GPL'd XServer for Windows

[Rasjid]

Eyal Lebedinsky wrote:
> 
> Rasjid wrote:
> >
> > Anyone wanting to have a look at a little project of mine, please visit
> > http://www.users.bigpond.com/rasjidw/
> >
> > It is a minimal install of Cygwin/XFree86 for Windows.  Only enough is
> > installed to make connecting to an XDM server and font server easy.
> 
> I gave your package a further spin, this time running vmware on Linux
> inside Xwin.
> 
> While it mostly worked, the first problem was that the backslash
> character was missing inside the vmware machine (was OK on the
> Linux desktop). This minor problem is a showstopper...
> 
> Rasjid, are you interested in such reports at all or should I address
> these to the xfree.cygwin.com people?
> 
> --
> Eyal Lebedinsky (eyal at eyal.emu.id.au) <http://samba.anu.edu.au/eyal/>

Eyal,

I guess I should make my status clear on my website and in the header of
the gdmclient.sh script.  I have been using Linux for a bit over 2
years.  I do not know any C or C++.  I made my way through enough of the
Java Tutorial to redo a program I wrote on an Apple ][ when I was in
High School (late 80's), which solved solitaire (the one with 32 pegs
that jump over eachother until there is only one in the middle).  I have
an honours degree in Mathematics from the ANU, and I work for Australian
Ethical Investment Ltd (http://www.austethical.com.au).  Bascially I am
not a programmer, and don't really intend to become one.  However, the
more I use Linux and the more it develops the more passionate I become
about it, and would like to promote it in the community.

Basically the whole XTerminal idea appeals to me as a way reducing both
hardware and administration costs, and I would like to promote this in
schools and possibly business.  And I believe that one of the key steps
in promoting Linux is to make the transition as painless as possible. 
Being able to set up a Linux application server that from the users
perspective simply is just another program on their Windows desktop is
one way to achive this.  It also exposes the user to Linux thereby
making it less threatening.

I used XWin-32 when first starting out with Linux, and with my more
recent ideas I wondered if there was a free version of XWin-32.  I knew
about Cygwin from previous searches, and lo and behold there was now a
port of XFree86 for Cygwin.  This looked like what I was after, but it
was so big and not easy to install (yet, they are working on it).  But
it was too big.  So I asked the question, 'What is a minimal install to
do what I want?'

My website is my current answer to that question.

I hope to develop develop scripts to do an automatic install and
configuation.  I would like to have a nice graphical installer for
Windows, but I think that is somewhat beyond my ken.  My thoughs were to
learn enough tk/tcl to do the job, but that is not a very elegant
solution.  [I have observed that when I first started using Linux in
RedHat 5.2 days, a lot of gui's were done with tk/tcl.  Now I see very
few, presumably since it is not elegant.]

So in answer to your question:

If there is a problem with my script, talk to me.  If there is a problem
with XWin.exe, you need to talk to the guys at xfree.cygwin.com, but it
would good if I kept a list of the known issues with my minimal install
version.  I don't have any real reason to believe that my minimal
install in and of itself will cause problems not present in a full
install. But it may, and if I can't recreate the problem myself, it
would be good to know if a bug is specific to my cut down version or a
more general Cygwin/XFree86 bug.

I have an ideal 'version 1.0' plan in my head, and I shall put it up on
my website soon, but it includes a graphical installer as mentioned.  If
anyone would like to help, I would be delighted, as at this point I do
not possess all the required skills myself.

Rasjid.