“As a database administrator in a Windows/Netware shop not too
long ago, I’d had a clandestine Pentium running Linux under my desk
to run my favorite apps, so it wasn’t a big stretch for me to
imagine using one of the numerous ports of ssh to Windows to
connect to the Linux laptop over my LAN and live in the shell for
the day. It might be a drag to deal with Emacs in a small terminal
window, and I’d miss gnomecal, my address book, and a few other
X-based conveniences, but at least I’d be able to work on a Linux
machine without aggravating my carpals or rubbing a shiny spot on
the tip of my thumb from the touchpad.”
“This proved unsatisfactory after a short while, stinking, as it
did, of the sort of humdrum practicality that gets the garbage to
the curb on Tuesday but does little for the advancement of
knowledge about interesting things you can do while you’re waiting
for a technician to call and announce they aren’t about to let you
out of your service contract.”
“So I found myself looking for another way. Enter the
MicroImages MI/X and Labtam WinaXe X servers for Windows. These two
products allow you to run X applications over the network on a
Microsoft Windows machine with differing levels of configurability,
cost, and facility. They make it possible, for instance, to do
everything from bringing up a simple xterm to running a full-blown
desktop environment. There is a free port of XFree using the Cygwin
tools, (another wonderful set of tools for Linux lovers exiled in
Windowsland) but issues surround running it on Windows 9x at this
stage, which ruled it out for my purposes, since the technicians
refuse to troubleshoot anything but Win9x installs.”