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x windows ?
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sprite
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Oct 23, 2000, 04:02 PM
 
Can someone explain x windows (i think thats what they are called) basically how does a unix computer display a GUI interface. I dont understand there is xfree86 and gnome and kde.
My second question is there a way to use "x windows" on Mac OSX. i would like to try some of the open source graphics programs like gimp and blender.
     
Alex Duffield
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Oct 23, 2000, 04:06 PM
 
Alex Duffield
http://www.incontrolsolutions.com
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: signature() in /usr/local/www/htdocs/showthread.php on line 813
     
Scott_H
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Oct 23, 2000, 04:24 PM
 
Maybe this will help
http://www.x.org

That got to be amoung the cooler URLs

[This message has been edited by Scott_H (edited 10-23-2000).]
     
citoc
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Oct 23, 2000, 08:33 PM
 
While I'm not an expert, here is the most I know about your question:

The X Window System (aka, X Window, X or the ever controversial X Windows), is a method of enabling graphic display on a Unix-like system. It is set up in a client/server model (although the reverse of what one would expect; the client is the one dishing out graphics, and the X Window server is the machine "serving," or displaying, the graphics to you) to allow graphics display on any machine on a network. XFree86 is an open source variant of the X Window System.

Since X only allows graphics to be displayed (it only has a rudimentary windowing system of its own) other bits must be added to create a "desktop environment." First, a window manager is usually added (Enlightenment, WindowMaker, et al). This program manages windows (imagine that ). It allows themeing of windows (they can look like anything), and works a bit with placement. Next a desktop environment can be added. This is where KDE and Gnome come into play.

Gnome and KDE provide a more integrated environment, combining the Graphics layer (X Window), window manager (Enlightenment or other), a program to browse the hard drive or network, and a host of other utilities for set up, clocks, Taskbar/Dock like (I know I'll be pummeled for saying this) and many of the other bits needed for other programs to run.

By compairison, Mac OS X has the Quartz layer controlling graphics and, to the best of my knowledge, windows and the Finder/Desktop and the Dock for other Desktop environment functions (this is a simplification).

The point of all this: to run one of the open source graphics apps which run under KDE or Gnome, one needs to have KDE or Gnome (or at least their libraries?) installed on top of X Window. Basically, you can't run both Quartz and X Window at the same time. However, X Window can run "underneath" OS X as a client, with an X Server optimized for Quartz/OS X. This is what Tenon provides with X tools. The other option is Xvnc. To find out more about it, check out this thread: http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/Forum3/HTML/001268.html

I hope that helps.

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ChangeIsTheOnlyConstant
"For once timid traveler, be careless and utterly lose your way." -Rabindranath Tagore
     
   
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