From owner-freebsd-hackers Fri Jan 6 20:13:40 1995 Return-Path: hackers-owner Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.9/8.6.6) id UAA14171 for hackers-outgoing; Fri, 6 Jan 1995 20:13:40 -0800 Received: from physics.su.OZ.AU (dawes@physics.su.OZ.AU [129.78.129.1]) by freefall.cdrom.com (8.6.9/8.6.6) with SMTP id UAA14161 for ; Fri, 6 Jan 1995 20:13:35 -0800 Received: by physics.su.OZ.AU id AA27896 (5.67b/IDA-1.4.4 for hackers@freebsd.org); Sat, 7 Jan 1995 15:12:05 +1100 From: David Dawes Message-Id: <199501070412.AA27896@physics.su.OZ.AU> Subject: Re: guest account: Yggdrasil information To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard) Date: Sat, 7 Jan 1995 15:12:04 +1100 (EST) Cc: cg@FIMP01.fim.uni-linz.ac.at, hackers@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <13554.789447604@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at Jan 6, 95 07:00:04 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 1346 Sender: hackers-owner@freebsd.org Precedence: bulk >> 2. It's a matter of fact, that all popular OS use GUIs (OS/2, Windows, >> Apple, NextStep, ...). So why don't we use X right after the installation >> to communicate with the user (yes, I know X needs lot of space, but >> if we shrink X to a minimum it's perhaps possible?). So install a minimum >> OS on the HD, copy a small X version to the disk, and start the X server. > >The problem is not one of space - the problem is getting X up and >working on a user's system! This still remains one of the hardest >parts of a general FreeBSD install, and until the XFRee86 Project, Inc >comes up with something more _seamless_, it's rather difficult to >count on having X available on any users system! :-( It should be possible to get the 16-colour or mono server (our 16 colour server is quite slow so the mono server is probably a better option) running on any VGA-compatible card at the standard 640x480 VGA resolution using the provided sample XF86Config file. The only bit that needs configuring to do this is the mouse protocol/device setting. That's the mode MS Windows will run in until you install a card-specific driver. To do anything much more adventurous is in my opinion doomed to failure. If people still have EGA cards, they are out of luck. Our mono server will run on the old Hercules mono cards though. David