[comp.unix.aux] MacX or X Window System?

ifocs9d@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rick Giles) (02/05/91)

I'm upgrading A/UX and X Window System 11R3 on a Mac II and am faced with
getting MacX or the X Window System 11R4.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of one of these servers running under
A/UX? Thanks.


Rick Giles

Bitnet:   FRGILES@Acadia.ca

ewing-martin@cs.yale.edu (Martin Ewing) (02/06/91)

In article <1991Feb4.230846.1421@aucs.AcadiaU.ca> ifocs9d@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rick Giles) writes:
>I'm upgrading A/UX and X Window System 11R3 on a Mac II and am faced with
>getting MacX or the X Window System 11R4.
>What are the advantages/disadvantages of one of these servers running under
>A/UX? Thanks.

Two big advantages for MacX:  You get the Mac desktop along with your X client
windows, so you can run regular Mac applications.  It also takes only a modest
amount of disk space, one or two megs, I think.  The disadvantage is that
performance of your X windows is somewhat limited, especially for animation
like 'ico'.

Running the X11 server, you get zero Macintosh compatibility but great
performance.  Of course you get the X client library, too, which you can run
with either the vanilla X11 server or MacX.

Take your pick, but I think MacX is the Better Way for most of us.

Martin Ewing:  Ewing@Yale.edu

abm@alan.aux.apple.com (Alan Mimms) (02/12/91)

In article <1991Feb4.230846.1421@aucs.AcadiaU.ca>, ifocs9d@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rick Giles) writes:
|> I'm upgrading A/UX and X Window System 11R3 on a Mac II and am faced with
|> getting MacX or the X Window System 11R4.
|> What are the advantages/disadvantages of one of these servers running under
|> A/UX? Thanks.
|> 
|> 
|> Rick Giles
|> 
|> Bitnet:   FRGILES@Acadia.ca

Sorry for delay: news was broken here for awhile.

You can upgrade your A/UX machine to run A/UX 2.0.1, which is shipping
in about a month or so (it's finished now, but in the pipeline), which
contains MacX 1.1 (a newer version) and then run whatever clients you
already have on your A/UX machine.  (MacX only includes the server,
a font compiler, a built-in optional window manager, and a few other
goodies, but no clients.  It also runs (same binary) on Macintosh OS.)

Or you can buy the X Window System for A/UX (version 2.1 is now shipping)
which contains MacX 1.1 and a complete set of X11R4 clients and a
good optimized X11R4 "native" server.

If you have further questions, please ask.
-- 

Alan Mimms (alan@apple.com, ...!apple!alan)   | My opinions are generally
A/UX X group                                  | pretty worthless, but
Apple Computer                                | they *are* my own...
"Laugha whila you can, monkey boy..." -- John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai
"Never rub another man's rhubarb" -- The Joker in BatMan

abm@alan.aux.apple.com (Alan Mimms) (02/12/91)

In article <1991Feb4.230846.1421@aucs.AcadiaU.ca>, ifocs9d@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rick Giles) writes:
|> I'm upgrading A/UX and X Window System 11R3 on a Mac II and am faced with
|> getting MacX or the X Window System 11R4.
|> What are the advantages/disadvantages of one of these servers running under
|> A/UX? Thanks.
|> 
|> 
|> Rick Giles
|> 
|> Bitnet:   FRGILES@Acadia.ca

Oops.  I realized after hitting "send" that I had failed to answer your
question very completely.  Sorry for the additional bandwidth...

MacX is an X11R4 server which lives in the "Macintosh world" on A/UX or
Macintosh OS (one binary fits all).  It provides a facility for starting
clients (and other processes) on remote (or local if running A/UX) machines
and a built-in window manager which is optional.  It provides a high
degree of integration between your Macintosh applications and the X11
clients -- for example, cut and paste of text and color graphics in
both directions.

The X Window System for A/UX contains MacX and another server (which is
mutually exclusive with MacX) which takes over your entire screen(s).
While this server's performance is somewhat (say, 20%) better than MacX's
performance, it is mutually exclusive with the Macintosh world -- you
can't run ANY Macintosh applications while running the "Native X" server.
The X Window System for A/UX also contains a set of clients and the
full development environment from MIT (libraries and interface files),
built to take advantage of A/UX's shared library capability.

If you have any questions, please ask.
-- 

Alan Mimms (alan@apple.com, ...!apple!alan)   | My opinions are generally
A/UX X group                                  | pretty worthless, but
Apple Computer                                | they *are* my own...
"Laugha whila you can, monkey boy..." -- John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai
"Never rub another man's rhubarb" -- The Joker in BatMan

abm@alan.aux.apple.com (Alan Mimms) (02/12/91)

In article <28562@cs.yale.edu>, ewing-martin@cs.yale.edu (Martin Ewing) writes:
|> In article <1991Feb4.230846.1421@aucs.AcadiaU.ca> ifocs9d@aucs.AcadiaU.ca (Rick Giles) writes:
|> >I'm upgrading A/UX and X Window System 11R3 on a Mac II and am faced with
|> >getting MacX or the X Window System 11R4.
|> >What are the advantages/disadvantages of one of these servers running under
|> >A/UX? Thanks.
|> 
|> Two big advantages for MacX:  You get the Mac desktop along with your X client
|> windows, so you can run regular Mac applications.  It also takes only a modest
|> amount of disk space, one or two megs, I think.  The disadvantage is that
|> performance of your X windows is somewhat limited, especially for animation
|> like 'ico'.

I'd like to point out that color performance is about 2-3 times better
in MacX 1.1 (just now shipping and part of A/UX 2.0.1) than in MacX 1.0.1.
This might help ameliorate (sp?) that disadvantage somewhat.

|> 
|> Running the X11 server, you get zero Macintosh compatibility but great
|> performance.  Of course you get the X client library, too, which you can run
|> with either the vanilla X11 server or MacX.
|> 
|> Take your pick, but I think MacX is the Better Way for most of us.

Thank you.  I like it too.

|> 
|> Martin Ewing:  Ewing@Yale.edu

-- 

Alan Mimms (alan@apple.com, ...!apple!alan)   | My opinions are generally
A/UX X group                                  | pretty worthless, but
Apple Computer                                | they *are* my own...
"Laugha whila you can, monkey boy..." -- John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai
"Never rub another man's rhubarb" -- The Joker in BatMan