X Windows on a Mac AND 24 bit color

[Alan Mimms]

In article <13510 at hacgate.UUCP>, hsieh at rscene.hac.com (Julia Hsieh) writes:
|> 
|> I am looking into possibly switching platforms from the MacOS to a
|> Unix-X Windows platform.  Since I am set up with a SuperMac 19" 24 bit
|> color monitor and board, and if I switched to one of the Sun's here,
|> I'd need an upgrade (more paperwork), I was wondering if anyone else
|> has tried or if anyone knows of what problems I will run into.
|> 
|> SuperMac has confirmed that my monitor will run under A/UX 2.0, but
|> they know nothing about X Windows.  Also, recommendations about
|> whether I will need MacX or if X11R4 will be sufficient.

Yes, the SuperMac 24-bit displays work fine on A/UX.  If you have
a PDQ accelerator card, though (I see you do not, but FYI), it will
NOT accelerate on A/UX.  This is due, I believe to the generic
problem such cards have with virtual memory operating systems.

MacX does NOT support a 24 bit per pixel X11 display type.  It will
WORK on a 24-bit display, though, but it will be slow and will be
unable to do any color table animation when used on such a display.
Perhaps you can settle for 8 bits per pixel?  The only other X11
server that I know of that works in the Macintosh world is eXodus
from White Pine Software in Nashua, NH, and they don't have 24 bit
per pixel support either.

The X Window System for A/UX contains both MacX and a "Native X"
server which is incompatible with the Macintosh world (i.e., you can
run Macintosh applications OR Native X, but not both at once).  It
does not support 24 bits per pixel either.

Of course you can use your monitor in 8 bit mode and get along just
fine with any of these solutions.  The problem with 24 bit support
is that present Macintoshes (with their NuBus video cards) don't
quite have the horsepower to support 24 bit without some additional
help (hence the 8-24*GC card).  X11 servers that just use the main
CPU for their graphical operations and access the video RAM via a
NuBus won't be very usable on today's hardware (we've tried it).

On the other hand, we ARE wondering what kinds of things people use
24 bit X11 displays for -- is there enough demand for us to create
some 24 bit support for future versions of our X11 products?  If
you have any comments or suggestions, I would appreciate email.

|> My current set up contains:
|>     Mac IIfx with 32 MB of internal memory.
|>     Apple's internal 160 MB hard drive
|>     	(we will be getting a separate 200-300MB hard drive for A/UX)
|>     Pinnacle Micro's eraseable magneto-optical drive
|>     	(will get A/UX driver)
|>     Apple 13" monitor & card.
|>     SuperMac 19" color monitor & Spectrum 24/Series III card.
|> 
|> (lots of fun toys, huh?)

Yes.  That 32MB will come in handy if you run a lot of X11 applications
and the Macintosh world with MacX...

|> Thanks in advance.
|> 
|> julia
|> ----------------------------------------------------------------
|> julia hsieh              My opinions are not intended to reflect
|> hsieh at rscene.hac.com     those of Hughes Aircraft Company.
|> ----------------------------------------------------------------

Hope this helps.
-- 

Alan Mimms (alan at apple.com, ...!apple!alan)   | My opinions are generally
A/UX X group                                  | pretty worthless, but
Apple Computer                                | they *are* my own...
"Laugha whila you can, monkey boy..." -- John Whorfin in Buckaroo Banzai
"Never rub another man's rhubarb" -- The Joker in BatMan