Xsun is an
X Window System
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X provides the basic framework for a GUI environment: drawing and moving windows on the display device and interacting ...
(X11)
display server
In computing, a windowing system (or window system) is software that manages separately different parts of display screens. It is a type of graphical user interface (GUI) which implements the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer) paradigm for a ...
implementation included with
Solaris, developed by
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, ...
. It replaced the older
Xnews
Xnews is a freeware Usenet newsreader created by Luu Tran. It is written in Delphi, and it is 100% GNKSA 2.0 compliant. Some of its features were inspired by the program NewsXpress.
Tran says that he designs the Xnews interface and feature ...
server, which supported the display of not only X11 applications, but also
NeWS and
SunView
SunView (Sun Visual Integrated Environment for Workstations, originally SunTools) is a discontinued windowing system from Sun Microsystems developed in the early 1980s. It was included as part of SunOS, Sun's UNIX implementation; unlike later U ...
programs. Xsun discontinued support for these legacy environments, and added support for
Display PostScript
Display PostScript (or DPS) is a 2D graphics engine system for computers which uses the PostScript (PS) imaging model and language (originally developed for computer printing) to generate on-screen graphics. To the basic PS system, DPS adds a num ...
.
Xsun was first released as part of Solaris 2.3 in November 1993. It was originally based on X11R5; the version included with Solaris 10 is based on X11R6.6.
Solaris 10 includes both Xsun and the
X.Org Server, Xorg, the
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Ope ...
reference implementation
In the software development process, a reference implementation (or, less frequently, sample implementation or model implementation) is a program that implements all requirements from a corresponding specification. The reference implementation ...
of X, based on X11R7. The Xorg server was the most commonly used display server on
x86 systems, while the Xsun server remained the most commonly used on
SPARC
SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Its design was strongly influenced by the experimental Berkeley RISC system developed ...
systems; Xorg support for SPARC was only added in Solaris 10 8/07, and had very limited driver support. The
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris () is a discontinued open-source computer operating system based on Solaris and created by Sun Microsystems. It was also, perhaps confusingly, the name of a project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around t ...
project stated that the future direction of X support is the X.Org implementation. Oracle Solaris 11, released in November, 2011, includes only the Xorg server (X.Org 1.10.3).
Design
In contrast to
XFree86
XFree86 is an implementation of the X Window System. It was originally written for Unix-like operating systems on IBM PC compatibles and was available for many other operating systems and platforms. It is free and open source software under the XF ...
, Xsun implemented kernel-based
mode setting for some graphics
device driver
In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and o ...
s.
See also
*
OpenWindows
OpenWindows is a discontinued desktop environment for Sun Microsystems workstations which combined SunView, NeWS, and X Window System protocols. OpenWindows was included in later releases of the SunOS 4 and Solaris operating systems, until its ...
*
CDE CDE may refer to:
Education
* California Department of Education
* Career Development Event, a type of contest sponsored by the National FFA Organization
* Center for Data Engineering, IIIT Hyderabad
* Center for Distance Education at University of ...
References
External links
Xsun(1) Manual Page
X servers
Sun Microsystems software
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