Scaled Window Support in DMX : Introduction
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## 1. Introduction

### 1.1. DMX

The DMX X server (Xdmx) is a proxy server that is designed to allow X servers on multiple machines to be combined into a single multi-headed X server. Combined with Xinerama, these heads can appear as a single very high-resolution screen. Typical applications include the creation of a video wall with 16 1280x1024 displays arranged in a rectangle, for a total resolution of of 5120x4096.

### 1.2. Problem Statement

Applications displayed on a physically large video wall that provides high pixel-resolution may be difficult to see, especially if the application is designed for use on a typical desktop computer with a relatively small display located close to the human operator. The goal of this paper is to describe and discuss solutions to this problem.

The original driving problem for this work is to provide scaling for the `vncviewer` application when displayed using DMX (VNC scaling is currently available only with the Windows client, and there is no plan to extend that capability to other clients). While this specific problem will be addressed in this paper, the general solution space will also be explored, since this may lead to a good solution not only for `vncviewer` but also for other applications.

### 1.3. Task

For reference, here is the original description of the task this paper addresses:

- Scaled window support (for VNC)
  - Investigate possibility of implementing a "scaled window" extension:
    - Add XCreateScaledWindow call that could be used in place of XCreateWindow
    - All primitives drawn to scaled window would be scaled by appropriate (integral?) scaling factor
  - Alternate approach: special case VNC support

Scaled Window Support in DMX : Introduction
Previous: Scaled Window Support in DMX
Next: Previous Work