               README for the nano-X VNC viewer

What is VNC ?
-------------
VNC is Virtual Network Computing, you have a 'viewer' running on one
machine which allows you to control the desktop of a different
machine via the VNC 'server'. The design allows the viewer and server
to run on different hardware and different operating systems yet
still work together. What this means in practice is that you can have
a Windoze desktop in a window on your X display or vice-versa.
The viewer has also been designed to be small and portable so it
seemed like a good candidate for a nano-X application.

More info, source and binaries can be found at:

    http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/


Status of the nano-X port
-------------------------
The nano-X port is based on the VNC viewer for X, version 3.3.2.
This is the 2nd work-in-progress release, the main differences
from the previous release are:

+ Now uses GrSetSystemPalette() to handle 8-bit palette displays.
+ Builds for Microwindows 0.88pre8.

The features / limitations of this release are:

+ Compiled with Microwindows version 0.88pre8
+ Viewer tested on uClinux running on an Isicad Prisma 700
  workstation with the serial mouse driver, the tty keyboard driver
  and my own screen driver. The Prisma has a 1280 x 1024, 256 colour
  display but it is not accessible as a frame buffer so needs a 
  custom microwindows screen driver.
+ Also tested with the X11 screen driver on Slackware Linux.
+ Tested with VNC servers running on NetBSD-Amiga and Slackware
  Linux.
+ Only tested with an 8-bit palette display.
+ Keyboard handling is working but only for simple ASCII text, no
  shift-clicking.
+ Mouse seems to work OK.
+ No way to scroll the screen if the viewer window is smaller than 
  the server's screen.
+ Runs very slowly on the Prisma, most likely due to the Prisma's
  weird graphics interface.

Installation
------------
The tarball is intended to be unpacked in the src/demos subdirectory
of the Microwindows distribution. The makefiles have been adapted
from those used by the rest of the demo programs so it should build
from the top level 'make'. The resulting binary will appear as
src/bin/vnc. You will need a network connection to a VNC server
to do anything with it :-)


George Harvey
fr30@dial.pipex.com
13th June 2000


