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XSUN(8)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  XSUN(8)



NAME
     Xsun - X window system Sun workstation implementation notes

DESCRIPTION
     The Sun X server cannot be started by _i_n_i_t(_8) ; it must be
     started as a command from the normal login shell.	It takes
     two mandatory command line arguments, the first being the
     file name of the frame buffer (typically /_d_e_v/_f_b, special
     case "0" interpreted as /_d_e_v/_f_b) and the second being 0:

	  Xsun /dev/fb 0

     The Sun X server will normally be started by _x_i_n_i_t(1).

     The initial Sun drivers use the -lpixrect library to address
     the device,  and will thus run on Sun 1 and Sun 2 monochrome
     and color displays.  The drivers will work with either the
     2.0 or 3.0 versions of the Sun system.

     The Sun X server looks for its fonts in a default path of
     directories, which can be overridden by the XFONTPATH
     environment variable.  This is a colon-separated list of
     directories,  in which ~ can be used to indicate the user's
     $HOME.

SEE ALSO
     X(8c), X(1), xinit(1)
     `Xlib - C Language X Interface' `ddX - Device Dependent X
     Interface'

FILES
     /tmp/X*   Unix domain socket

AUTHORS
     David Rosenthal
     James Gosling
     Copyright (c) 1986 by Sun Microsystems.

     We would like to acknowledge generous help from Jim Gettys
     and Bob Scheifler.

BUGS
     The X server on the Sun maintains the cursor image itself;
     it does not use the kernel mouse tracking.  The implementa-
     tion is designed to keep the cursor in the bitmap as much as
     possible,	at the cost of additional computation.	An alter-
     native implementation that delayed replacing the cursor
     until the server was about to block would have much lower
     overhead. The design decision was based on experience with a
     range of implementations in Carnegie-Mellon's _A_n_d_r_e_w window
     manager;  users seemed to prefer a cursor that was slower
     but didn't flash so much.



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XSUN(8)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  XSUN(8)



     Get and put operations on non-constant color Pixmaps with
     even widths will be significantly faster than on those with
     odd widths;  this is due to a mis-match between the align-
     ment restrictions of X and the Sun pixrect library.

     The server can address only one display;  this is a restric-
     tion of the X system itself and is not likely to change
     soon.

     The drivers at present have a number of restrictions,  most
     of which should be removed in future versions with a little
     effort:

     -	  Sun 1 color displays untested;  they will probably do
	  strange things to text, cursors,  etc.

     -	  Dashed lines will be drawn as solid.

     -	  Brush shapes are not implemented;  the brush track will
	  be drawn as a solid line.

     -	  Tile filling with a bitmap (i.e. not a constant Pixmap)
	  through an xymask is not implemented.

     -	  Filling a polygon is not implemented.

     -	  Up events are not available for any keys on the key-
	  board.

     -	  Down events are not available for the
	  SHIFT/SHIFT_LOCK/CTRL/META keys.

     -	  No SHIFT_LOCK key is defined.

     -	  On the 2.X kernel (but not the 3.0 kernel), the META
	  key is defined in a restricted way.  It is possible to
	  type meta-characters,  but not possible to receive
	  meta-buttons from the mouse.

     -	  The function keys generate the standard ASCII escape
	  sequences,  they are not available as individual keys.

     -	  The "feep" (audible bell) function on the Sun defaults
	  to minimum intensity.

     -	  There are differences in transfer function between the
	  Sun/2 and uVAX color displays;  the /_u_s_r/_l_i_b/_r_g_b data-
	  base should be display-dependent.

     -	  It should be possible to use ~name to indicate another
	  user's $HOME in the XFONTPATH variable.




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XSUN(8)             UNIX Programmer's Manual		  XSUN(8)



     -	  Font loading is slow,  because of the need to convert
	  from strike to bitmap format,  swap bytes,  invert
	  pixel order and so on.  It should be possible to use
	  both Sun and X fonts;  loading Sun fonts would be fas-
	  ter.


















































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