X11 in virtual environments

Abstract

The authors present a brief description of a method for running 2-D text based or graphical applications from within a virtual environment. This is accomplished by a port of the X11 server which renders into a shared memory segment, which is in turn texture mapped onto the surface of an object in a 3-D virtual world. Events that occur in the virtual space can be translated into pseudo mouse or keyboard input events, which are passed to the X server via shared memory queues, fifo's, or network connections. This system allows any X application to be used from within a virtual space, without rewriting any software. Any number of such servers can exist and be manipulated inside of the virtual environment. Use of transparency as a background color allows text windows to float in space or be used as heads-up displays.<>