X on a server Re: Freebsd vs. linux

[Bart Silverstrim]

On Feb 13, 2005, at 4:14 PM, Ean Kingston wrote:

> On February 13, 2005 03:53 am, Anthony Atkielski wrote:
>> Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC writes:
>>> You can install the X libraries and client apps on your server -- 
>>> this
>>> works fine at secure level 3 and does not require kernel 
>>> configurations
>>> changes or special daemons or anything.  What it allows you to do is
>>> then link software against the X libraries and then redirect the
>>> display to your workstations X server.  This meets your criteria and
>>> can be handy for certain things.  Your apps still run in userland 
>>> only
>>> and there is no HW touching stuff. You are not running the X Server 
>>> on
>>> your FBSD Server machine.
>>
>> I'll consider it, although it still sounds complicated.
>>
>> What do I gain from X that I don't already have with remote terminal
>> sessions like those created with SecureCRT? I know it looks pretty, 
>> but
>> what server-related things can I do with X that I cannot do with
>> ordinary terminals?  I'm not aware of anything right now; it seems 
>> that
>> everything can be done from a command line (thank goodness--working 
>> with
>> Windows is a nightmare precisely _because_ so many things cannot be 
>> done
>> from a command line).
>
> I run an XLoad app on every server with the display on my desktop (set 
> to
> update once a minute. It lets me keep an eye on the general health of 
> the
> servers during the day. Asside from that I haven't found a truely 
> useful GUI
> app for servers.

I don't know if this counts at all (especially since it's not FBSD), 
and I'm loathe to say positive things about NetWare, but I remember 
reading their "Snakes" screensaver was actually a load meter...the 
bigger the load on the server, the longer the tales on the snakes and 
the faster they moved on the screen.

-Bart