Date: Fri, 22 Mar 1996 09:02:48 +1030 (CST) From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: rlyon@ozemail.com.au Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: What hardware is required for XFree Message-ID: <199603212232.JAA13774@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <199603211253.WAA01307@oznet02.ozemail.com.au> from "Richard Lyon" at Mar 21, 96 10:46:41 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Richard Lyon stands accused of saying: > > I am considering running X windows. My objective is to run > emacs, gcc and a motif-like manger for x application development. Avoid Motif. There are several reasons here; performance and cost are two. > What sort of hardware configuration should I be considering. I > currently run version 2.1 on the following: > > - 33 MHz 486 > - 16 MB Ram > - Adaptec 1542 SCSI controller > - Conner 200 MB drive > - Sony CDROM > - Tseng Labs Mega VGA > - Compucon monitor capable of displaying 800x600 pixels with 256 > colours. > > I am not looking at developing applications which will require high > resolution graphics. You will still find that you will want more screen real estate. I would be looking at 1024x768 as a workable minimum. > Is 16 MB really enough? It's certainly enough for a single-user workstation. > How much hard disk space should I be looking at? With version 2.1 I > have about 50 MB spare after I have installed all my favourite > applications (pine, lynx, rtin, popclient and my feeble efforts). Um. That really depends; I'd say you'll want a couple hundred more by the time you've installed emacs and X and all the other bits and pieces. > Is the 486 33MHz really fast enough. It runs well with version 2.1. That depends on what 'fast enough' means to you. What you've got, modulo the extra space requirements, will run X at a usable pace. If you want "real performance" then you should be considering a serious upgrade. In your position, I'd try it out and see how you feel about it. > Most of the applications I have written are for numericial > approximations (ie digital filter design, complex chebyshev approx, > etc..). I now want to develop GUI based front ends for data entry > and display of results. Stick your head into the ports collection and look at 'Tcl' and 'Tk' for an easy way to add a GUI to your character-mode applications. > Regards ... -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ ]] Collector of old Unix hardware. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199603212232.JAA13774>