Naive X-$1Server$0-for-Symbolics Question

[will taylor <taylor%charon.arc.nasa.gov@RELAY.CS.NET>]

From: dmitchell@backus.trc.amoco.com (Donald H. Mitchell)

    OK, so what about as client.  I would like my guys to be able to read my
    code from the Sun without seeing the font change forms and without
    having to strip all of the fonts.  Once again, after numerous attempts,
    I got a live connection up; however, if I made one false move (e.g.,
    moved the mouse too far to the side of the window, pressed the mouse
    when the Symbolics wasn't ready, typed F1 instead of F2), the input
    stream got an error that I had to clear from the Symbolics side.  In a 4
    minute session, I got about 6 of these errors.  Ouch!  However, it did
    kind-of work as long as you can read garbled characters.  For some
    reason, many of the characters (particularly in the system menu and the
    mouse line) were overlapping and had doubled images.  Since that
    attempt, I've transferred the fonts to the Sun and asked the Sun system
    manager to compile them and put them where they belong (NO! NO! DON'T
    PUT IT IN THE WASTEBASKET! PLEASE!).  Maybe, I'll check the status today
    and get back to you with a report.
    
    As you can see, I don't think the package is worth any money.  It should
    be a kind-of free-ware, you-get-what-you-pay-for,
    if-you-really-need-it-we-have-something-you-might-get-to-work offering.
    Heads up, though, if Symbolics really does make an Ivory implant for the
    Sun or some other Unix beast, it almost certainly must support X; so,
    Symbolics will have to create a real product!
	
I have used ILA-XWS as a client on my 3653 running 7.2, talking to a Sun
3/60 (running SunOS 4.0) X-server. I have had no problems with "garbled characters"
or broken connections. The only problem I have had is that Function-Q on the Sun
server Genera window crashes -- but that may be a local network problem and
we have gotten around it by using the Sun screen hardcopy function instead.
Overall I have been very satisfied with the product and I feel it has been
worth the money -- however I have not used the X-server capabilities on the
Symbolics, only the X-client capabilities.

Will Taylor		taylor@pluto.arc.nasa.gov