OpenWindows port to IBM RS/6000 (FREE or not to FREE, that is...)
Pete Delany
>I realize the stuff doesn't include SysV.4 code. All I know is that
>several months ago Sun announced in comp.windows.x that the OpenWindows
>source (include the server) was available for free (plus $1000 for docs).
>They then listed about 5 requirements which you had to meet in order to
>receive it for free. A few of them were either-or. I think those included
>having a NeWS license dating back 3 or 4 years, porting to a non-Unix
>machine, or having a SYSV.4 source license. Maybe they've changed the
>requirements, I don't know. When I asked about it back then (and I asked
>on the net several times) I got dead silence.
The Announcement made by Sun said the source was:
(READ Scotts LIPS)
"free of charge",
==============
in addition it seem it has signed a distribution agreement with Interactive
to distribute the Source and Documentation for $100. Like the great German
Economic Wonder (Part 2), the Source are not to be found anywhere. Not
on the System V tape, also Interactive hasn't yet provided the "hard copy
of the paper work" that is necessary for me to order a copy. Although I must
admit I only tried three times.
In the mean time Interactive has jacked up the price before anyone I know could
order a copy by just 50%! In addition Interactive has added $2000 Royalties
for Commercial Object Code Redistribution. Sounds like Sun on one hand is
promoting NeWS as an Open Standard by makeing it FREE, but at the same time
someone else either at Sun or Interactive is trying to stop NeWS from becoming
a Free and really Open Standard. I doubt anyone could make a NeWS server that
is compatible without the source; so to be OPEN effectively, the source must
be FREE or really cheap; otherwize NeWS will have been effectively killed;
any guesses who done it and why?
Another curriosity, why isn't the tNt 2.0 toolkit going to be made available
with OW 2.0? I wonder if it might actually make it more difficult to become
a standard. As far as I can see about a third of NeWS 1.1 newstape stuff isn't
yet runing yet on OpenWindows 1.0, now some of us are going to use
OpenWindows 2.0 with tNt 1.0 and others with tNt 2.0; sounds like we
really lack a FOCUS. Just getting the NeWS Debugger (cyber/psiber) set
up for the right combinations of XNeWS-Server and tNt may enough. Add the
class browser and other tools and it might be too much. I suggest we
follow the KISS principle. Shouldn't XNeWS be like the X11R4 server,
just plug and play!
It's ashame, I really like the NeWS server, yeah it's slower than the X11R4
server; but speed isn't everything. NeWS is flexable, well layered, and well
written. Isn't it about time to live up the SunFLASH and make a clear
announcement that the Source is in fact FREE, that Sun Microsystems is about
Quality, and like Levies, doesn't lie, not even a tiny convienient lie;
it's out of style these days.
How about placing it on a Internet server, and let's get it ported
to a bunch of workstations; and find out if in fact XNeWS is superior to
the soon to be released X11R5 server.
How about getting XNEWS into the BSD 4.4 Release; wouldn't that be GoodNeWS!
Wouldn't it be great to run a completely SOURCED BSD 4.4 SPARC-Station with
the OW 2.0 XNeWS server on a 30 MIPS M-Bus based multi-processor
that you put together with a few SPARC chips, some glue logic ASICS,
and boards from say LSI, Cypress, TI, or Fujitsu. How about it Scott?
===============================================================================
SunFLASH Vol 23 #12 November 1990
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Package Includes Window System and Toolkits
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- November 13, 1990 -- Sun Microsystems
announced today that the source code for its OpenWindows(TM)
application development environment will now be available
FREE OF CHARGE (cost of media only -- $995).
==============
This means that hardware and software developers will now have a
cost-effective way to incorporate OpenWindows -- including the
easy-to-use OPEN LOOK(R) graphical user interface -- into applications
developed or ported to many platforms from different vendors.
The package includes code for the X11/NeWs(TM) Window System, OPEN LOOK
toolkits, and OpenFonts(TM) with its TypeScaler(TM) technology. Before
today, only OpenWindows binaries were available from Sun.
"Offering free source code for the industry's most advanced,
comprehensive window environment demonstrates our ongoing commitment to
open systems," said Ed Zander, vice president of marketing at Sun.
Advanced Imaging Model
The X11/NeWS Window System that is part of the source package combines
a fully compliant X implementation with Sun's NeWS(R) technology, which
offers the most advanced PostScript(R) imaging model available today.
NeWS lets developers work with interactive, on-screen PostScript
graphics -- particularly useful for commercial applications such as
desktop publishing and multimedia.
Also part of the source code package is OpenFonts -- Sun's
nonproprietary font technology, which includes 57 scalable fonts.
OPEN LOOK Toolkits Provide Portability
The keys to OpenWindows' portability are two OPEN LOOK toolkits,
XView(TM) and the OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT). XView is Sun's
X-based toolkit that gives developers an easy way to design new
applications with the OPEN LOOK graphical user interface, as well as to
migrate the 2,800 existing kernel-based SunView(TM) applications to the
networked window environment of OPEN LOOK and X.
The OLIT toolkit -- based on AT&T's OPEN LOOK toolkit (XT+) --
implements the OPEN LOOK look and feel and supports MIT Intrinsics.
The XView toolkit is also offered free on the X11 R4 tape available
from MIT. OpenWindows is a standard part of the industry's leading
UNIX(R) operating system, UNIX System V Release 4 from AT&T.
Since OPEN LOOK toolkits will be available for a range of platforms,
developers can standardize on a single graphical interface. Toolkits
from Sun and other vendors are available now or will be offered within
three months for UNIX workstations from Digital Equipment Corp.,
Hewlett-Packard and IBM, for VAX/VMS systems from Digital.
Availability
OpenWindows source code will be available January 1, 1991 on magnetic
tape for $995 (which includes the cost of media and documentation)
through Sun distributors. The SOURCE LICENSE IS INCLUDED AT NO COST.
=========================================
There are no royalties for distributing applications developed with
OpenWindows. Hardware vendors will pay nominal royalties for systems
they resell that run the OpenWindows environment.
Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a
leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing
systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX
operating system and productivity software.
###
OpenWindows, XView, X11/NeWS, OpenFonts and TypeScaler are trademarks
and NeWS is a registered trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK
and UNIX are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. All other
products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the
trademarks or service marks of their respective companies or
organizations.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Cathleen Beall Garfield (415) 336-6536
Diana Murray OpenWindows Licensing Manager (415) 336-1567
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Guy Harris
I seem to remember, from some SVR4 paperwork here (no, we haven't
bothered ordering it yet), that the window system stuff was on a
separate tape, and that you may have had to order that tape separately,
or at least ask for it in addition to the "base" tape.
>also Interactive hasn't yet provided the "hard copy of the paper work"
>that is necessary for me to order a copy. Although I must admit I only
>tried three times.
Maybe I got sent your copy. :-) I'd called ISC up to get the order
forms and the like, and they not only sent me a copy fairly quickly
after calling them, they sent me *another* copy shortly after that! Too
bad I threw it out (I could have sent it along to you, or used it to
check precisely what the license *did* require - although, as I
indicated, I sure didn't put in any license number for our System V
source license on any of them).
>In the mean time Interactive has jacked up the price before anyone I know could
>order a copy by just 50%! In addition Interactive has added $2000 Royalties
>for Commercial Object Code Redistribution. Sounds like Sun on one hand is
>promoting NeWS as an Open Standard by makeing it FREE, but at the same time
>someone else either at Sun or Interactive is trying to stop NeWS from becoming
>a Free and really Open Standard.
At least part of the problem may not be NeWS, but OLIT; AT&T charges
money for OLIT, and you get OLIT source with the OW 2.0 source, so some
of the money goes to AT&T for OLIT.
(There may also be some headache involved with the scalable fonts; Sun
did, as I remember, buy Folio, but they may be running them
independently enough that they still don't want their scalable font
technology given away. I think Bitstream is offering *their* technology
as part of X11R5, though, so this may change....)
>Another curriosity, why isn't the tNt 2.0 toolkit going to be made available
>with OW 2.0?
Probably because it wasn't ready in time for OW 2.0. It'll probably be
in OW 3.0, whenever that comes out.
Dan R. Greening
>I realize the stuff doesn't include SysV.4 code. All I know is that
>several months ago Sun announced in comp.windows.x that the OpenWindows
>source (include the server) was available for free (plus $1000 for docs).
The source is now $1495 from Interactive Systems in Santa Monica, CA. (Price
increased Jun 30, 1991.) Includes OLIT, as well as the other Openwindows
source.
--
____
\ /Dan Greening Software Transformation 1601 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd, #100
\/dgr...@sti.com (408) 973-8081 x313 Cupertino, CA 95014
Peter A. Korp
Are people talking about the source because they are doing ports? If so are
they trying to keep a common source tree?
Is there a market out there for OW 2.0 when rumours have OW 3.0 right around
the corner?
As far as the RS/6000 market goes, XNeWS would be a huge step forward as the
base X-Window server, but are there applications out there to ease the porting
of Display PostScript code to XNeWS? The two seem similar enough that one
could fairly easily write a "compatability" mode. (Note that I exclude the
NeXT extensions like composite, etc...).
Why has it been almost a year since the "announcement" of the availability
of the source without so much as an acknowledgement from Sun?
Wouldn't it be neat to run XNeWS under AIX, A/UX, SVR4, Mach, Ultirx, and
HP/UX? If the IBM, Apple, HP and DEC didn't do the ports, would proliferation
to all the platforms make it a "de-facto" standard?
It just seems that political/GUI issues aside, there are no real technical
reasons for not using XNeWS vs X11R5 with Display PostScript.
Donning my asbestos suit: :-)
Peter