Steven.Hoover@EDRC.CMU.EDU (09/04/88)
There seems to be a proliferation of graphics tools and windowing systems
for Sun machines and I'm confused. So please excuse my ignorance and help
me by answering some very basic questions. I realize that these may
require some long uninteresting answers to the experienced SUN hackers out
there so please mail your responses to me. I will summarize if there is
interest.
1.) Under SunOS 4.0 what are the functions of Suntools, SunView,
SunCGI, Xwindows and NeWs?
2.) To what extent are any of the above compatible or mutually exclusive?
and most importantly
3.) If I have a Sun-3/160 running 4.0 and NeWs networked with another
unix workstation (Specfically an IRIS 4-D system) which runs NeWs
what functionality does this give me?
Thanks,
Steve Hoover
sph@edrc.cmu.edu
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie-Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15217hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) (09/07/88)
1.) Under SunOS 4.0 what are the functions of Suntools, SunView,
SunCGI, Xwindows and NeWs?
Suntools and SunView are the same thing. SunView is the newer name.
SunCGI is a particular graphics package, not a window system. The
version of SunCGI I am familiar with uses SunView for window
management. (I recall that there's a new release of one of the Sun
graphics packages that uses NeWS, but I don't recall which one.) X
and NeWS are in effect alternatives to SunView. From a normal user's
point of view the differences are
- X or NeWS are both network oriented, so you can run an
application on one machine and it can use a different
machine's screen. This is not possible with SunView (yet).
- Software availability. Because SunView is the primary
Sun-supported system, it has a full set of system applications
(terminal emulator, debugger, mail system, etc.) Third-party
software for the Sun is most likely to use SunView. Because
X is widely used in the university community, it also has a
good set of applications, but commercial software that you buy
probably won't support it. NeWS has very little software
available for it, though there are a few stunning examples.
2.) To what extent are any of the above compatible or mutually exclusive?
In general each of SunView, NeWS, and X is intended to run alone. It
is possible to mix them to some extent, but screen behavior is likely
to be less than optimal. Examples:
SunView and NeWS: you can run SunView applications under NeWS.
However there will be a small blank border around each SunView
window. Also, screen refereshes are not always properly
coordinated.
SunView and X: there is a now a tool which will allow you to run
X under SunView. In effect you run X inside one SunView
window. You must create that window once, when you start
X. It must be in the upper left corner of the screen (?),
and can't be resized or moved.
There's also a thing called overview, but I'm not very familiar with
it.
This will all change later this year, when Sun releases a merged
window system. It will include a reimplementation of SunView that
uses X, and it will allow X and NeWS to coexist fully.
3.) If I have a Sun-3/160 running 4.0 and NeWs networked with another
unix workstation (Specfically an IRIS 4-D system) which runs NeWs
what functionality does this give me?
I don't know anything about the Iris. However in theory the Sun and
Iris can use each other's display screens. This could allow you to
make use of software that is only available on one from the other.
The software involved would have to run under NeWS. So don't expect
the IRIS to be able to access SunView applications on your Sun. Also,
to the extent that the Iris is attractive because of special-purpose
graphics hardware, you'd need to make sure that the NeWS
implementation is able to take advantage of that hardware.