Wilson.Harvey@MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU (07/18/87)
We have a small network of microvaxes, all running X. We also have a vax 785. The 785 is used for general purpose applications, as well as for storing files from the microvaxes. All the machines can communicate with one another over the ethernet. What we'd like to be able to do is have an X server run on our 785 so that we can run X applications from that machine on any of the microvax displays. Is this possible? I looked at the Xlib documentation and nothing jumped out and grabbed me. Can anyone offer any suggestions? Am I off on the wrong planet? Thanks! Wilson Harvey wah@maps.cs.cmu.edu
bob%tut.cis.ohio-state.edu@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) (07/19/87)
In article <8707172135.AA11127@ATHENA.MIT.EDU> Wilson.Harvey@MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU writes: >We have a small network of microvaxes, all running X. ... What we'd >like to be able to do is have an X server run on our 785 so that we >can run X applications from that machine on any of the microvax >displays. Is this possible? Well, to strictly answer your question, yes. You can get one of DEC's old Unibus workstation interfaces and run the VAX X server on your 785. But what you really want to do is to use your 785 as an application server, and have those applications talk to the X display servers that are already running on your MicroVAXen. And yes, it's pretty easy and that is what makes X a `network-distributable window system', or whatever the sales glossies say :-) First, take your X library sources (Xlib, XMenu, Xt, etc.) and make them on the 785. Then take all your X client code (xterm, xload, GNU Emacs, xfu, xbar, ...), make it all, and run it with an argument that specifies what display server it is to drive (something like `xterm baz:0'). Remember to tell baz `xhost mumble' where mumble is the 785. We run X servers on Suns and uVAXen and HP Bobcats and Renaissances and IBM RTs and a Macintosh II; and X clients on all the above plus Pyramids and an Encore Multimax and a VAX. Soon I hope to put clients on the local Cray (high drool factor :-). Since all you're doing is encapsulating the X protocol in IP packets and throwing them hither and yon, the clients don't care what sort of server they are talking to, and vice versa (for the most part); nor whether the client is on the same machine as the server. Enjoy! -=- Bob Sutterfield, Department of Computer and Information Science The Ohio State University; 2036 Neil Ave. Columbus OH USA 43210-1277 bob@ohio-state.{arpa,csnet} or ...!cbosgd!osu-eddie!bob soon: bob@aargh.cis.ohio-state.edu