Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!garnett
From: garnett@cs.utexas.edu (John William Garnett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Mouse-X over the phone
Summary: using a PC to get color from the cube...
Message-ID: <1190@levelland.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 91 05:19:49 GMT
References: <1991Mar14.204058.1474@wam.umd.edu> <1991Mar15.120533.1@capd.jhuapl.edu> <1991Mar19.004418.14226@percy.rain.com>
Organization: University of Texas at Austin
Lines: 52

In article <1991Mar19.004418.14226@percy.rain.com> nerd@percival.rain.com (Michael Galassi) writes:
]In article <1991Mar15.120533.1@capd.jhuapl.edu> waltrip@capd.jhuapl.edu writes:
]>In article <1991Mar14.204058.1474@wam.umd.edu>, mikec@wam.umd.edu (Michael D. 
]>Callaghan) writes:
]>>Now that I have Mouse-X up and running (thanks to the authors for a job
]>>well done), is there any way that I can interface my NeXT here at home
]>>with the VAXes at school? 
]>	In theory, yes, but the pieces aren't there.  You need a (supported)
]>	transport for shipping X protocol between the X clients and your
]>	Mouse-X server.
]
]There is a low cost solution to all those who like me NEED slip.  Buy an
]ibm/pc clone, put an ethernet board and a serial port in it and run pcroute.
]You can get pcroute off uunet and many other places (look it up in archie).
]I run 3 slip links, one to a vax running vms, the other two going to pcs
]similar to mine w/ pcroute, one hiding a next, the other an SCO Xenix box.

This sounds like a good use for a PC motherboard... a little better than
using it as a controller of an automatic teller machine (which
at least one three letter company does do :-).  However, do note that
SLIP is almost certainly too slow to support the X-protocol at any
reasonable speed.

]The pc has two advantages.  First is resources.  With pcroute dealing
]with the serial link you only take the interupt overhead once for each
]ethernet packet that comes in, not for each byte.  Second is cost.  You
]only need a super cheap clone which you can usualy find used for ~$100
]and an ethernet board which should be between $100 & $150.  Software is
]free.

One could conceivably also use a PC to get affordable color (for students :-)
for the cube.  You would need some version of X-Windows on the PC (lacking
a PC version of NeXTstep) and the X-Windows clients installed on the NeXT.
This would give a one step process for viewing color images using the
processing power of the NeXT (to do the image processing) and the video
technology of the PC :-).  Of course you'd also need a PC Ethernet card
and appropriate cabling.  You could hide the PC except for the display
(which could be something nice like a 1304 Sony Trinitron) and you'd
never have to know you were using one! :-).  Let's see: a $100 (used) PC,
$150 PC video card, $550 display, and $150 Ethernet card, and whatever the PC
X-Windows costs. ($950 + ?).  This is an option that is just a "little" more
affordable than $5600 (but then the functionality isn't anywhere close
either...).

Alternatively, has anyone successfully used an X-station (any manufacturer)
together with the NeXT (clients running on the NeXT, images displaying
on the X-station)?
-- 
John Garnett
                              University of Texas at Austin
garnett@cs.utexas.edu         Department of Computer Science
                              Austin, Texas