nanogui: Thread: nano-X display server

Hi, 

I have had nano-x built on a PPC platform(server linked in) for a settopbox 
kind of application.

now i'd like to seperate server and client such that nano-x server running on 
the ppc platform, while client running on a x86 based linux box or win32 
platform....the apparent idea is to seperate the gui running on the linux 
and/or win32 system with the firmware in flash memory on ppc platform, gui 
change/upgrade would then be independent on the ppc box.....

anybody has done such kind of things, and any idea, tips or caveat to 
advise??? Thanx

Harry

Harry Lin wrote:

>now i'd like to seperate server and client such that nano-x server running on 
>the ppc platform, while client running on a x86 based linux box or win32 
>platform....the apparent idea is to seperate the gui running on the linux 
>and/or win32 system with the firmware in flash memory on ppc platform, gui 
>change/upgrade would then be independent on the ppc box.....
>
>anybody has done such kind of things, and any idea, tips or caveat to 
>advise??? Thanx
>  
>
That's not practical using the Nano-X protocol (at least not without an 
lot of work) because PPC is big endian and x86 is little endian, and 
Nano-X doesn't have the complexity necessary to do on the fly conversion 
between the two. Perhaps you could use VNC?

: That's not practical using the Nano-X protocol (at least not without an 
: lot of work) because PPC is big endian and x86 is little endian, and 
: Nano-X doesn't have the complexity necessary to do on the fly conversion 
: between the two. 

It's not that it's not practical, but that it won't work, unless you
write byteswap functions for all parameters and return values in
nanox/client.c and nanox/srvnet.c.  It's not actually that much work,
but it is a lot of typing since you've got to convert all structure member
values as well.

Regards,

Greg

We did something like that on our mobile harbour cranes, but it was really
slow due to network latency. Each function Gr*() requires a loopback between
the application and the server, you can imagine the result. At the end we
resolved using VNC, see http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/. The VNC client
exists in many flavors, you can run it from Windows or even as a java applet
in a browser.

We ported VNC server to nano-X using libVNCServer by Johannes E. Schindelin.
I don't know if Greg has received the patch - if did not, I can send it now.

Bye

Fabio

-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Lin ####@####.####
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 1:10 AM
To: ####@####.####
Subject: [nanogui] nano-X display server


Hi,

I have had nano-x built on a PPC platform(server linked in) for a settopbox
kind of application.

now i'd like to seperate server and client such that nano-x server running
on
the ppc platform, while client running on a x86 based linux box or win32
platform....the apparent idea is to seperate the gui running on the linux
and/or win32 system with the firmware in flash memory on ppc platform, gui
change/upgrade would then be independent on the ppc box.....

anybody has done such kind of things, and any idea, tips or caveat to
advise??? Thanx

Harry

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: We did something like that on our mobile harbour cranes, but it was really
: slow due to network latency. Each function Gr*() requires a loopback between
: the application and the server, you can imagine the result. 

Actually, the design is such that most functions return void, and as
such are batched and sent to the server without requiring a round-trip.
Of course, any Gr*() function with a return value requires loopback.

I'd like to hear a bit more about the slowness issue.

: 
: We ported VNC server to nano-X using libVNCServer by Johannes E. Schindelin.
: I don't know if Greg has received the patch - if did not, I can send it now.

I have the patch from Gianci dated June 20th, based on libVNCServer v0.2.
Is this the most current?

Regards,

Greg



: 
: Bye
: 
: Fabio
: 
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Harry Lin ####@####.####
: Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 1:10 AM
: To: ####@####.####
: Subject: [nanogui] nano-X display server
: 
: 
: Hi,
: 
: I have had nano-x built on a PPC platform(server linked in) for a settopbox
: kind of application.
: 
: now i'd like to seperate server and client such that nano-x server running
: on
: the ppc platform, while client running on a x86 based linux box or win32
: platform....the apparent idea is to seperate the gui running on the linux
: and/or win32 system with the firmware in flash memory on ppc platform, gui
: change/upgrade would then be independent on the ppc box.....
: 
: anybody has done such kind of things, and any idea, tips or caveat to
: advise??? Thanx
: 
: Harry
: 
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Greg,

the poor performance is mainly due to our network technology:
we use a 9600bps GSM radio modem, that means low speed and
**high**latency**. Our application has a lot of bitmaps and
it is too slow to be useful.

To be honest, this is a problem of our application. We tested
the nano-X demos over GSM, they are slow but at least usable.

The VNC server patch Gianci sent you is based on the framebuffer
and is the most current.

To improve speed on slow links, we are working on a new version,
the idea is to reduce resolution and colors. The crane operator
will continue working at full resolution and color (800x600x24),
and the remote diagnostic screen will have a fast interface with
lower resolution and less colors. This is very application specific
and I don't know if there is anybody interested out there.

Fabio Parodi




-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Haerr ####@####.####
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 9:12 PM
To: Fabio Parodi; ####@####.####
Cc: ####@####.####
Subject: Re: [nanogui] nano-X display server


: We did something like that on our mobile harbour cranes, but it was really
: slow due to network latency. Each function Gr*() requires a loopback
between
: the application and the server, you can imagine the result.

Actually, the design is such that most functions return void, and as
such are batched and sent to the server without requiring a round-trip.
Of course, any Gr*() function with a return value requires loopback.

I'd like to hear a bit more about the slowness issue.

:
: We ported VNC server to nano-X using libVNCServer by Johannes E.
Schindelin.
: I don't know if Greg has received the patch - if did not, I can send it
now.

I have the patch from Gianci dated June 20th, based on libVNCServer v0.2.
Is this the most current?

Regards,

Greg



:
: Bye
:
: Fabio
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Harry Lin ####@####.####
: Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 1:10 AM
: To: ####@####.####
: Subject: [nanogui] nano-X display server
:
:
: Hi,
:
: I have had nano-x built on a PPC platform(server linked in) for a
settopbox
: kind of application.
:
: now i'd like to seperate server and client such that nano-x server running
: on
: the ppc platform, while client running on a x86 based linux box or win32
: platform....the apparent idea is to seperate the gui running on the linux
: and/or win32 system with the firmware in flash memory on ppc platform, gui
: change/upgrade would then be independent on the ppc box.....
:
: anybody has done such kind of things, and any idea, tips or caveat to
: advise??? Thanx
:
: Harry
:
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