Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!attctc.dallas.tx.us!buckaroo From: buckaroo@attctc.dallas.tx.us (Dave Williams) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Advice Needed Message-ID: Date: 13 Jan 90 20:48:00 GMT Sender: root@athena.mit.edu (Wizard A. Root) Organization: The Internet Lines: 35 I'm looking into a similar concept for casual users (engineering managers) of mechanical CAE/CAE systems. I have GSS PC-Xview 1.2 running on a 20 Mhz '386 box with 8 Meg RAM , a 140 Meg H.D., and a DGIS graphics controller with a res. of 1024 X 768 (NEC 1024). Performance is very good compared with a 386i Sun acting as the display server (thats the end where you sit watching the pictures, as the server/client relationship is inverted in X) and our net traffic levels. Here is a short list of the pros and cons as I see them now: pros: + If you alredy have a *fast* dos machine, you may be able to turn it into a decent Xterminal if it has at least 2 Mb RAM with the addition of a *good* ethernet board (I use Excelan 205's) and some high end graphics board. + If you don't require shaded images (256 concurrent colors displayed) then a VGA will probably suffice, though I prefer the DGIS solution for memory management reasons. - I have had *all kinds* of trouble getting Sun OpenWindows 1.00 (their Open Look X11/NeWS release) to run across the net on my dos display server. Not fixed yet. This brings up all sorts of ugly questions about specific cursor fonts, text fonts, etc... - If you don't use one of the products that use "dos extenders" for a PC based server (the GSS 1.2 uses dos/16m) then you *will* be disapointed with the limitations. I would like to hear more about your other responses and any experiences you have in the future. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss this more. regards Dave Williams buckaroo@attctc.Dallas.tx.us "Where are we going? PLANET X!! When we gonna get there? REAL SOON!!!" Dr. Emilio Lazardo