jne@goldhill.COM (09/07/89)
Thanks for the replies. Here's a quick summary of the various
choices for a server for Sun-3 and Sun-386i's.
OpenWindows (Sun's joint X11/NeWS server):
Various people sent me replies regarding the release date ranging from
"August 31 (1989)" to "soon". I have never been able to get a firm commitment
from Sun, however, on a ship date. I have used both Beta-2 and Pre-FCS
of OpenWindows, and it ain't too bad. Pre-FCS is noticeably better than
Beta-2. I hope that there's similar improvements in FCS. Neither one is
as fast as monochrome X11.R3 from MIT. Without a firm commitment on ship
date, however, I'm still kinda stuck.
MIT's X11.R3 sample server
Pretty fast in monochrome. Some folks said they didn't think color was
too bad. I then sent out a request for copies of their compiled server
(in case I messed up in optimizations). I got zero replies to this request,
so I stand with my original opinion -- color's pretty slow.
MIT's X11.R4 sample server
Only the shadow knows...
Quest (advertised in SunObserver)
Available from
Quest Systems Corporation
3333 Bowers Ave.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone 415-966-1310 FAX 415-966-1002
risk-free evaluation copies available
I have not seen the product, but it is "node locked", and here's one
anonymous person's opinion. I quote:
We bought the Quest server for about $900.00US. Xbench showed it to be
significantly faster in monochrome graphics tasks like drawing filled
areas. In drawing lines it was a bit slower (than MITXV11R3 +fixes 1-10+
Purdue +gcc1.34).
Color graphics such as kaleid *seemed* slightly faster. Unfortunately,
stuff like xterm refreshes, scrolling text and xman were no better
than MIT X. Since these things form most of our use of X, we really
weren't terribly pleased with it.
I think it's available discounted now for ~ $600.
Aurora (advertised in SunObserver)
Available from
Aurora Technologies, Inc.
One Kendall Square, Suite 2200
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone 617-577-1288 FAX 617-577-1209
I have no information other than it's 386i only. Someone called me
from Aurora, but I haven't had a chance to look into it yet.
Torch Technology
Available from
Torch Technology
Abberley House
Great Shelford
Cambridge CB2 5LQ
UK
phone: +44 223 841000 (Intl.)
(0223) 841000 (UK)
price 295 pounds sterling
I don't know anything else about it.
Enjoy.
Jeff Eisen
Gold Hill Computers
617-621-3404
jne@goldhill.comcarroll@s.cs.uiuc.edu (09/11/89)
RE: Sun 3 X11R3 driver
The Purdue speed ups were applied here, and the result was that it ran faster
on the color, but the monochrome was broken - writes to the screen bitmap
seem to be shifted left by random amounts (a few pixels). So text is almost
unreadable, and moving a cursor over something changes the image. Has anyone
else seen this effect?
Alan M. Carroll "Oh goody, the Illudium Q-36 Explosive
carroll@s.cs.uiuc.edu Space Modulator!"
CS Grad / U of Ill @ Urbana ...{ucbvax,pur-ee,convex}!s.cs.uiuc.edu!carrollmlm@odi.com (Mitchell Model) (09/15/89)
In article <216500012@s.cs.uiuc.edu> carroll@s.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
RE: Sun 3 X11R3 driver
The Purdue speed ups were applied here, and the result was that it ran faster
on the color, but the monochrome was broken - writes to the screen bitmap
seem to be shifted left by random amounts (a few pixels). So text is almost
unreadable, and moving a cursor over something changes the image. Has anyone
else seen this effect?
Yes, we have. (Also, and probably unrelated, moving the cursor off
the edge of the color screen does NOT jump to a separate monochrome
screen, which I am under the impression it should.)
--
Mitchell L Model Object Design, Inc.
Director, HeadStart Program 1 New England Executive Park
Burlington MA 01803
mlm@odi.com, odi!mlm@uunet.uu.net (617) 270-9797