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From: jkh@opal.berkeley.edu (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: GNU Emacs and Sun windows
Message-ID: <1790@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 2-Dec-86 15:25:15 EST
Article-I.D.: jade.1790
Posted: Tue Dec  2 15:25:15 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Dec-86 09:21:51 EST
References: <8611211945.AA02288@EDDIE>
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Reply-To: jkh@opal.berkeley.edu (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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In article <8611211945.AA02288@EDDIE> rms@prep.ai.mit.edu (Richard M. Stallman) writes:
>I have received an interface from GNU Emacs to Sun Windows that will
>probably be included in Emacs version 18 in a few weeks.  It provides
>for mouse support.
>
>However, if you are using a Sun, you should not use Sun windows.
>You should use the free X window system.
>
>1. Using free software in preference to comparable proprietary
>software is an important way users can support the free software
>movement.
>
>2. X is available on many kinds of machines.  Thus, using it
>does not lock you in to any one manufacturer.  X is standard
>in 4.3bsd.
>
>3. X is network-oriented; programs on other machines can
>display on your screen as if they were local.

All these perfectly reasonable points aside, X has one big significant
win over suntools that wasn't mentioned: It's smaller and faster!
Several sun clusters here at U.C. Berkeley have switched to X because
of lack of swap space and/or excessive ND traffic from diskless suns
caused by suntools's obesity. Of course, GNU emacs isn't exactly svelte
(sorry Richard), but if you're gonna run it you'd better run it with
something that's small and fast. I use GNU under X on my Vaxstations
and my suns, and wouldn't use anything else. As soon as I get it ported to
the IBM PC/RT I'll use it there too (yes, X runs on the RT)
It's kinda nice to slap remote Emacs windows up on various displays from
even more various machines without hassle. The only gripe I currently have with
GNUemacs is that it does not accept the 'standard' set of X-application
command line (or startup file) flags. Thus you cannot specify geometries,
font types, colors, mouse bitmaps, etc for it. This is not to say that
some of these things have not been done. I've seen a hacked version with
selectable fonts, but it's not in the standard release. Since Richard is
not supporting the X hacks, it's kind of hard to figure out when this
stuff will be done, or who is working on it.

					Jordan Hubbard
					manager of workstation software
					University of California, Berkeley.
					ucbvax!jkh