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XWindows & X.org
[Linux System Administration Homepage]
Overview
Goals:
  • Understand the X Server System
  • Explore the different Desktop Environments
  • Compare differences between KDE and Gnome
  • Learn how to switch Desktops
  • Try out some different desktop applications
  • Understand parts of the X stack
    Linux Kernel
    X Server
    Xlib
    Toolkits (GTK, QT, Tcl/TK, Motif, OpenGL)
    Graphical Applications
Files/directories covered:
  • /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  • /etc/sysconfig/desktop
    DESKTOP="KDE" (or GNOME)
Commands:
  • konqueror
  • nautilus
  • kcontrol vs. various gnome config applets
  • xhost
  • xmodmap
  • xev
  • xinit
  • ssh -X
Questions
  • Where did GUI's first get started?
  • What is the history of X11 (Xwindows)?
  • Why did linux switch from XFree86 to X.org?
  • What does the Xserver do? What does the kernel do for X11(Xwindows)?
  • What does Xlib do? And the graphics toolkits?
  • What do desktop environments like Gnome and KDE do?
  • What does a window manager (like metacity for gnome) do?
  • Redhat came up with a theme called "bluecurve", why do some consider it confusing?
  • How do you switch between KDE and Gnome?
Activites
  1. Find the xorg.conf file and look through it, figure out what sections control the mouse, video card, monitor type, and video driver
  2. Try out xev to see what raw Xserver output looks like
  3. switch from the default Gnome to KDE (Make sure you have KDE installed first!)
References
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