Re: supporting all X (not only gtk+) applications in browser

[Matthew Brush <mbrush codebrainz ca>]

On 13-01-08 12:51 PM, Yuhao Zhu wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am not sure if this is the right place to post this.  But I saw this post
> (https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-devel-list/2010-November/msg00103.html)
> in this mailing list.  It is about rendering gtk+ applications in firefox.
>
> I think it is a good idea to run desktop applications in web browsers,
> which basically acts as a container.  The caveats of the Chrome OS is that
> users can't use real full version of all sorts of fancy software, but have
> to suffer the trimmed online version.  Imagine we can really have a
> "Browser OS" where the browser is the only software, which could do
> conventional browsing, as well as (remotely) run desktop applications.
>
> That patch in gtk+ sorts of does this, but as per my understanding (please
> correct me if wrong), it transfers pure pictures/pixels, and only deals
> with gtk+ applications.  However, why can't we just intercept the
> communication between X clients and servers, and render in the browser.
>   All we have to do is to ask X server to render the client in the browser
> tab (probably in a canvas) instead of as a standalone application.  In this
> way, we don't have to transfer pictures -- we are just re-routing the X
> rendering to the browser.  Supporting Wayland is also possible, and
> probably better.
>
> Imagine that we can host all sorts of fancy desktop software in central
> servers in the cloud, and users just have to open the browser, get access
> to remote server, and they can use them!  In this way, all data is stored
> on the cloud, rather than constantly synch-ing with the server!

Hi,

You should try out VNC and/or remote X displays, I think they're exactly 
what you're describing if I understand correctly.

Cheers,
Matthew Brush