it works better than before.
Quoting: MacabreHeartQuoting: TemplateRWhat is the difference between SDL and X11?
One is a complete windowing system that is based around a 20-something year old design (x11), one is a toolkit that can generate windows and handle input for multiple windowing systems and is substantial more modern in it's design (sdl)
That means, that SDL is much better then X11?
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