The Joy of. An Overview of the X Window System. Niall Mansfield

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1 The Joy of An Overview of the X Window System Niall Mansfield

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3 Preface V PART 1 X in a Nutshell 1 A Brief Overview of the X System X is a client/server window system The user interface is not built into the base X system The unique features that make X so useful How X compares with other systems The Benefits X Gives You X gives you all the usual benefits of a window system X integrates applications on different hardware and operating systems Benefits of a standard GUI throughout your organization X allows distributed computing, or centralized, or both X fundamentally changes software and hardware decisions The financial benefits of using X How X can help different categories of people 4 8 PART 2 How X Works, in Detail, and How the User Sees It 3 The Server - the Display Control Software The role of the server Implementations of the X server How the server handles output to the screen The server contains the only display hardware dependence in the system Handling text and fonts Handling colour Pictures and images - bitmaps, cursors and pixmaps Extras you may want or need : server extensions 94

4 4 Communication between the Server and Clients Clients send high-level `requests' to the server The server uses `events' to communicate input and status changes to th e client Intercepting input and requests for special handling X can work over many different network types, as well as locally What load does X impose on the network? X Version and Release numbers, and compatibility issues Clients - the Application Programs An overview of the client and its role What X clients consist of, and how they are built Internationalizing and localizing applications - Xil8n Examples of X application programs `Look and Feel' Part 1 - Toolkits for Application Programs `Look and feel' means how the user sees the system X allows many different look and feels Motif and OPEN LOOK - the standard look and feels How look and feel is implemented : toolkits The Standard X Toolkit - Intrinsics and Widgets The standard X Toolkit, `Xt' Widgets and widget sets are building blocks The `Intrinsics' lets you manipulate widgets Event handling and `callbacks' Some implementations of Motif and OPEN LOOK use Xt Other X toolkits `Look and Feel' Part 2 - Window Managers What you need a `window manager' for Using the window manager The window manager 's look and feel How a window manager works Using Many Applications Together - `Inter-Client Communications ' Why applications need to communicate with each other `Properties' - the basic mechanism for inter-client communications Advanced communications mechanisms The Selections Service - a high-level communications mechanism ICCCM - the rulebook for inter-client communications Desktop managers 228

5 PART 3 Using the System, System Administration, Performance, and Programming 10 Using the X System What you need to get started How you use the network facilities Using character-based applications - terminal emulators Integrating X with other systems Where to get the software System Administration Starting up the system Customizing server settings Administering fonts Security A summary of X system administration Customizing Applications Customizing applications The Resources mechanism for customizing applications How the Toolkit uses resources Translation tables resources and keyboard mapping Tools for customizing resources Performance Factors Server performance Network performance Client performance Benchmarks and tests Writing X Programs Programming the system, and development tools User interface management systems and other development tools Migrating old applications to X - enhanced terminal emulators Porting from other window systems, and multiple-platform applications User interface design, and programming Epilogue The MIT X Consortium The X standards Sources of further information and assistance 342 Index 345