smikes@cbnewsi.ATT.COM (steven.mikes) (05/04/90)
In article <23986@mimsy.umd.edu>, rod@mimsy.umd.edu (Rodrigo Fontecilla) writes: > > I would like to run X on a PC. I am running X on a SUN 4/330 and the PC > is connected through Ethernet. I remember long time ago people > mentioned some X-cards for the PC. Does anybody know about these X cards? > Where can I get more info on them? If you have used one, what have been your > experience with them? > Is there any other way of running X on a PC other than buying an X card? Yes, you can run X on PC's without X cards. There is X/Sight from Locus Computing, XVision from VisionWare Ltd., and XView from GSS, Inc. Of these products, so far I have found that XView is actually the fastest in terms of performance, and was one of the easiest to install. They all have dependencies upon some third party vendor's TCP/IP software to handle the X protocol; the best of which is from FTP Software. None of these packages were easy to install on the PC; in fact Locus' product was by far the most difficult. It took quite a bit of hacking to brute force X/Sight into working because the documentation was poorly organized and lacked adequate "real" examples. XVision had its problems too, but they were not related to XVision, rather they were MS Windows problems because of Windows 3.0 was still a beta release. The XVision installation process was the easiest because it has to conform to the standard MS Windows installation guidelines which makes it easy for novices. It also needed some "persuasion" before being able to work correctly, but once it did it worked as advertised, although somewhat slow. XView was easy to install, their documentation is adequate but could use some minor improvement. It is the fastest of the three packages even though I am told that I am using the slowest of the Ethernet boards. I personally like XView the best, although novice PC users will probably like XVision better because of the familiar MS Windows interface. XView, like X/Sight allows you to hot key between your X session and local DOS. I can't tell you much more than this, because I have written evauations for articles to be published in an upcoming issue of UnixWorld, about these three fine products. Take your pick, any of them are OK, but I feel that speed, reliability, and ease of installation are very important so I personally would recommend XView (if you are not a PC novice) or XVision if you are a MS Windows junkie like myself. Steve -- e-mail: {att!}pjspot!smikes <-> Phone: (201) 615-4718 "This posting does NOT represent the views of AT&T" "Unknown Law Of Physics: If it exists, then it must be possible!"