[NTLUG:Discuss] Xfree with framebuffer in RAM?

[Steve Baker]

I'm writing a computer game (eventually to be OpenSourced - certainly for Linux)
and in the game, there has to be a computer.

I'd like it to look like the computer runs Linux - and have it so you can type
commands into it and it actually works.

Since this is a 3D game, one possible way to do this would be to start an Xfree
session that renders its graphics into a block of main memory instead of using
the graphics card - then I can turn that into a texture map and render it into
my 3D scene in perspective.  It'll be a little slow - but that's OK.

I'll want to sharply restrict the commands you can get at and isolate the
user into a particular directory on disk so he can't easily 'escape' into
the real world and realise that he's running on the real computer.

So, does anyone know if you can pursuade X to do that - and what are
the ramifications of isolating a user into a small corner of the computer?

I figure that doing a 'chroot' and then limiting the binaries in his
search path would get me most of the way there.

It would be much easier still to use something like Vmware to completely
isolate the virtual computer from the real one - but I don't think I need
to get that complicated - and in any case I don't want to have to rely
on too many prerequisites in order for people to install the game.

Any ideas?

-- 
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