RE: HTML to PDF Generator (X-Server on i)

["Dennis Lovelady" <iseries@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wow, thanks, Scott, for that excellent synopsis!  While I cannot really do
anything with it at present, it is something I could set up when (if!!!) I
finally return home, so my interest is piqued.  :)

How about xdm instead of (super-insecure) VNC for those who do want a whole
desktop?  Have you ever seen that on i?  That's actually what I envisioned
when I mentioned X-server.  But I do know from daily experience that with
secure connection capability (e.g. putty), VNC isn't bad.

"chew your own foot off."  Yow!!!  I need no more description than that!

Dennis Lovelady
http://www.linkedin.com/in/dennislovelady
--
Nobody can outstubborn your mother. 


> On 8/5/2010 11:19 AM, Dennis Lovelady wrote:
> > Brings up an interesting question.  Has anyone on this list
> successfully
> > installed and exercised an X server on their System i?
>
> Yep.
>
> IBM has a tool for Java goons named "NAWT."  It's supposed to allow you
> to write/run graphical Java applications on IBM i.
>
> What it really does is install a copy of XFree86 (an older, open source,
> version of X11) in PASE.  The NAWT actually outputs the Java GUI stuff
> using X11. IBM also includes VNC server with NAWT, and they recommend
> that you run the VNC server, and use a VNC client to view it. They also
> include the iceWM window manager so you can have a full desktop-like
> thing running on IBM i.
>
> Despite all of this VNC stuff, if you have an XServer running on your
> PC, you can have it output the Java GUI as well as any X11 software
> running in PASE directly to your PC desktop.  I did that extensively
> with FreeBSD as my desktop and IBM i using the XFree86 server.
>
> You can even use the free Cygwin support for X11 on Windows to run AIX
> or Java programs running on IBM i, and display them directly on your
> Windows desktop.  Unfortunately, I've had some issues with Cygwin-X --
> in particular, issues where keyboard input doesn't seem to work in the
> xterm provided with IBM i.  IBM never seemed to be able to figure out
> what the problem was, so they told everyone not to use Cygwin-X, and in
> fact, they say the best approach is to use VNC.  (I disagree, since VNC
> is noticably slower, and who the heck wants a whole desktop?!) But, I
> digress...
>
> The point is...  IBM ships a version of X11, already set up for running
> on IBM i. (So it should be possible to get wkhtmltopdf to work...
> though I haven't used that particular tool.)
>
> Unfortunately, IBM's documentation for this is very poor.  They explain
> NAWT in the Information Center, but provide no information (that I can
> find) for how to install it.
>
> They reference VNC as requiring LPO 5799-PTL, but the links to the web
> site for 5799-PTL are all broken.  The links broke about the time that
> IBM i 7.1 was released this spring -- but even the 7.1 docs refer to
> the
> same link.  And nowhere do they explain that X11 is used with NAWT
> (even
> though it clearly is, when you look at what's happening.)
>
> It's enough to make you want to chew your own foot off.