The X Window System, or X, is a network-transparent window system. With X, multiple applications can run simultaneously in windows, generating text and graphics in monochrome or color on a bitmap display. Network transparency means that application programs can run on machines scattered through the network.

Most of you will be using default - Common desktop window manager that came with Solaris. If you need to run your own window manager, please read on. You need to have /opt/X11R6/bin (Solaris 2.x) or /usr/openwin/bin in your path. In your home directory you should create a file ".xinitrc". ".xinitrc" is the script used to start up X and it is invoked when you type "xinit".

Cygwin/X, in conjunction with Cygwin, provides a complete compatibility layer for compiling and running UNIX applications on Microsoft Windows.

The X Window System does not use autoconf because autoconf was not available when the X Window System was started in 1984.

X Window System source code is generally licensed under an X11 style license, which is certified by the Free Software Foundation as compatible with the GNU GPL.

Each source code file in the X Window System typically has its own license and copyright statement. Therefore, there is not a general rule for determining who holds the copyright on a particular X Window System source file, as each author is free to assign the copyright to someone else, to some group, or to keep the copyright themselves. You must inspect the source code file in question to determine who holds the copyright for that file.

No not yet. But according to Nick Ing-Simmons: If app. can take XID of window to draw on it should be doable now, but if Tk has to pro-actively watch for creation of app's 'top level', and "capture" it is more tricky.

X" is common shorthand for The X Window System. It is the basis for building some graphical user interfaces (GUIs). These are most often found on UNIX-type systems, although there are implementations for other platforms. Notice that X is not the interface itself. For more information, please see The X Window System. A window manager (briefly) is a program which controls the way various windows interact during an X session. AfterStep is one such window manager.

When switching between text-mode consoles (VC or "virtual console"), you merely need to use the ALT modifier (ALT-F1 through ALT-F7). While running an X server, you use the CTRL-ALT modifer to get out of X and back to a text-mode VC (CTRL-ALT-F1 through CTRL-ALT-F6). Also, CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE will kill X altogether, and CTRL-ALT-KEYPAD+ and CTRL-ALT-KEYPAD- will switch between available resolutions.

If you are using the default console driver, syscons, you can use a mouse pointer in text consoles to cut & paste text. Run the mouse daemon, moused, and turn on the mouse pointer in the virtual console: # moused -p /dev/xxxx -t yyyy # vidcontrol -m on Where xxxx is the mouse device name and yyyy is a protocol type for the mouse. See the moused(8) man page for supported protocol types. You may wish to run the mouse daemon automatically when the system starts. In version 2.2.

The Nano-X Window System is an Open Source project that brings some of the features of modern graphical windowing systems to the programming community not wanting or requiring the large disk and ram requirements of higher-end windowing systems like Microsoft Windows or the X Window System. Nano-X does not require any operating system or other graphics system support, as it writes directly to the display hardware, although it runs well on Linux framebuffer systems.

The project is licensed under the MPL. Alternatively, the software can be licensed under the GPL, if desired. This means that the standard Nano-X distribution can be used for commercial purposes, and supports the needs of developers working under non-disclosure or writing proprietary device drivers. Modifications to source code supplied in the standard distribution must stay open source. Or the entire project can be converted to GPL, with files added by a developer considered GPL only.

For example, you are logged in on chengho and you want to run a GUI program (opens a graphical interface window) which resides on erikson. In this case you have to tell erikson to send all X-window communication to chengho. Login to erikson and type: setenv DISPLAY chengho:0.0 On chengho in a different shell window type: xhost +erikson.ucsd.edu Then you should be able to run you GUI program on erikson. Note: In most cases your DISPLAY environment variable will be setup automagically by ssh.

Windows users will need to have an X-server running (Exceed, Novell X-server,..). Go to the settings menu of your ssh window, click on "tunneling" and check the "tunnel X11 connections" box. You'll need to exit ssh and specify that you want to save your settings. Unix/Linux users should be able to open X-windows without any preparation.

There are several GUI's and Lisp interfaces to the X Window System. Mailing lists for these systems are listed in the answer to question [4-7]. Various vendors also offer their own interface-building packages. CLX provides basic Common Lisp/X functionality. It is a de facto standard low-level interface to X, providing equivalent functionality to XLib, but in Lisp. It is also a good source for comparing the foreign function calls in various Lisps. Does *not* depend on CLOS.

It will take some time to write a comprehensive entry on this subject, but in the meantime it is hoped that the information presented here is useful. Thanks to Denis Barbier, Andrew Suffield, and Frank Murphy for their patience and explanations.