Below are 10 simple tests you can run to help you compare X-Win32 against similar products who typically can’t do these highly productive functions or are slower or bad at it.
Test 1: Getting to the Desktop Quickly
We are frequently complimented on how quickly X-Win32 gets users to their remote desktops compared to competing solutions. Simply start X-Win32. A dialog should pop up; click on the top link. Moments later – if you are on a LAN -- you’ll get a dark screen with a white box listing the various Unix and Linux hosts you can connect to. Highlight the one you want and click “Select.” Your standard login prompt for that host appears and after entering your login/password, your remote desktop should display in a few seconds.
Also Note -- X-Win32 automatically selected the language and the keyboard. Of course you can change this to any other language.
Test #2: Multiple Remote Desktops
We figured that since most end users need to connect to multiple X hosts for different tasks, they should be able to bring up desktops from multiple remote hosts at the same time and just Alt-Tab between the remote machines. Most PC X servers don’t offer this feature and you have to log off one desktop in order to bring up one from another host.
X-Win32 makes it easy. Simple use the Wizard to create an “XDMCP” session. When you run the session the first time, it will bring up the desktop from the first server you select. When that desktop is up and running, simply start-up the same XDMCP session and select another server, and so on. Test #3: Setting up Sessions
Assuming you have already started X-Win32, right-click the “X-Win32” icon in the systray and select “X-Config.” After the interface appears, select Wizard. On the first screen, give your session a name and select a connection method for the type of session created in the first test. Follow the Wizard.
Test #4: Accessing X Hosts via the Internet over an Encrypted Tunnel
X-Win32 is still the only PC X server that comes with an integrated SSH connection option that lets you set up an encrypted tunnel between the Windows machines and the Unix/Linux host. This makes it easy to access X hosts that are behind a firewall. Simply start the Wizard and select the SSH session option. When finished, go back to the X-Config, highlight the session you just created and select “Launch.” Moments later your X-term window appears and you can start running applications.
Test #5: Copy & Paste
- Copying text: Any PC X server can copy text between Windows and X hosts. But they make it cumbersome by having to pull down menus. X-Win32 makes it easy, Simply highlight the X text and do a paste command in the Windows application. Going the other way, copy text into the Windows clip board, then place the mouse in the X window where you want the copied text to appear and click the center mouse button (or select a paste command form the X application).
- Few PC X server can copy graphics from X to Windows. So you end up performing a Print-Screen action, copying the entire desktop into Paint and then you have to edit the image, etc. X-Win32 has a built-in Screen Capture tool. Right-click the X-Win32 icon and select “Screen Shot.” Now you can copy either the entire desktop, a selected window, or you can use the mouse to copy a certain rectangle containing the image you want to copy. When done you can either print the image, copy it to the clip board or save it as a file. This screen capture tool is so simple, many X-Win32 customers use it instead of other screen capture tools to capture images from both the X and other Windows applications.
Test #6: Colors: What you want is what you get!
One of the advances our engineers built into our current code base is the ability to display applications in the exact colors they are supposed to. Bring up a simple X Windows application like “xcalc” for example. Use any PC X server of your choice and you’ll get a black-and-white rendering of the calculator. Bring up xcalc with X-Win32 and you’ll get it in the same colors it looks like on the remote Linux or Unix console.
Also our Render Extension support helps smooth graphics images on Linux desktops and increases overall performance of the X server. est #7: Running from a USB Drive
X-Win32 is the first and only major PC X server you can install and run from a standard USB drive. This “X-Win32 Flash” version of the product lets you take the X server and all your pre-configured sessions to any Windows computer and run them. Nothing gets installed on the host PC or remains after you unplug the device. Besides USB keys, you can also install X-Win32 Flash onto SD-memory cards so you can even run your X Windows applications from your digital cameral or cell phone if your PC can recognize those cards as a drive. Test #8: Short Cuts & AutoStart
Often, it is nice to have a desktop shortcut to a certain X application. After you create a session for that application, simply highlight the Session in the sessions list and click “Shortcut.’ The shortcut icon will appear on the desktop almost immediately.
Another convenience is to be able to auto-start one or more remote applications when you boot X-Win32. All you need to do is drag those sessions into the AutoStart folder.
Test #9: Session Folders
Engineers typically have dozens of pre-configured sessions to applications on various Unix/Linux hosts. X-Win32 is the only PC X server that offers the ability to create session folders in which you can group certain sessions. Test #10: The Rockwell Feature
To underscore how StarNet typically implements customer-requests for features, let me point towards the “Rockwell” feature. Last summer, Rockwell-Collins started to replace their Exceed licenses with X-Win32. There was one feature they would like to see added that X-Win32 or other PC X servers do not have. This was the ability to change the login/password for a whole bunch of sessions with a single action. This would be nice because passwords are frequently updated on the company’s Unix hosts and engineers with dozens of sessions to different servers face the daunting task of manually resetting their session passwords for scores of sessions each times this happens. Three weeks later Rockwell was using the new “Password” feature (see X-Config – Sessions). This lets you change the PWs of all your sessions or only those in a selected folder with a single command. Very convenient!
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