[comp.windows.x] X on a PC

ifocs9d@aucs.UUCP (Rick Giles) (02/17/89)

We're planning to expand our network of PC's, and 
I need information on available implementations of X windows on PC's.
If you have information on a product, could you please send me

- Product name, company and contact information
- known hardware support/requirements
- software supplied (V11 R3?, sources?)
- price
- first-hand experience, if applicable

Thanks.

Rick Giles

Bitnet:   FRGILES@Acadia
Internet: FRGILES%Acadia.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU 
UUCP:     uunet!dalcs!aucs!ifocs9d 

foonberg@aerospace.aero.org (Alan Foonberg) (05/03/90)

Someone here at our shop wants to know if there is a "subset" of X11 that can
be run on his PC.  He wants to be able to run the PC in a stand-alone mode, not
networked to any other machines, not acting as an X Terminal on some other
host.  He wants the environment to be self-contained.  In other words, he wants
to be able to call Xlib routines and see results on his PC.  He doesn't want
networking support or the client/server interface.  His goal is to be able to
write X11 programs and run them on his PC, and eventually port them to a
traditional X11 environment.  I understand that X11 is a client/server
protocol, and that the package I'm looking for might not be considered to be X
Windows.  But, if there is such a beast, either free or commercial, please let
me know.

Thanks,

Alan Foonberg
foonberg@aerospace.aero.org

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!"

jkenton@pinocchio.encore.com (Jeff Kenton) (05/04/90)

From article <72298@aerospace.AERO.ORG>, by foonberg@aerospace.aero.org (Alan Foonberg):
> 
> Someone here at our shop wants to know if there is a "subset" of X11 that can
> be run on his PC.  He wants to be able to run the PC in a stand-alone mode, not
> networked to any other machines, not acting as an X Terminal on some other
> host.  He wants the environment to be self-contained.  In other words, he wants
> to be able to call Xlib routines and see results on his PC.
> 


There have been several requests for this (including mine, for a friend).  There
are several server only implementations available commercially.  Certainly, one
of the suppliers could find a way to solve the rest of the problem -- the market
appears to be growing.









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      jeff kenton  ---	temporarily at jkenton@pinocchio.encore.com	 
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