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Xref: sserve comp.unix.sys5.r4:9007 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:7963 comp.unix.misc:15402 comp.unix.bsd:15810 comp.sys.powerpc:31106 comp.sys.intel:27969 comp.os.misc:3658 comp.os.linux.misc:32774 comp.os.linux.development:22030 comp.os.386bsd.misc:4659 comp.os.386bsd.development:2974 Newsgroups: comp.unix.sys5.r4,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.bsd,comp.sys.powerpc,comp.sys.intel,comp.os.misc,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.development,comp.os.386bsd.misc,comp.os.386bsd.development Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!mel.dit.csiro.au!merlin!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!msunews!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uunet!uunet.ca!uunet.ca!news.sygma.net!dmog10.bell.ca!bcocek!bcocek.on.bell.ca!slavitch From: slavitch@deanna.development.bcsc.bell.ca (Michael Slavitch) Subject: Re: Interested in PowerPC for Linux / FreeBSD / NetBSD? In-Reply-To: muzaffer@smixedsignal.com's message of Thu, 29 Dec 94 13:17:15 PDT Message-ID: <SLAVITCH.94Dec30100701@deanna.development.bcsc.bell.ca> Sender: news@on.bell.ca Reply-To: slavitch@On.Bell.CA Organization: Bell Canada, Bell Sygma, SRCI References: <3dv5oj$ibd@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu> <NEWTNews.21154.788736098.muzaffer@omer1.smixedsignal.com> Date: Fri, 30 Dec 1994 15:07:01 GMT Lines: 70 In article <NEWTNews.21154.788736098.muzaffer@omer1.smixedsignal.com> muzaffer@smixedsignal.com writes: > > In article <3dv5oj$ibd@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu>, <ddj+@pitt.edu> writes: > > I think there's a lack of communication here. > > > > You're saying "I can grab an X server, grab an X client, and run them > > on an NT system, so NT runs X". > > > > Other folks are saying "A normal, native NT application, like Excel, > > cannot be made to display on an X terminal, so NT does not run X". > > > > What else do [they] want? I suspect they want to be able to run, for > > example, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, the standard NT file > > manager, etc, from a dumb X terminal. > > OK, but this expectation is just not reasonable. Say I have a UNIX program > which uses some proprietary graphics capabilities (whic has nothing to do with > X) of a certain UNIX machine. So this program is not linked with X libraries > and doesn't know X protocol. Can X make this program run over a different > machine ? I believe the answer is no. So how can someone expect an NT program > which expects NT graphics capability to run with X ? > > X distributes only the programs which conform to the X protocol and nothing > else. Don't expect any OS to defy that principle. > > (Of course, I may be terribly mistaken here. If there is something wrong with > the first paragraph, please tell me and I will shut up). Yes there is. DesqView/X allows X clients to run Windoze apps over an X terminal, and SoftWindows for Unix does the same, although they approach it in totally different, but similar ways. DesqView makes the graphic window display exportable via X, while Softwindows is an x-based windows emulator. So it can be done. But Microsoft hasn't done it. The proprietary graphics capablilites you speak of are a function of Windows, not of the application. Graphics capabiliuties are a function of the Windows API and are supported by windows DLL's. This allows others to develop underlying kernels that give the interface of the windows API. Take WINE for example, it allows lunix-heads to run Windows apps over Linux. Of course it is reasonable. But Microsoft is loath to do reasonable things. -- Michael Slavitch, Software Design & Analysis Consultant, 379 Madison Ave. Ottawa, Ontario K2A 0B6 V:(613) 761-9477 F:(613) 723-7209 Driver development and OO-based client-server application software development for TCP/IP, IPX/SPX and OSI for Unix, Novell NetWare, Windows, and Windows NT.