Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 11:09:45 -0600 From: "Jim C. Nasby" <jim@nasby.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Discussion invited: Netpliance i-opener X terminal transmogrification Message-ID: <20000321110945.R30793@enteract.com> In-Reply-To: <200003210529.VAA07072@morpheus.kfu.com> References: <200003210529.VAA07072@morpheus.kfu.com>
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Why stop with just an X server? 16M should be enough to boot a full-blown FreeBSD kernel and NFS... just NFS the rest of your file systems, and you have a full-blown FreeBSD box. :) FWIW, I've got two I-Openers on order. :) On Mon, Mar 20, 2000 at 09:29:49PM -0800, nsayer@quack.kfu.com wrote: > For those who haven't heard, the netpliance (http://www.netpliance.com/) > is close enough to a PC that it can boot and run the traditional i386 > OSes for the most part. People are trading hints on how to add hard disks > to them. > > I have a different idea. The thing has 16M of flash. This looks like a job > for..... (drum roll) PicoBSD!!!!! > > Seriously, what I have in mind is turning the thing into an X terminal. > IMHO the humble X terminal is not given the respect it deserves. :-) > In our youth we hated them because they were a pain in the ass to set up, > usually needing to net-boot and stuff. But with everything required > in flash, it becomes a whole lot faster to boot, and the thing even > becomes portable (with suitable DHCP support). > > Has anyone tried sort of 'embedded X' before? What's the minimum > requirement for running XF86_SVGA? Just looking at the shared > libraries and the executable, they look like they take about 4M > or so. Even adding the kernel and a bunch of supporting stuff it > doesn't look like running up against the 16M flash limit will be > too likely. There probably is even room for a few MB of fonts. > > One question that jumps to mind is how to get the name of the font > server over DHCP. The server can send the name with 'option font-servers', > and even an xdm address with 'option x-display-manager', but how > do you get those out? Are they part of the dhclient-script environemnt > or something? > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message -- Jim C. Nasby (aka Decibel!) /^\ jim@nasby.net /___\ Freelance lighting designer and database developer / | \ Member: Triangle Fraternity, Sports Car Club of America /___|___\ Give your computer some brain-candy! www.distributed.net Team #1828 Get paid to surf!! http://www.enteract.com/~nasby/alladvantage.html To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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