Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!dd26+ From: dd26+@andrew.cmu.edu (Douglas F. DeJulio) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Alternatives to the Window System from Planet X Message-ID: Date: 23 Oct 90 16:08:17 GMT References: <34207@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, Distribution: comp.sys.next Organization: Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 42 In-Reply-To: tim@ggumby.cs.caltech.edu (Timothy L. Kay) writes: > Have you ever used X? You claim that X bogs down the machine. This is a truth. > X runs incredibly nicely on Sun Sparcstation 1 machines. Just because it's responsive and feels quick, that doesn't mean it's running nicely. It's still consuming a disproportionate amount of system resources. I want a window system that will run well on a slow machine, because it will consume very few cycles on a quick machine. > Neither NeXTstep nor NeWS let you run over the network. This is plainly false. NeXTstep lets you run over the network. I've done it lots of times. That's what all the "public window server" stuff is about. The other small and fast windowing system I've used (CMU/IBM's "wm") also lets you throw windows over a network. (As a matter of fact I've got some Sun2s running at home as reasonable "wm" terminals via a SLIP line.) > Also, there is no reason that you couldn't have a PostScript-based X > window manager. This would give you the best of both worlds. No, it wouldn't. Having something as huge as X11 combined with a display postscript would result in something too hideous to contemplate. Sure, it might run well on an ultra-fast workstation, but there's no excuse for spending all those resources on what should be a simple GUI. To improve X11, you need to make it much smaller and less customizable. > I really think the NeXTstation looks like a good machine. I might buy > one. However, I wouldn't buy one if X weren't available. Thanks to > those who have ported it! And I would certainly buy one if NeXT > supported X. Part of my reason for buying a NeXTstation is that it *doesn't* have X11. NeXT is wisely choosing not to help people use the beast on their machines. People at NeXT, are you listening? -- Doug DeJulio dd26@andrew.cmu.edu