Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!encore!bzs
From: bzs@Encore.COM (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: X Terminals
Message-ID: <4938@xenna.Encore.COM>
Date: 19 Feb 89 15:28:07 GMT
References: <8902182037.AA26757@ATHENA.MIT.EDU>
Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Marlboro, MA
Lines: 38
In-reply-to: Scott.Fahlman@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU's message of 18 Feb 89 20:37:00 GMT
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.41.15 of Tue Jun  9 1987 on xenna (berkeley-unix)


From: Scott.Fahlman@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU
>Why does everyone assume that a low-cost X terminal must necessarily
>down-load the server and all its fonts and bitmaps from some central
>Ethernet host?  CD-ROM drives are now pretty cheap -- something like $500,
>I think, if you don't need fancy options.  Why not put such a drive on each
>terminal?

The cycle of reincarnation hits the X-terminal before they're even
much available! And then we can run Unix on the things and...

The problem is management. This sort of thing is fine for several
X-terminals in a lab, heck, you could probably get away with a 2MB
3-1/2" floppy disk for $150.

But when you're talking dozens if not hundreds (read: university) of
such terminals it's just another component to manage (distribute
disks, fix 'em, deal with people who boot out of date revs and then
call for help when things act funny etc etc.)

A *major* advantage of a rom'd and/or downloaded X-terminal is going
to be the extent to which it acts like a terminal: power it on and it
goes (even if it magically downloads something, that's enough source
of problems but let's face it, if the network isn't working properly
you're sunk no matter how it boots.)

It's hard to compare loading a new copy of the software once (or a few
times) on a server and yelling POWER-CYCLE vs distributing say 500
disks.

Remember, the biggest advantage of these things are in bigger
installations. Scaled down to a few in a lab one can always wonder
what the big deal is and why not just get some more complicated, more
sophisticated set-up. Even the smallish price differentials seem
ignorable when you're talking 5 units but takes on new meaning when
considering 500 or even 100.

	-Barry Shein, ||Encore||