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linuxgtkwindow-managers

Coding a GTK+ application without window manager?

I want to code sth. that basically works like TiVo. Switch it on, you only see the menu or an output, so no underlying OS or anything else is directly visible to the user.

So I want to use Linux as base. Can you suggest a good base distribution?

  1. Can I code a frontend without having a window-manager up and running?
  2. If yes, is that possible with java-gnome or what language/gui-framework combination would you suggest?
  3. If no, what's the minimal window manager that can handle fancy menus, etc?
  4. What does it take to create video-overlays over a HD-stream? Are there some libraries I should take a look at?

Thanks

Solution
    1. Absolutely.
    2. I wouldn't count on Gnome itself working without a window manager. Other than that... language doesn't matter.
    3. Window managers only do window management. Menus and the like are the job of the widget toolkit. Anyways, Metacity.
    4. ... This one I have no clue about.