[Info-vax] X-terminals again

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <efc20d72-b98d-4b8b-8031-72b1c7a8b132 at n33g2000pri.googlegroups.com>,
	tadamsmar <tadamsmar at yahoo.com> writes:
> On Jan 14, 9:38 pm, billg... at cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote:
>> In article <gklmb0$kqi$0... at news.t-online.com>,
>>         Michael Kraemer <M.Krae... at gsi.de> writes:
>>
>> > tadamsmar schrieb:
>>
>> >> I would prefer to use the old PCs we have or will get, but I need
>> >> the result to be user-friendly as possible.  The current old X-
>> >> terminal that I am trying to replace are very user-friendly (just
>> >> power them up and they give you the VMS login screen) and the users of
>> >> this app are use to that and I know they prefer it.
>>
>> > Then just why don't you try to spot some of those "old-fashioned"
>> > X-terminals ? Should still be available used.
>> > Stop messing with PCs. If nothing more than X capacity is needed
>> > they just add an extra level of complexity.
>>
>> If he goes out and gets old X-terminals to replace his current old
>> X-terminals he really won't have solved the problem.  As I stated
>> earlier today, there is free X-terminal software that can make an
>> old PC perform the exact same function as his Tek X-terminals. And
>> old PC's are even cheaper than old X-terminals.
>>
>> bill
>>
>> --
>> Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
>> billg... at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
>> University of Scranton   |
>> Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>  
> And, the office politics push me toward the PC solution provided its
> about about as reliable and user-friendly as the old X-terminals.
> I could try to reverse that.  I have already tried to get it across
> that the old X-terminals might be more reliable than a solution I
> cobble together based on XDM or something.

Now that I understand what you have and what you want to do, what I
propose is not something "cobbled" together.  

First, you have to understand what, exactly, your X-terminals are.
Simply put, they are diskless computers that boot a stripped down
version of Unix across the net (from the VAX) and then run one
application.  An X server.

You can set up simple PC's to either boot from the net (harder to
set up, especially given your host) or have them boot from the hard
disks they have in them.  They will boot a version of Linux and then
run one application.  An X server.  If they are set up to have the
same IP-addresses as the current X-terminals they will display the
same login screen you get now.

As for the software you need to run.  It's free and I have been using
it with Windows Terminal Services for over a year with no problems.

> The old X-terminals came with software for VMS (ah, the good old
> days).  I think is just had to be loaded and not configured on VMS.
> Instead, you configure the X-terminal to tell it the node name of the
> host.  That's works pretty well if I need restore on another VMS
> system quickly.
> But, I really don't have to good reason to not use PCs.  Except I
> really have not figured out how to do it in a user-friendly manner.
> So back to the question of how do I configure XDM and eXcursion?

I think running Windows and xCursion is overkill and a very expensive
solution to what is really a much simpler problem.  XDM becomes un-
necessary.

Where are you located?  

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>