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Questions about ILA X-window support for Symbolics



    Date: Fri 16 Sep 88 10:12:18-PDT
    From: TAYLOR@pluto.arc.nasa.gov (Will Taylor)

    We are interested in buying X-windows client/server support for 1 or more
    of our Symbolics to allow our networked Suns to utilize a graphical user
    interface which runs on the Symbolics. Thus we would have Symbolics(X-client)
    and Sun (X- server) configuration. 

First some background info.  The Genera X Windows product is now
available directly from Symbolics.  Contact your sales rep for
information on ordering the product.

The product consists of two major parts:

1) The Remote Screen facility.  This is an X client program that
allows you to "re-host" the user interface of your Genera application to
a remote system that is running the X Server (e.g. a Sun on your local
network).  The application is written using the standard Genera UI tools
and does not have to be modified to be run remotely.  The Remote Screen
facility is layered on top of CLX.

2) The X Server.  This is a port of the standard MIT-supplied X Server
to Genera.  It can be used to develop and debug X-based programs on the
lispm, or to operate X client programs that are running on other systems
on the network.
				       
				       Questions:
    1) does the the Sun "login" to the Symbolics? Can local "login" to the Symbolicsbe done while it is an X-client to a Sun?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "login", since you said that the
client program is running on the lispm.  The client simply opens a
network connection to the remote system that is going to be the server.
You can continue to use the lisp machine from the local console while
running such an application program, as long as the program doesn't
interfere with the global environment too severly.  We haven't made
Genera a true timesharing system (still one virtual address space), but
multiple copies of a re-entrant application can be run at the same time
(e.g. a remote user could be running one instance of the Document
Examiner while you were using another on the local console).

    2) If 1) is possible, does select-L on the Symbolics bring up the same window that would be up on the Sun (if it was displaying LIsp LIstener 1) ?

I think that you are asking if the remote and local users "share" the
same lisp listener?  No.  All of the windows created belong to one
console or another.  Of course, since there is only one address space,
if one user SETQ's A to 3 and another SETQ's A to for, there is a
problem.

    3) Is it possible for Symbolics to be an X-client to multiple Sun X-servers ?

Yes.  Any number of connections can be supported, limited only by the
demand placed on the poor processor by them all.  The performance
considerations are no different than when you want to run multiple
applications at the same time in different processes without using multiple
remote consoles.

    Any other information of this type would be appreciated - Will

Please let me know if you have further questions.  Send mail to me
directly, as I am not currently on the SLUG mailing list, or call at
415-856-6410.