And here he is again, Darkwyrm, aka Mr. App_Server (and a teacher on his spare time). He brings us another status update, this one solely focused on his work with OpenBeOS' app_server. Here's what he said:

"
Where do I begin? Hmmm, let's see, um.... The app_server takes screenshots now and has its own key-handling scheme when running under R5. There's still a very strange bug in the screenshot code, but it will be fixed soon. Adding the code necessary to do them has meant including zlib and libpng into OpenBeOS. This means it's possible (though yet to be determined if it will or won't happen) for OpenBeOS to ship with its own PNG translator instead of depending on ones created by third parties. Perhaps someone would like to step forward for this? I'm sure Michael Wilber wouldn't mind help on the Translation Kit.

The server can also display a real BWindow belonging to a real test BApplication linked to OpenBeOS' libraries. The window even works in some ways. One could say that I'm *this* close to a major milestone in this area. Work has begun to also establish the communications the registrar makes with the app_server. I've recently ripped out most of the current ScreenDriver code and made it double-buffered. This will make testing much easier. It still needs some work, though. Lastly, the Decorator SDK is in the design stage, so once I get code written, it will be possible to create custom window decorators. The Appearance application has received a much-needed retooling and now has code which will be largely reused for the Cursors preferences application, that is, when I get around to writing it."

Good progress, like the title for the update, slow but steady. Be sure we'll bring you more updates has they happen. Good work Darkwyrm (one cookie to anyone who guesses his name).