donated computers lab setup

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

Dave Ihnat wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 02, 2007 at 11:18:31AM -0600, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>> There are some X terminal packages that will run on an XT. ...
> 
> More appropriately, there are X server packages that run under DOS.
> (And before someone pops up with a correction, everything through Windows
> 3.x was just DOS with some eye candy.)
> 
> BUT:
> 
>> ... If I remember correctly, most of the X terminal programs ran on
>> top of DOS.
> 
> Oh, but you so do NOT want to go there.  Since DOS doesn't support TCP/IP,
> there was a horrible rats-nest of third-party TCP/IP suites that went with
> getting X to work.  Some were better than others, but all were commercial
> (read: proprietary and liensed), and almost all were cranky and fragile
> by today's standards.  This would not be a good thing to do to end users.
> 
> And, as has been pointed out, all modern Unix/Linux versions require
> at least a 386.  (I briefly used a version of Unix called "Venix" many
> moons ago--it ran on a 286 box, but had absolutely no memory protection.
> You don't want to know what that was like.)
> 
The X terminal packages were more then just the X server - they also
included the TCP/IP stack. You still needed the NIC drivers, but the
stack would talk to the NDIS drivers...

If I remember correctly, you could run Deskview X on a 286 machine.
It also came with a TCP/IP stack. (It was an optional install.) I
played with both Deskview and Deskview X on a 386 machine. I still
have the floppy images somewhere, but I lost the activation keys. (I
am not sure if I still have the origional disks, but I remember
burning the disk images to a CD-ROM.)

Wasn't there also a package for PCs that was a stand alone X
terminal package? it booted in place of DOS. I sort of remember
something like that, but I am not sure. I think it was a commercial
package, and out of my budget just to play with...

Mikkel
-- 

  Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!