Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!bridge2!mips!smsc.sony.com!dce
From: dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: A mac as an X-terminal?
Message-ID: <1990Mar8.023509.17452@smsc.sony.com>
Date: 8 Mar 90 02:35:09 GMT
References: <1937@skye.ed.ac.uk> <1989@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Reply-To: dce@Sony.COM (David Elliott)
Organization: Sony Microsystems Corp.
Lines: 35

In article <1989@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes:
>I'm keeping my eye out for MacX, which isn't released yet.  You may want
>to look at White Pine's eXodus again once their new release ships, but
>I'd only order it on evaluation to make sure their promises of improved
>performance are true.

I tried eXodus last summer, and after spending a lot of time getting it
working, I didn't like it.  It seemed to lack the polish I was
expecting, but that may have been a feeling caused by the problems with
it freezing and crashing.  If it is more robust now, it may be worth a
second look.

I played with a beta copy of MacX recently, and feel that it is a
nicely-done product.  The mechanism for starting new commands via
the menu is very nice, as is the ability to have two X displays and
"Mac-style" windows.  This last part, the ability to have a set of
X clients that are displayed in Mac windows on the Mac desktop instead
of on an X root window, is the nicest touch.  While it may not look
exactly like X, it's the easiest way for a MultiFinder user to have
the best of both worlds.  It also performed quite well on an SE/30.
I didn't feel any slowness at all for everyday types of things (I didn't
hit it with anything intensive, but I really don't spend my day with
ico or 10 "cat /etc/termcap"s running on my workstation, so I don't
usually try that).

Overall, I think that either of these would be fine on a Mac with
a 1024x768 or bigger screen.  Anything smaller, irregardless of scrolling
root windows, is just not going to cut it.  I might be able to use
MacX for xterms in "Mac-style" mode on a 640x480 (or 704x512) screen, but
NCSA Telnet does that for me and it's free!
-- 
David Elliott
dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce
(408)944-4073
"...it becomes natural, like a third sense." -- Homer Simpson