[comp.unix.xenix] SCO VP/ix - X-WINDOWS

fag@norad.UUCP (Florian Gutzwiller) (09/12/88)

VP/ix - PROBLEMS

I'm  running  a 25MHZ 386 CPU with SCO's System V and  the  VP/ix
MS-DOS  Multi-User  Environment.   After   having  installed  the
Microsoft  Bus  Mouse  successfully I attempted  to  install  the
Ventura  Publisher.   In the defaults-directory of vpix  I  could
only  find  a  file  supporting EGA Monitors  and  none  for  the
Hercules.  Does anybody have such a driver for Hercules ?

SCO - THE FUTURE

In  a  newsletter SCO writes providing X-Windows  and  bit-mapped
graphics interface in Version 3.

Do  they  also support VGA drivers?  A Tektronix  sales  engineer
told me that running X-Windows requires at least VGA.  I hope SCO
will  deliver  a more professional package than the one  provided
with  VP/ix.   If not they risk to loose customers to  Suns  386I
that is able to display four Dos-Windows in VGA resolution.




+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Norad Communication Systems                                     fag@norad |
| Florian Gutzwiller                               ....!cernvax!impch!norad |
|                                                                           |
| Basel, Switzerland                                          (061) 393-995 |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+

john@jetson.UPMA.MD.US (John Owens) (09/14/88)

In article <6@norad.UUCP>, fag@norad.UUCP (Florian Gutzwiller) writes:
> In the defaults-directory of vpix  I  could
> only  find  a  file  supporting EGA Monitors  and  none  for  the
> Hercules.  Does anybody have such a driver for Hercules ?

The file you see in there (romega) is not a driver per se, but an
image of a BIOS ROM for an EGA card.  VP/ix maps this file into the
address space instead of the EGA card's own BIOS because most of the
EGA BIOSes don't have some features necessary for VP/ix's screen
switching.  Hercules cards have no BIOS, so no such file is necessary
for VP/ix to use them.  VP/ix supports Hercules cards just fine; I
have one and have run several Hercules-supporting graphics programs
under VP/ix.

> Do  they  also support VGA drivers?

SCO supports VGA graphics in 2.3 and later (and maybe 2.2.3) in
general.  I have no idea what their X-Windows support will look like.

-- 
John Owens		john@jetson.UPMA.MD.US		uunet!jetson!john
+1 301 249 6000		john%jetson.uucp@uunet.uu.net

tucker@urbsdc.Urbana.Gould.COM (09/14/88)

> told me that running X-Windows requires at least VGA.  I hope SCO
> will  deliver  a more professional package than the one  provided
> with  VP/ix.   If not they risk to loose customers to  Suns  386I
> that is able to display four Dos-Windows in VGA resolution.

That isn't a fair statement.  The SCO Xenix products are designed
to run on STANDARD IBM-PC hardware.  The Sun 386i uses a custom
video display card to do the "four Dos-Windows in VGA" trick.

Also, X Windows doesn't require VGA, but EGA resolution is very
limiting.  The IBM-PC RT systems already have X Windows with an EGA
display driver, but it is slow!

Tim Tucker
uiucdcs!urbsdc!tucker