MKS Homepage v8.1 
Release Notes February 2007

MKS X/Server is designed to be the ideal solution for interoperability of PCs and UNIX/Linux systems, and provides the usability and flexibility that users as well as enterprise system administrators require. MKS X/Server is a great companion to MKS Toolkit, the leader in UNIX to Windows interoperability.

MKS Inc.
 12701 Fair Lakes Circle,
Suite 350
Fairfax VA
22033

Main:
  +1-703-803-3343

Support:
  +1-703-803-7660
  tk_support@mkssoftware.com

www.mkssoftware.com

MKS X/Server 8.1

MKS X/Server 8.1 is the latest version of MKS' newest interoperability product, MKS X/Server, a rebranded and updated version of SCO XVision Eclipse. For a list of fixes included in this update as well as other MKS X/Server releases, see Fixed Problems below. It also includes the following new features:

Windows Vista Compatibility

MKS X/Server 8.1 has been validated on the final release version of the Windows Vista operating system.

Secure Shell Support

MKS X/Server 8.1 now features support for the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. SSH is a secure replacement for older TCP protocols that provides greater security and full support for passwordless authentication and other modern authentication methods like RSA/DSA keys and smart cards as well as allowing an established connection to tunnel other protocols (such as X11). Support for SSH-enabled transports is fully integrated in MKS X/Server's terminal emulators, Remote Program Starter, and UNIX Neighborhood. When an SSH-enabled transport is used, MKS X/Server first tries to connect using SSH and if that fails, it falls back to using an insecure method (for example, telnet). As a result, you can connect to both pre-SSH machines and SSH-capable machines.

Full information on using the new SSH features of MKS X/Server are available by selecting Documentation from the MKS XServer Start menu and clicking Using SSH with MKS X/Server.

Exceed File Compatibility

As of MKS X/Server 8.1, the Remote Program Starter (RPS) can read and use Hummingbird Exceed .xs files. You can place such files directly in a RPS command line or you can read them into RPS, modify them, and save them as .rps files. Additionally, if you desire, you can associate .xs files with rps.exe with the command line: 

assoc .xs="Rps.Document.l"

Improved SCO XVision Eclipse Upgradeability

When installing MKS X/Server 8.1 on a machine that once had SCO XVision Eclipse installed and has never had MKS X/Server installed, the installer now gives you the option to migrate compatible parts of the SCO XVision Eclipse profile to MKS X/Server.

Japanese Language Translation

A Japanese version of MKS X/Server 8.1 is now available. This version must be purchased and licensed separately.

New Features in Previous Releases

Hardware and Software Requirements

  • Windows compatible x86 PC
    • Windows® Vista
    • Windows® 2003 Server
    • Windows® XP
    • Windows® 2000
  • Windows Compatible x64 PC
    • Windows® Vista x64
    • Windows® 2003 Server x64 edition
    • Windows® XP x64 edition
  • Windows® 2003 Server Itanium edition is supported with the 32 bit X Server.
  • Typical installation requires 40 Mb of disk space.

Installing MKS X/Server

If you have SCO XVision Eclipse, you must uninstall it, or install MKS X/Server on another machine.

When installing MKS X/Server you must install from an account with local or domain administrator privileges. You do not need to be an Administrator, but your login ID must be a member of the local or domain Windows Administrators group before you can install.

All MKS X/Server products share a common installer. If you are installing from a CD, insert the MKS X/Server distribution CD; the installer should start automatically. If you are installing from an electronic distribution, run the self-extracting installer.

To install MKS X/Server, click the Install X/Server button and follow the instructions on the dialogs that appear.

Note: You should turn off all virus protection software before installing MKS X/Server. Such software can sometimes cause the installation to be interrupted and rolled back. Once you have installed MKS X/Server, you can turn virus protection back on.

For step-by-step installation instructions and an installation FAQ, see http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/install.asp.

Silent and Administrative Installations

For step-by-step installation instructions and information on administrative and silent installations for MKS X/Server see http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/install.asp.

Uninstalling MKS X/Server

Uninstalling MKS X/Server

To uninstall MKS X/Server, use the following procedure:

  1. From the Control Panel run Add/Remove Programs.

  2. Remove MKS X/Server.

You must reboot your system before reinstalling MKS X/Server.

Uninstalling SCO XVision Eclipse

  1. From the Control Panel run Add/Remove Programs.

  2. Remove SCO XVision Eclipse. (This is only necessary if the XVision X server is installed. This X Server was normally only installed with previous versions of MKS Toolkit for Interoperability and MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers.)

You must reboot your system before reinstalling MKS X/Server.

Known Issues

The following known issues exist in MKS X/Server:

  • MKS X/Server.
    • On Windows 2000, if you use "Focus Follows Mouse" with the "Leave Windows In Place" policy, you will see strange focus behavior when using MS-DOS Command Prompt windows.
    • On Windows 2000, if you use "Focus Follows Mouse" with the "Leave Windows In Place" policy, an Explorer window will have a corrupted title bar when you move the pointer out of the window. This does not affect the window itself. The window title is restored when the window receives focus again.


  • XRemote and RPS.
    • If you wish to use Remote Program Starter (RPS) to start X clients over XRemote, you must manually set the display name for the RPS command to match the XRemote proxy server display.


  • XVSpy.
    • Do not use a font server while recording an X session.


  • Terminal Emulators.
    • When using an embedded emulator in-place, only a limited implementation of the emulator toolbar support is available.
    • When using an emulator in an ActiveX document container application, the emulator's printing facilities are not available.
    • When using an embedded emulator in-place in Microsoft Word, or in an ActiveX document container application, the emulator's context help does not work.
    • To upgrade desktop VT320 applications, the VT420 emulator must be installed.


  • Vision Resume.
    • To use Vision Resume with XRemote, you must disable host access control for MKS X/Server.
    • When used with Vision Resume, Netscape might display "Sequence lost". You can safely ignore this message.
    • Some SCO UNIX X clients, such as scocal and scocolor, work with Vision Resume when MKS X/Server is using a PseudoColor display but not when it is using a TrueColor display.
      These clients will fail with third-party X servers when running with Vision Resume, unless the following lines are appended to the server's rgb.txt file (for example, /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt):
      203 203 192            scoBackground
11  0   113            scoForeground
255 240 248            scoTopShadow
255 206 137            scoActiveBackground
43  45  49             scoActiveForeground
254 222 255            scoActiveTopShadow
172 186 204            scoAltBackground
0   0   255            scoHighlight
      If you have problems starting a Resume session, ensure a link has been made between /usr/bin/xresume and /usr/local/xserver/bin/xresume
      (see the Help topic 'Configuring Vision Resume on UNIX' for more details).
    • If on starting a Resume session you see the error message "Cannot relocate your Resume session to that display" this may be caused by a network naming problem. Try displaying an X client from the UNIX host that you run the proxy server on to your Vision X Server, using the X Server's full DNS name (for example, xclock -display myPC.myCO.co.uk:0). If this reports "Cannot open Display" then you have a naming problem—try adding the full DNS name to /etc/hosts.


  • Multiuser Windows environments.
    • MKS X/Server Printing does not work on Windows 2000 or Windows Terminal Server running in multi-user mode. You can use LPD Printing in these environments.


  • MKS X/Server 3D.
    • Restrictions
      • Backing store shouldn't be used with the GLX extension.
      • OpenGL extensions are not available.
    • Notes
      • The GLX extension is disabled by default. The GLX extension can be re-enabled using the MKS X/Server Configuration program.
      • On true color displays, GLX color index visuals are only available using the Pseudo Color default visual class.
      • If you experience problems with colors when running OpenGL applications on a 256 color display, setting the X/Server default visual class to TrueColor may improve the situation. To do this, choose:
        X/Server Properties > Color tab > Let me specify a particular default visual class.
      • Matrox Millennium video cards running in 16-bit color can prevent some OpenGL applications from running or displaying correctly. Matrox has been informed of this problem.

Customer Support

Contact MKS customer support at:

Web Site: http://www.mkssoftware.com/support
Online Request Form: http://www.mkssoftware.com/support/support.asp
E-mail: tk_support@mkssoftware.com
Telephone: +1-703-803-7660
(9:00am to 7:00pm ET, Mon-Fri, except holidays)
Fax: +1-703-803-3344

Additional MKS Interoperability Resources

There are several other sources for additional information about our MKS Interoperability products.

We have general product information, including technical specifications, detailed utility listings, and datasheets at:

We offer a resource kit including example scripts, additional utilities, more tutorials, and a wide variety of other useful information at:

We have several additional articles, tutorials, and white papers about using features of MKS Interoperability products at:

Through the years, we have accumulated a lot of technical details about the MKS Interoperability products and have put this information in a searchable database at:

Our customers commonly ask certain questions. These questions and their answers are in our Frequently Asked Questions pages at:

Known installation issues are listed at:

Fixed Problems

Several problems were fixed in MKS X/Server 8.1. These are listed at:

Fixed Problems in Previous Releases

© 2001 - 2007 MKS Software Inc.; in Canada copyright owned by MKS Inc. All rights reserved.