rgonzal@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Ralph Gonzalez) (12/20/90)
Hi. I'm still feeling my way around the issue, but it appears that MacX and eXodus will run on low-end Macs. Apparently if you do not set them up optimally for these machines (taking into account RAM limitations, I/O speed, etc.) they are hopelessly slow. On the other hand, if set up properly you can apparently get usable performance. Actually, I was a little naive, because what I really wanted to do was to run an X client (application) on the Classic as well as using the same Classic as an X server (via MacX or eXodus). Of course the problem here is that there is not an Xlib available for the Mac to develop X clients for running under the Mac operating system. Instead, you must get A/UX and run the client under unix, or you must run the client on another machine, using the Mac strictly as a X server. A/UX won't run on low-end Macs. However, Mach Ten is a Unix system which runs on Classics. (Tenon Intersystems Inc., 1123 Chapala St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101 (805) 963-6983.) They don't yet have X Window but claim they will in the third quarter of 1991. At that time they claim you will be able to run both the X client and server on a Classic. Naturally, it probably won't be lightning-fast, but it will hopefully be sufficient to use to experiment with X. Let me know if you have anything to add... -Ralph rgonzal@chowder.rutgers.edu