The X Windows system
Unit objectives
A. Explain the purpose of GUI components, list common window managers and desktop environments
B. Configure X Windows to work with video hardware, keyboards, and mice
Topic A: GUI components
GUI Components
• Graphical interfaces are easier
• User friendly
• Many graphical tools to simplify administration
• Multiple environments to choose from
• Need to understand components
GUI components
The X Windows system
• X Windows– The component of the GUI that displays
graphics on the terminal screen
• X clients– The programs that tell X Windows server how
to draw the graphics and display the results
Major GUI components
• Window manager– Determines the appearance of the windows
drawn on the screen by X Windows
• Desktop environment– Works with the window manager to provide a
unified environment that includes standard programs and development tools
• KDE• GNOME• XFce
continued
KDE Desktop Environment
GNOME Desktop Environment
Common window managers
Controlling the graphical interface
• Many methods to start X Windows
• Can edit config files directly or with x client tools
• Starting and stopping X Windwos– Runlevel 5 settings include a display manager
• Gnome-gdm• KDE-kdm
XClients config files
• Runlevel 5 starts automatically
• From runlevel 3– Gdm at command line– Startx
• Starts X Windows and the manager or desktop specified in .Xclients
The Desktop Switching Tool
Topic B: Configuring X Windows
Configuring X Windows
• For the video adapter card, X Windows requires:– The video adapter card model– The amount of RAM on the video adapter
card
– The chipset on the video adapter card
continued
Video monitor values
• X Windows also requires information about the monitor– The maximum resolution supported
– The horizontal sync (hsync) range– The vertical sync (vsync) range
• /etc/X11/xorg.conf– Configuration file used by X Windows on
Fedora Core 2
Mouse configuration using mouseconfig
The Display settings utility
Using Xvidtune
• Although most monitors today support a wide range of hsync and vsync values, choosing too high a value for either may damage the monitor
• Xvidtune– Program used to fine-tune the vsync and
hsync video card settings for use in X Windows
The xvidtune utility
Unit summary
• Learned the purpose GUI components such as X Windows, window managers, and desktop environments
• Gathered hardware information and configured X Windows settings, and ran X applications from the command line
If a video card is not recognized by the X configuration utility during the
installation process, which of the following actions should be taken to enable X to display after installation is complete?
A. Edit the /etc/inittab to boot the X Window System B. Identify the chipset on the video card and obtain the
driver from the manufacturer. C. Inspect the CMOS for information on the video card and
install the drivers that came with the video card. D. Edit /etc/lilo.conf to include a boot message to the kernel
pointing to the location of the video drivers.
If a video card is not recognized by the X configuration utility during the
installation process, which of the following actions should be taken to enable X to display after installation is complete?
A. Edit the /etc/inittab to boot the X Window System B. Identify the chipset on the video card and obtain the
driver from the manufacturer. C. Inspect the CMOS for information on the video card and
install the drivers that came with the video card. D. Edit /etc/lilo.conf to include a boot message to the kernel
pointing to the location of the video drivers. Answer: B
A new video card is added to a Linux workstation. Which of the following files is used to configure X?
A. /usr/conf/Xconfig B. /etc/X11R6/Xconfig C. /etc/X11/XF86Config D. /root/Xwindows/Xconf
A new video card is added to a Linux workstation. Which of the following files is used to configure X?
A. /usr/conf/Xconfig B. /etc/X11R6/Xconfig C. /etc/X11/XF86Config D. /root/Xwindows/Xconf Answer: C.
Which of the following is the best way to change video resolution from 800x600 to
1024x768? A. Run xf86config to change the resolution. B. Reinstall Linux with more options for X Server. C. Reinstall X Server with support for the
1024x768 resolution. D. Restart X Server after typing
"resolution=1024x768" as root.
Which of the following is the best way to change video resolution from 800x600 to
1024x768? A. Run xf86config to change the resolution. B. Reinstall Linux with more options for X Server. C. Reinstall X Server with support for the
1024x768 resolution. D. Restart X Server after typing
"resolution=1024x768" as root. Answer: A
Any Questions?