X-server to Windows 2000 client?

[Kevin Buettner]

On May 7,  6:27pm, <alandd@mindspring.com> wrote:

> Maybe I am confused about what is server and what is client.  Let me
> be more clear on my end so that I am sure I understand the
> responses.

An X server (or an X display server) is the program/hardware being
used to display an X application.  The X (client) application may be
running on the same machine as the X server or some different machine.

The terminology can be confusing at times since the client is itself
often running on on a "server".

> I want to run a program on a Linux box, testing a piece of hardware
> connected to that Linux box.  We then want to be able to remotely
> control that program on that Linux box from a computer running
> Windows 2000.
> 
> My understanding of the terms means that the Linux box would be the
> X server and I need an X client on the Windows 2000 box.  Correct?
> 
> Possible solutions for an X client on the Windows 2000 box:
> -VNC
> -A commercial program like Exceed, X-Win32, HOBLink X11, etc.
> -CygWin (I did not know it could do this!)
> 
> I will look at CynWin first.
> 
> We did not want to use VNC thinking that it is a bandwidth hog. 
> Maybe I am wrong on that point.  Is VNC less or more of a bandwith
> eater than and X terminal server and a client?

It depends.  If you're running a small, well-written X application,
the X protocol may be more efficient.  But in my tests with large
applications, I found that VNC was more efficient.  E.g, there was one
application which would time out during start up when I would attempt
to run it using the X protocol over an ISDN line.  OTOH, when I used
VNC, I had no trouble at all running the same application.

Kevin