casey@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) (05/10/89)
I think the subject, summary, and keywords just about say it all. I'm looking for a good home work environment that won't cost a lot or require a lot of system maintenance. It strikes me that, if feasible, an X terminal and a high speed modem would fill that bill perfectly. Does anyone have any experience running any of the new X terminals over a 19,200 bps RS232 link? Evaluations of software/hardware quality, support, transparency, performance, etc. would be appreciated. Please mail directly to me if you can (casey@lll-crg.llnl.gov) since I seem to have a little difficulty keeping up with netnews these days ... :-) I'll summarize to the network of course. Thanks for your time. Casey
casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) (05/12/89)
| From: casey@lll-crg.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) | | I'm looking for a good home work environment that won't cost a lot or | require a lot of system maintenance. It strikes me that, if feasible, an | X terminal and a high speed modem would fill that bill perfectly. Does | anyone have any experience running any of the new X terminals over a | 19,200 bps RS232 link? Well I got pretty uniform response. Basically everyone recommended the Graphon OptimaX 200. This terminal and its implementation technique are the obvious choices for running X over a serial line. Most X terminals run a server on the terminal itself. This means having to hassle with setting up a SLIP connection between the terminal and a remote host, figuring out how to let novice users do this and get routing to the new network, and having IP suck up a large chunk of your bandwidth. These are in addition to the normal problems an X terminal suffers of needing an indeterminate amount of memory. The Graphon doesn't do this. Instead you run the server (provided by Graphon) on a remote host (solving the memory problem), and the server communicates with the terminal via a special [proprietary] protocol that eliminates all the performance and setup hassles of a SLIP connection. I've been told that the terminal is usable at 2400bps as long as you stick with text and is very nice at 9600bps. One person commented that he could run an xclock with the `second dot' and still get excellent performance at 9600bps. Everyone said that bitmaps were slow, but that's to be expected. Some specifications: Special introductory offer price: $1395 Includes terminal, mouse, and server ($395 value). Serial interface only I view this as an asset. I'm not a big fan of the other X terminals because they cost too much. With all the hardware and memory they have to toss in it's virtually impossible to make them low cost. I think the Graphon's price speaks for itself. This is the first X terminal that I feel is justifiable. 600x800 pixel resolution Not big enough to hold two non-overlapping 80 column text windows. One person said that a higher resolution 1000x1000 version was due out later this year, but the salesman I talked to wasn't aware of this or whether an upgrade would be offered if such a product was forthcoming. 14 inch screen Tiny, but it matches the resolution quite nicely. Built in VT100/220 mode It can be used as a normal terminal Enhanced VT100/220 keyboard I hope this means I won't have to hunt for `<' and `>'. Oh well, X lets me map shift `,', and `.' ... Server is X11.3 Currently, only Sun 3 and Sun 4 servers are offered. When I talked to the salesman about source code because we have machine/OSs that they couldn't possibly have access to, he was fairly confident we could sign a non-disclosure, etc. I don't know what the upgrade policy is for later revisions of the X server protocol. One nice thing is that in all likelihood a server upgrade won't require any modifications to the terminal. Thanks to the following for their input: Steve Hayman <sahayman@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> Eugene Brooks <brooks@maddog.llnl.gov> Howard P. Katseff <hpk@cbnewsh.att.com> Bill Stapleton <wls@csd4.milw.wisc.edu> Michael A. Justice <boreas@bucsb.BU.EDU> Reid Simpson <simpson@Xylogics.COM> John Robert LoVerso <loverso@Xylogics.COM> David <psitech!david@uunet.uu.net> Eduardo Krel <ekrell@ulysses.att.com> Richard Frost <sdsu!frost@ucsd.edu> Summary: The Graphon OptimaX 200 looks like an excellent product. It looks like it will satisfy my wish for an X environment at home with reasonable performance beyond my wildest wishings. I now no longer even consider the thought of trying to get a Sun for this use. The simplicity and performance of this connection technique are wonderful to behold. I wish I'd thought of it. I'd like to see higher resolution and an option for a larger screen, but with the $1395 price tag I think this is an impressive package. I've ordered one and will submit a follow up review. Casey
casey@gauss.llnl.gov (Casey Leedom) (05/12/89)
(sigh) Count on a screw up when you try to put an article together when you tired. One important piece of information was missing in my article: Graphon Corporation 1980 Concourse Drive San Jose, CA 95131 800-472-7466 408-435-8400 (outside the U.S.) And, it should be pointed out that the OptimaX 200 needs an error free RS232 link. Therefore you'll need an error correcting modem if you plan on using it with a modem. It would have been nice if Graphon had included an optional mode in their server/terminal protocol to have the server and terminal run their own error correction. This would have allowed you to run it across a lousy line or an older modem. Hopefully this will be addressed in the future. Finally, an interesting thought strikes me that if these terminals become popular enough who knows what the ever innovative Telebit Corporation might be able to do along the lines of spoofing the Graphon protocol? ... Casey