Re: DomTerm - a new console for Kawa (and everyone else)

[Per Bothner <per at bothner dot com>]

On 12/18/2015 10:43 AM, Charlie Turner wrote:

> What's the dependence on OpenJDK in particular? Would I be able to get
> away with Oracle JDK? I'm currently on OSX, and not yet terrible
> proficient with it; it seems like OpenJDK 1.8 and OSX isn't quite
> supported, or at least binary packages aren't provided.

The existing Java front-ends make use of JavaFX WebView, which is
open-source.  However, it may not be packaged as part of OpenJDK,
but rather the separate but related OpenJFX.

If you use the browser front-end, you don't need JavaFX.
However, the DomTerm Makefile isn't set up to build domterm.jar
without JavaFX, so you need to edit it to leave out org/domterm/javafx/*.

I'd like to find a "light-weight" standalone web-browser,
with no or easy-to-change "chrome" (menubar etc), with
support for modern web standards (including WebSockets and SVG),
actively maintained, and a way to turn off certain browser security
features that hi-jack special keys and events.  It would use
WebSockets to talk to a back-end.

This would allow disconnection and sharing a la GNU Screen.

A "terminal emulator application" would be a small script that
starts a back-ground server (probably something written in C or C++)
if necessary, and then pop up a browser front-end (or optionally
your preferred browser).

Kawa would do the same when a REPL is requested: If not running in a terminal *or*
the -w flag is given, it would start its own internal WebSockets server, and pop up
the light-weight browser as a separate process (or let you connect with
a regular browser).
--
	--Per Bothner
per@bothner.com   http://per.bothner.com/