The X Window User HOWTO

Christopher Yeleighton


     
    

Hal Burgiss


     
    

v4.0 Jan. 12th, 2010

Revision History
Revision v4.02010-01-12Revised by: cy
Converted to XML docbook and to the new domain.
Revision v3.12002-10-10Revised by: hb
Some minor additions and updates.
Revision v3.02002-03-06Revised by: hb
Rewrite of the original document. Convert to DocBook. Many, many changes.

This document provides basic information on understanding and configuring the X Window System for Linux users. This is meant to be an introductory level document. A basic knowledge of software configuration is assumed, as is the presence of an installed and working X Window System.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. New Versions and ChangeLog
1.2. To Do
1.3. Feedback
1.4. Help!
1.5. Acknowledgments
1.6. Copyright
1.7. Standard Disclaimer
2. XFree86
2.1. Hardware
2.2. XF86Config
2.3. xvidtune and Monitor Tuning
3. Running X
3.1. startx
3.2. Display Managers
4. More X Configuration
4.1. X Resources
4.2. xmodmap, the Keyboard and Mice
4.3. xset
5. Fonts and Colors
5.1. Fonts Demystified
5.2. Colors
6. Window Managers and Desktops
6.1. Window Managers
6.2. Desktop Environments
7. X and the Command Line
7.1. xterm and friends
8. X Networking and Security
9. Performance Considerations
9.1. Hardware
9.2. Memory
9.3. X over the Network
9.4. Other Tips
10. Appendix
10.1. Terminology and Usage
10.2. Links and other References

Notes

[1]



v4.x changes:
- artheader tag changed to articleinfo
- graphic tag is being depricated in DocBook 5.x. To prepare for
  this, you should instead use the mediaobject tag.
- file format for imagedata has to be in capital letters.
- added support for PNG (notation in the DTD)


  --s+ [ser@metalab.unc.edu]
  
 aspell -H -c ~/ldp/x-user/LDP/howto/docbook/XWindow-User-HOWTO.sgml
 submit@linuxdoc.org
 
 export CVSROOT=:pserver:hal@cvs.linuxdoc.org:/cvsroot
 cvs -d $CVSROOT login
 pword: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 $cvs get LDP/howto/docbook/XWindow-User-HOWTO.sgml

 upload...
 $ cvs commit XWindow-User-HOWTO.sgml      !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 (from the LDP/howto/docbook/ dir)

check here: http://cvs.pld.org.pl/LDP/howto/docbook/XWindow-User-HOWTO.sgml

====================================
Start 3.1:
 TODO:

Changes:
    http://www.plig.org/xwinman (plus freshmeat)
    VNC vs X for performance on network.
    lbxproxy, performance.
    Add fluxbox.

Start rewrite 01/13/02 Hal Burgiss.

Changes:
 Converted to DocBook
 Rewrite! Rewrite! 
 A zillion changes.

ToDo:
 $DISPLAY
 http://www.superant.com/cgi-bin/smalllinux.pl?smallX
 http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue27/kaszeta.html (xdm)
 http://linux.daphnis.com/RedHat/Custom-X-Tips.html#toc4 (Xclients, etc)
 http://www.linuxjournal.com/print.php?sid=5304 (X config, etc)
 log file
 
http://www.linux.gr/cgi-bin/man2html/usr/X11R6/man/man7/X.7.gz
http://www.x-docs.org/

startx &> log

_X11TransSocketUNIXConnect: Can't connect: errno = 111 giving up.
xinit:  Connection refused (errno 111):  unable to connect to X server
xinit:  No such process (errno 3):  Server error.

## Makefile to build this doc as HTML and TXT ####################

# X Windows User HOWTO Makefile
#
# Hal Burgiss hal@foobox.net
#

TITLE = XWindow-User-HOWTO
EXT = sgml
SRC_DIR = LDP/howto/docbook
HTML_DIR = X-USER
SRC = $(SRC_DIR)/$(TITLE).$(EXT)

BUILD = jade -t sgml -ihtml -d /usr/lib/sgml/stylesheets/ldp.dsl\#html
BUILD_TXT = jade -t sgml -i html -d /usr/lib/sgml/stylesheets/ldp.dsl\#html -V nochunks
SPELL_CMD = aspell -H -c
LINKS_CMD = /usr/bin/linkchecker *html
EDIT_CMD = /usr/bin/vim -g
TBROWSER = w3m
TMP_TXT = __tmp.sgml
WWW=/var/www/html/ldp/x-user
SRC_URL = http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/x-user/$(TITLE).$(EXT).gz

all: doc txt

doc: html

html:
rm -fr $(HTML_DIR)
mkdir -p __tmp_htmls
mv -f *.html __tmp_htmls 2>/dev/null || :
mkdir -p $(HTML_DIR) 
$(BUILD) $(SRC) ||\
 (rm -f *.html && mv -f __tmp_htmls/* . || : && rm -rf __tmp_htmls && false)
mv -f *html $(HTML_DIR)
mv -f __tmp_htmls/* .  2>/dev/null || :
rm -fr __tmp_htmls

clean:
rm -fr $(HTML_DIR) *~  __tmp_htmls

edit:
$(EDIT_CMD) $(SRC)


spell:
$(SPELL_CMD) $(SRC)

spellchecker: spell


links:
cd $(HTML_DIR) && $(LINKS_CMD)

linkchecker: links

linkcheck: links

txt:
$(BUILD_TXT) $(SRC) > $(TMP_TXT).html 
$(TBROWSER) -dump $(TMP_TXT).html > $(TITLE).txt && gzip -f $(TITLE).txt && rm -f $(TMP_TXT).html

text: txt

www:
cp -fv $(HTML_DIR)/* $(TITLE).txt.gz $(SRC) $(WWW)
gzip -f $(WWW)/$(TITLE).sgml
rsync -auv $(WWW)/* feenix://$(WWW)/

submit:
@echo "Updated and ready:  $(SRC_URL)" |\
mail -s "$(TITLE) update" submit@linuxdoc.org &&\
echo " $(TITLE) Submitted!"

 

  Next
  Introduction