Two companies with but a single thought: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Cayman Systems Inc and InterCon Systems Corp, Herndon, Virginia have each come out with products that enable an Apple Computer Inc Macintosh to be run from an X Window System terminal. The Cayman product is called XGator and the company says it causes the Macintosh desktop to appear on screens of Sun Microsystems Inc, Digital Equipment Corp and other workstations or terminals running X Window. XGator is claimed to be the first X Window client software for the Macintosh and is claimed to enable workstation users to run Macintosh applications from an X station or terminal and network administrators to manage Macintosh networks and support the users from their workstations. A single Mac running XGator can act as a server to give many X terminal users low-cost access to Macintosh applications from anywhere on the network; users can also cut and paste between Mac and X applic ations. It needs a Mac Plus or SE up and System 5.0 up. It is $500, next month. The InterCon product is called Planet X, and is also an X Window System client that provides remote control of Macintosh computers. Offering essentially the same facilities as XGator, it also supports any other Macintosh running MacX and maps the remote Macintosh’s windows on the X work station bit-for-bit, including colour. When a session is established, the Mac screen appears as a separate window so the X user always has control of the local desktop applications. It can also be used to create a file server using a Mac II. It runs under Finder and MultiFinder and needs 1Mb, 2Mb for colour, System 6.0.5 up, MacTCP, which is bundled with Planet X. It sells for $300 single user and it will be offered in bundles for 10, 25, 50 or 100 users; available mid-August.
