Sparcstation-2/GS

[Steve Swales]

In article <2619 at brchh104.bnr.ca>, shah at cdsun5.fnal.gov (Hemant Shah) writes:
> In article <2425 at brchh104.bnr.ca> rick at sbcs.sunysb.edu (Rick Spanbauer) writes:
> >Does anyone happen to know whether X11 and/or Openlook word on the
> >Sparcstation-2/GS (24 bit color)?
> 
> Openwindows will work only in B/W (Monochrome) on Sparcstation-2/GS.
> Openwindows Version 3 is suppose to fix this problem.
> 

There is also a modified X11r4 server floating around (I got it from my
local sun rep.), which works with the GS, but only in TrueColor (24-bit)
mode.  All attempts (by me) to get it to work in 24-bit DirectColor or
8-bit PseudoColor mode have failed. This may not seem like much of a
problem, but in fact most clients that we typically use are expecting
writable color maps.  Sun says they are still working on this driver and
expect it to be released with X11r5, and won't give out sources before
that. They did seem willing to try to make requested changes, but I
haven't had time to understand the problems well enough to formulate such
a request, so far.

If anyone has made it do Direct- or PsuedoColor, please let me know how.

Personally, I am VERY impressed with the way Sun shipped this device with
NO SOFTWARE that works with it, and NO WARNING at all that this was the
case. Don't bother telling me that Suntools runs [in 8-bit mode only],
since, among other things, Sun has been saying for over a year (several
years?) that they are not supporting Suntools anymore.  This is even more
impressive in light of the news (rumor?) that Sun is shifting it's focus
to being primarily a software company. A software company has to be able
to support OTHER PEOPLES' hardware, if they expect to survive, and Sun
can't even support their own?! Come on guys!

 Steve Swales                (716) 275-0265,-3857,-5101
 steve at bat.lle.rochester.edu           (128.151.32.111)