Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!csc.anu.oz.au!grumpy.anu.oz.au!hrf900
From: hrf900@fac5.anu.oz.au (Hugh Fisher)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Not impressed with MacX
Message-ID: <1990Nov28.150000.3600@csc.anu.oz.au>
Date: 28 Nov 90 03:59:58 GMT
Reply-To: hrf900@fac5.anu.oz.au (Hugh Fisher)
Organization: FCU
Lines: 75
Nntp-Posting-Host: fac5.anu.oz.au

There've been a lot of postings about X  on the PC, so I
thought people might be interested in the Apple side
of personal computing. Here is a quick review of MacX.

MacX is an X11 Release 4 server by Apple, which comes with
MacTCP for the actual networking. It will run on any Macintosh
with System 6 and requires 2M of RAM. I tried it on an SE/30
with an EtherNet adaptor.It costs $A275, which I guess is
$150-$200 in the US of A. MacX is not the same as the X
Windows development tools available for A/UX - it is just a
server for users of X clients.

Installing is easy enough: drag everything onto your hard disk
and reboot so that the communications INITs are working. After
that you just launch MacX like any other application.

You connect to a client program by issuing a 'Remote Command',
filling in a dialog with details of the host, your userid, and
the command itself, eg "xterm -display "Opus:0" -sb". This is
a bit tedious, but once set up you can save the lot and it
becomes a regular menu option, so now I just choose "xterm"
from the menu and the connection is made automatically. Once
you've got xterm open you can start other clients yourself.

The server seems quick enough on the SE/30, with response time
on tasks such as xeyes tracking and pop up menus comparable to
a Sun 3/80. The main problem was the tiny screen.

So much for the good points, on to criticism which is more fun.

One of Apples 'enhancements' is that instead of typing in your
host name, display number, etc you put -display "(R)display"
in the command and the actual name will be substituted at
execution. Gee, that's wonderful - why can't Unix let you do
that? Gosh us Apple owners have an advanced system...

Next is window management. Using the Apple window manager, you
have a choice of Mac-style window adornment, document without
grow box, document with grox box and zoom, etc. You can choose
these from the menu at any time, but Apple have thoughtfully
allowed you to specify these on the command line as well. How?
With the -borderwidth option, of course! Isn't it obvious that
-bw 2 means round cornered rectangle window?

Then there are the multiple screens. The default in MacX is
that there is no root window, all your X stuff just floats on
the desktop and is managed by the Mac Toolbox like the others.
To run an X window manager, you need a root window, which is
one big Apple window which all the others get put in. You also
have to specify that the clients be added to this root window,
by using screen number 1 (3 for color) instead of the default.
If you really do have multiple screens attached to your Mac,
they are treated as one big screen and cannot be referred to
individually.

These are irritating, but the kludge on the mouse buttons is
downright awful. Given that the Mac mouse has one button, how
would you simulate the three usually found on Unix boxes? I,
and all the programmers I asked this, expected some sort of
command-shift option as you press the button. What you actually
do is press the option and left arrow keys to simulate the
middle button and and option-right arrow for the right (You
can change this to just left arrow or right arrow, but then
those keys don't work normally.)

So, to get the middle button menu in twm you hold down the option
and left arrow keys with one hand, move the mouse down the menu
with the other, and release the keys when the mouse is over the
item you want. ACK!

In conclusion, I think that MacX would be good value if you just
wanted to look at the output from X clients, but I wouldn't
recommend it as a substitute for an X terminal.

Disclaimer: these opinions are entirely my own, not my employers.