The X Windows system Unit objectives A.Explain the purpose of GUI components, list common window managers and desktop environments B. Configure X Windows.

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?