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From: dbl@ics.com (David B. Lewis)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,news.answers,comp.answers
Subject: comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 1/6
Date: 11 Apr 1995 13:36:11 GMT
Organization: ICS
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu
Expires: Sun, 14 May 1995 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <3me0kb$qeq@ics.com>
Reply-To: faq%craft@uunet.uu.net (X FAQ maintenance address)
Summary: useful information about the X Window System
Archive-name: x-faq/part1
Last-modified: 1995/04/10
This article and several following contain the answers to some Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) often seen in comp.windows.x. It is posted to help reduce
volume in this newsgroup and to provide hard-to-find information of general
interest.
Please redistribute this article!
This article includes answers to the following questions, which are loosely
grouped into categories. Questions marked with a + indicate questions new to
this issue; those with significant changes of content since the last issue are
marked by !:
0) TOPIC: BASIC INFORMATION SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS
1) What books and articles on X are good for beginners?
2) What courses on X and various X toolkits are available?
3) What conferences on X are coming up?
4)! What X-related public mailing lists are available?
5) How can I meet other X developers? (What X user groups are there?)
6)! What related FAQs are available?
7) How do I ask a net-question so as to maximize helpful responses?
8) What publications discussing X are available?
9) What are these common abbreviations/acronyms?
10) What is the ICCCM? (How do I write X-friendly applications?)
11) What is the X Consortium, and how do I join?
12) Just what are OPEN LOOK and Motif?
13) What is "low-bandwidth X" (LBX)? XRemote? PPP? SLIP? CSLIP?
14) TOPIC: USING X IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
15) What are all these window managers? (Where can I get a "virtual" wm?)
16) Why does my X session exit when I kill my window manager (sic)?
17) Can I save the state of my X session, like toolplaces does?
18) How do I use another window manager with DEC's session manager?
19) How do I change the keyboard auto-repeat rate?
20) How do I remap the keys on my keyboard to produce a string?
21) How do I make a screendump or print my application (including menus)?
22) How do I make a color PostScript screendump of the X display?
23) How do I make a screendump including the X cursor?
24) How do I convert or view Mac/TIFF/GIF/Sun/PICT/img/FAX images in X?
25) Where can I get an X-based 3-D object viewer?
26) How can I change the titlebar of my terminal window?
27) Where can I find the xterm control sequences?
28) How can I use characters above ASCII 127 in xterm ?
29) Why are my xterm menus so small (sic) ?
30) How can I print the current X selection?
31) Where are the resources loaded from?
32) How does Xt use environment variables in loading resources?
33) How to I have xdm put a picture behind the log-in window?
34) Why isn't my PATH set when xdm runs my .xsession file?
35) How do I keep my $DISPLAY when I rlogin to another machine?
36) How can I design my own font?
37) Why does adding a font to the server not work (sic)?
38) How do I convert a ".snf" font back to ".bdf" font?
39) What is a general method of getting a font in usable format?
40) How do I use DECwindows fonts on my non-DECwindows server?
41) How do I get a font name from the structure?
42) How can I set backgroundPixmap in a defaults file?
43) How can I make small multi-color pixmap images? (What is XPM?)
44) Why can't I override translations? Only the first item works. (sic)
45) How can I have a clock show different timezones?
46) I have xmh, but it doesn't work. Where can I get MH?
47) Why am I suddenly unable to connect to my Sun X server?
48) Why don't the R5 PEX demos work on my mono screen?
49) How do I get my Sun Type-[45] keyboard fully supported by Xsun?
50) How do I report bugs in X?
51) Why do I get "Warning: Widget class version mismatch"?
52) Why does my SPARC say "Mapping cg3c: No such device or address"?
53) Where can I find a dictionary server for xwebster?
54) TOPIC: OBTAINING X AND RELATED SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE
55) Is X public-domain software?
56) How compatible are X11R3, R4, R5, R6? What changes are there?
57)! What is Fresco? When is Fresco rumored to be available?
58) Does Fresco work with g++ 2.5.8?
59)! Where can I get X11R6 (source and/or binaries)?
60) Where can I get X11R5 (source and/or binaries)?
61) Where can I get XDM's Wraphelp.c ?
62) Where can I get patches to X11?
63) What is the xstuff mail-archive?
64)- Where can I get X11R4 (source and binaries)?
65) Where can I get OSF/Motif?
66) Does Motif work with X11R4? X11R5?
67) Where can I get toolkits implementing OPEN LOOK?
68) Where can I get other X sources? (including R5 modifications)
69)! Where can I get interesting widgets?
70) Where can I get a good file-selector widget?
71) Where can I find a hypertext widget in source code?
72) What widget is appropriate to use as a drawing canvas?
73) What is the current state of the world in X terminals?
74) Where can I get an X server with a touchscreen or lightpen?
75) Where can I get an X server on a PC (DOS or Unix)?
76) Where can I get an X server on a Macintosh running MacOS?
77) Where can I get X for the Amiga?
78) Where can I get a serial-based X server for connecting from home?
79) Where can I get a fast X server for a workstation?
80) Where can I get a server for my high-end Sun graphics board?
81) Where can I get an "X terminal" server for my low-end Sun 3/50?
82) What terminal emulators other than xterm are available?
83) Does xterm offer colored text or a blinking cursor?
84)! Where can I get an X-based editor or word-processor?
85)! Where can I get an X-based mailer?
86) Where can I get an X-based paint/draw program?
87) Where can I get an X-based plotting program?
88) Where can I get an X-based graph-drawing program?
89) Where can I get an X-based spreadsheet?
90) Where can I get X-based project-management software?
91) Where can I get an X-based PostScript previewer?
92) Where can I get an X-based GKS package?
93) Where can I get an X-based GL package?
94) Where can I get an X-based PEX package?
95) Where can I get an X-based TeX or DVI previewer?
96) Where can I get an X-based troff previewer?
97)! Where can I get a WYSIWYG interface builder (or other shortcuts)?
98) Where can I find X tools callable from shell scripts?
99)! Where can I get an X-based debugger?
100) How can I "tee" an X program identically to several displays?
101) Can I use C++ with X11? Motif? XView?
102) Where can I obtain alternate language bindings to X/Xt/Motif?
103) TOPIC: BUILDING THE X DISTRIBUTION [topic needs updating to R6]
104) What's a good source of information on configuring the X build?
105) Why doesn't my Sun with a cg6 work with R5?
106) Why doesn't my Sun with SunOS 4.1 know about _dlsym, etc.?
107) What is this "_get_wmShellWidgetClass undefined" error?
108) Why don't xterm or xinit work on Solaris 2.4?
109) What's this problem with undefined _X symbols on SunOS 4.1.3?
110) Why does cc get used when I build X11R5 with gcc?
111) What are these I/O errors running X built with gcc?
112) What are these problems compiling the X server on SunOS 4.1.1?
113) Can OW 3.0 OLIT programs run with R5 Xt? (_XtQString undefined)
114) How do I get around the SunOS 4.1 security hole?
115) How do I get around the frame-buffer security hole?
116) TOPIC: BUILDING X PROGRAMS
117) What is Imake?
118) Where can I get imake?
119) I have a program with an Imakefile but no Makefile. What to do?
120) Why can't I link to the Xlib shape routines?
121) What are these problems with "_XtInherit not found" on the Sun?
122) TOPIC: PROGRAMMING PROBLEMS AND PUZZLES
123) Why doesn't my program get the keystrokes I select for (sic)?
124) How do I deiconify a window?
125) How do I figure out what window manager is running?
126) Is there a skeleton X program available?
127) How can I incorporate an Xlib program in my Xt program?
128) Why does XtGetValues not work for me (sic)?
129) Why don't XtConfigureWidget/XtResizeWidget/XtMoveWidget work?
130) Why isn't there an XtReparentWidget call like XReparentWindow?
131) I'm writing a widget and can't use a float as a resource value.
132) Is this a memory leak in the X11R4 XtDestroyWidget()?!
133) Is this a memory leak in the X11R4 deletion of work procs?!
134) Why does the process size of my X programs go up,up,up?
135) Are callbacks guaranteed to be called in the order registered?
136) Why doesn't XtDestroyWidget() actually destroy the widget?
137) How do I query the user synchronously using Xt?
138) How do I determine the name of an existing widget?
139) Why do I get a BadDrawable error drawing to XtWindow(widget)?
140) Where can I get documentation on Xaw, the Athena widget set?
141) What's the difference between actions and callbacks?
142) How do I simulate a button press/release event for a widget?
143) Can I make Xt or Xlib calls from a signal handler?
144) What are these "Xlib sequence lost" errors?
145) How can my Xt program handle socket, pipe, or file input?
146) What's this R6 error: X Toolkit Error: NULL ArgVal in XtGetValues?
147) Why do I get a BadMatch error when calling XGetImage?
148) How can my application tell if it is being run under X?
149) How do I make a "busy cursor" while my application is computing?
150) How do I fork without hanging my parent X program?
151) Why doesn't anything appear when I run this simple program?
152) What is the difference between a Screen and a screen?
153) Can XGetWindowAttributes get a window's background pixel/pixmap?
154) How do I create a transparent window?
155) Why doesn't GXxor produce mathematically-correct color values?
156) Why does every color I allocate show up as black?
157) Why do I get a protocol error when creating a cursor (sic)?
158) Why can't my program get a standard colormap?
159) Why doesn't the shared-memory extension appear to work?
160) Why does the pixmap I copy to the screen show up as garbage?
161) How can I most quickly send an image to the X server?
162) How do I check whether a window ID is valid?
163) Can I have two applications draw to the same window?
164) Why can't my program work with tvtwm or swm?
165) Can I rely on a server which offers backing store?
166) How do I catch the "close window" event to avoid "fatal IO error"?
167) How do I keep a window from being resized by the user?
168) How do I keep a window in the foreground at all times?
169) How do I make text and bitmaps blink in X?
170) How do I get a double-click in Xlib?
171) How do I render rotated text?
172) Why doesn't my multi-threaded X program work (sic) ?
173) What is the X Registry? (How do I reserve names?)
If you have suggestions or corrections for any of these answers or any
additional information, please send them directly to uunet!craft!faq;
the information will be included in the next revision (or possibly the one
after that; thanks for the many suggestions which haven't been incorporated
yet).
This version of the FAQ is in the process of having outdated information
replaced by R6 information.
This posting is intended to be distributed monthly. New versions are
archived on ftp.x.org and rtfm.mit.edu and are also available from
mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu and archive-server@nic.switch.ch (send "help").
ftp.x.org was previously known as export.lcs.mit.edu; x.org was previously
known as expo.lcs.mit.edu. The general WWW server for the X Consortium is
http://www.x.org/.
The information contained herein has been gathered from a variety of sources.
In many cases attribution has been lost; if you would like to claim
responsibility for a particular item, please let me know.
Conventions used below: telephone numbers tend to be Bell-system unless
otherwise noted; prices on items are not included; email addresses are those
that work from the US.
X Window System and Fresco are trademarks of X Consortium, Inc. Other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 0) TOPIC: BASIC INFORMATION SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 1) What books and articles on X are good for beginners?
A bibliography containing cites of all known reference books and how-to
manuals and also cites of selected technical articles on X and X programming
is regularly posted to comp.windows.x; it is ftp-able as
ftp.x.org:/contrib/docs/Xbibliography.ps
gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/X11/R5-contrib/Xbibliography.
landru.unx.com:/pub/X11/
The current maintainer is Steve Mikes, smikes%topgun@uunet.uu.net.
Here is an unordered set of the reference books and tutorials most useful for
beginners; most appear on that list [comments are gathered from a variety of
places and are unattributable]:
Asente, Paul J., and Swick, Ralph R., "X Window System Toolkit, The Complete
Programmer's Guide and Specification", Digital Press, 1990. The bible on Xt. A
treasury of information, excellent and invaluable. Distributed by Digital
Press, ISBN 1-55558-051-3, order number EY-E757E-DP; and by Prentice-Hall,
ISBN 0-13-972191-6. Also available through DEC Direct at 1-800-DIGITAL.
[The examples are on ftp.x.org in contrib/ and on gatekeeper.dec.com
(16.1.0.2) in pub/X11/contrib as asente-swick.examples.tar.Z. They were also
posted to comp.sources.x as xt-examples/part0[1-5].]
Jones, Oliver, Introduction to the X Window System, Prentice-Hall, 1988,
1989. ISBN 0-13-499997-5. An excellent introduction to programming with
Xlib. Written with the programmer in mind, this book includes many practical
tips that are not found anywhere else. This book is not as broad as the
O'Reilly Xlib tutorial, but Jones is an experienced X programmer and this
shows in the quality and depth of the material in the book.
Young, Doug. "The X Window System: Applications and Programming with Xt
(Motif Version)," Prentice Hall, 1989 (ISBN 0-13-497074-8). The excellent
tutorial "X Window System Programming and Applications with Xt," (ISBN
0-13-972167-3) updated for Motif. [Sources used to be on ftp.x.org; they are
known to be also on ftp.funet.fi in /pub/X11/contrib/.] A Motif 1.2 version
of this book is in progress.
Young, Doug and John Pew, "The X Window System: Programming and Applications
with Xt, OPEN LOOK Edition" (ISBN 0-13-982992-X). The tutorial rewritten for
OLIT, with new examples and drag/drop information. [Examples are on ftp.x.org
in youg.olit.tar.Z and in you OpenWindows 3 distribution in
$OPENWINHOME/share/src/olit/olitbook.]
Heller, Dan and Paula Ferguson. "Motif Programmers Manual". The 6th volume
in the O'Reilly series covers application programming with Motif 1.2 and
earlier, including UIL; it's full of good examples (ISBN 1-56592-016-3).
Volume 6B is a reference book on Motif and UIL (ISBN ISBN 1-56592-038-4).
[The examples are available on uunet in the nutshell archives.]
Scheifler, Robert, and James Gettys, with Jim Flowers and David Rosenthal, "X
Window System: The Complete Reference to Xlib, X Protocol, ICCCM, XLFD, X
Version 11, Release 5, Third Edition," Digital Press, 1992. "The Bible" in
its latest revision, an enhanced version of X documentation by the authors of
the Xlib documentation. This is the most complete published description of
the X programming interface and X protocol. It is the primary reference work
and is not introductory tutorial documentation; additional tutorial works
will usually be needed by most new X programmers. Digital Press order
EY-J802E-DP, ISBN 0-13-971201-1.
Nye, Adrian, "Xlib Programming Manual, Volume 1" and "Xlib Reference Manual,
Volume 2," O'Reilly and Associates. The first volume is a tutorial with
broad coverage of Xlib, and the second contains reference pages for Xlib
functions and many useful reference appendices. Both cover X11R5 (and R4).
ISBN 0-937175-26-9 (volume 1) and ISBN 0-937175-27-7 (volume 2).
Nye, Adrian, and Tim O'Reilly, "X Toolkit Programming Manual, Volume 4,"
O'Reilly and Associates, 1989, 1992. The folks at O'Reilly give their
comprehensive treatment to programming with the Xt Intrinsics, using the
Athena widgets in the examples; R5 versions are now available, as is a Motif
1.2 version (Volume 4M).
O'Reilly, Tim, ed., "X Toolkit Reference Manual, Volume 5," O'Reilly and
Associates. A professional reference manual for the X11R5 and X11R4 Xt.
Mansfield, Niall. "The X Window System: A User's Guide," Addison-Wesley,
1989. A tutorial introduction to using X, now upgraded for R4. ISBN
0-201-51341-2.
Quercia, Valerie and Tim O'Reilly. "X Window System User's Guide," O'Reilly
and Associates. A tutorial introduction to using X. ISBN 0-937175-36-6.
Covers R5; available in Athena and Motif editions.
Mui, Linda and Eric Pearce. "X Window System Administrator's Guide for X11 R4
and R5" [ORA Volume 8]. Help for X users and administrators. ISBN
0-937175-83-8.
Drafts of John Ousterhout's upcoming book on TCL/TK are on sprite.berkeley.edu
(128.32.150.27) in /tcl. The final book will be published early 1994 by
Addison-Wesley, ISBN #0-201-63337-X.
(Prentice-Hall ordering is 201-767-5937. O'Reilly ordering is 800-998-9938
or 707-829-0515; ORA may also be contacted via email at order@ora.com or by
logging into gopher.ora.com as gopher.)
In addition, check the X11R4 and X11R5 core distribution in doc/tutorials for
some useful papers and tutorials, particularly the file answers.txt. "Late
Night's Top Ten X11 Questions" by Dave Lemke (lemke@ncd.com) and Stuart Marks
(smarks@sun.com) answers other common questions and some of these here in
more detail.
A single volume, "Programmer's Supplement for R5" by David Flanagan, provides
an overview of new R5 features; it includes man pages for Xlib, Xt, and Xmu.
As of 10/93, its contents have been merged into other O'Reilly volumes, and
it is out of print. [ISBN 0-937175-86-2]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 2) What courses on X and various X toolkits are available?
An on-line WWW X course is at
http://www.cs.curtin.edu.au/units/cg252-502/src/notes/html/
Another is at:
http://www.cms.dmu.ac.uk:80/~aug/FastTrack/
Motif tutorials are at:
http://www.iftech.com
AT&T offers training in Xlib and in the Xol set. Contact AT&T Corporate
Education & Training for more info; 1-800-TRAINER in the USA.
BIM Educational Services offers training in X administration and in
programming with Xt/Motif and Open Windows; the courses are given near
Brussels. Info: edu@sunbim.be, voice +32-(0)2-7595925, fax +32-(0)2-7599209.
Bluestone Consulting, Inc. offers several multi-day, hands-on training
courses in X, Xt, Motif, C, C++, and UIM/X. Information is available at
609-727-4600 or blustone!info@uunet.uu.net.
Communica Software Consultants offers three-day hands-on courses in X
designed for the X Window System developer and programmer. Contact Chris
Clarkson, telephone 61 8 3732523, e-mail communica@communica.oz.au. [12/92]
Cora Computer Technologies (516-485-7343) offers several courses.
GHCT offers a one week lecture/lab course for programmers designed by Douglas
Young based on his book "The X Window System: Programming and Applications
with Xt, OSF/Motif Edition". Information: Brian Stell (415-966-8805 or
ghct!brian@sgi.com).
GHG offers a range of courses on X and Motif. Information: 713-488-8806 or
training-info@ghg.hou.tx.us.
Hands On Learning has live training and self-paced video workshops on topics
such as using and/or programming X, Xlib, Xm, and Xt. Information:
617-272-0088, 800-248-9133.
Hewlett-Packard (1-800-HPCLASS; or contact your local HP center) offers a
2-day "Introduction to X", a 5-day Xlib course, a 1-day Xt and Motif 1.1
seminar, and a 5-day Motif lab course.
Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc., offers several multi-day, hands-on
courses on X, Xt, and the Xaw and Motif widget sets, in particular.
Information is available at 617-621-0060 and info@ics.com.
Intelligent Visual Computing teaches several lab courses on-site for Motif
and XView. IVC is at 1-800-776-2810 or +1 919-481-1353 or at info@ivc.com.
Iris Computing Laboratories offers five-day Xlib and Xt courses. Info:
+1-505-988-2670 or info@spectro.com.
IXI Limited (+44 223 462 131) offers regular X training courses for both
programmers and non-technical managers. See also: Unipalm, below.
Learning Tree International offers a four-day course in X Window System
applications development, including Xlib and some information on Motif. For
more info call 800-824-9155 (213-417-3484); 613-748-7741 in Canada. Courses
are offered in major North American cities; also in London, Stockholm, Tokyo,
and elsewhere.
Lurnix offers several 3- to 5-day courses on using X and programming with
Xlib and Motif. Information is available at 800-875-4478.
Non Standard Logics (+33 (1) 43 36 77 50; requests@nsl.fr) offers courses on
programming with Xlib, Motif, and creating Motif widgets.
OSF Educational Services (617-621-8778) offers one-day seminars and one-week
Motif lab courses.
John A. Pew offers a 5-day course on OLIT, possibly based on his book on that
subject; 408-224-5739.
SCO (+44 923 816344, scol-info@sco.COM) offers training for its Open Desktop
(Motif) environment in the UK and Europe.
Software Pundits (617-270-0639) offers a range of courses.
Technology Exchange (617-944-3700) offers a 4-day Xlib/Xt/Motif course.
Alsys (formerly TeleSoft) is now offering a 1-day plus 3-day seminar on X and
Motif. Information: Bruce Sherman (619-457-2700, bds@telesoft.com).
Unipalm XTech offers OSF's 5-day Motif course and a 1-day overview on X.
Information: Unipalm Training at +44 952 211797, xtech@unipalm.co.uk.
The University of Edinburgh is developing a series of courses on X and
related topics primarily for non-profit-making training in academia but also
for commercial use. Information: Cliff Booth, Unipalm Ltd, phone +44 223
420002, fax +44 223 426868.
Various other vendors are also beginning to offer X training, usually
specific to a proprietary toolkit or to Xt and a proprietary widget set: DEC
is offering Xlib courses; Sun offers an XView course.
Various universities are offering short X courses or overviews: UCLA,
Dartmouth, University of Lowell, University of Canberra (within Australia:
062-522422) ...
Among the best places to find courses are at the various Unix conferences --
Uniforum, Usenix, Unix Expo, the X Technical Conference, the ACM tutorial
weeks, &c.
In addition, the X Consortium posts approximately quarterly a list of
unendorsed speakers and consultants who can provide talks on a variety of X
topics.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 3) What conferences on X are coming up?
The XWorld Conference and Exhibition includes tutorials, panels,
presentations and vendor exhibits. It is typically held in March in New York
City. Information: SIGS Publication Group at 212-274-9135; information on
XWorld95 is available via
http://www.sigs.com/conferences/xw95/xw95main.html.
The Andrew Technical Conference is usually held the day after Xhibition
closes, in the same space. Information: Susan Straub at (412) 268-7326,
<susan+@andrew.cmu.edu>
The European X User Group holds an annual conference which typically includes
includes paper presentations and a vendor exhibit; the conference is usually
held in October. Information: EXUG '94, PO Box 458, Cambridge, CB4 4AA Tel:
0954 789095, Fax: 0954 781797, Email: info@exug.demon.co.uk, WWW:
<http://www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/EXUG/>.
The Motif/COSE show is held in Washington to coincide with the FedUnix and
the Federal Open Systems Conference. Information: motif@fedunix.org or
paller@fedunix.org, 301-229-1062, fax 301-229-1063.
The X Technical Conference is typically held in January in Boston, although
the 1996 conference may be in the Bay Area. It includes tutorials and
technical talks. Registration information is available from
registration@x.org, fax +1 617-253-7002. Other information is typically on
ftp.x.org in /pub/DOCS/XConsortium/ (also
http://www.x.org/ftp/pub/DOCS/XConsortium).
Other trade shows -- UnixExpo, Uniforum, Siggraph -- show an increasing
presence of X, including tutorials and exhibits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 4)! What X-related public mailing lists are available?
The xpert mailing list is the general, public mailing list on X maintained by
the X Consortium. The mailings are gatewayed, so xpert is almost identical to
the comp.windows.x Usenet newsgroup.
*** If you get comp.windows.x, you don't need to ***
*** be added to the xpert mailing list. ***
Otherwise, you can join the list to receive X information electronically. It
is best to find a local distribution; perhaps someone within your company is
already receiving the mailing. As a last resort, send mail to
xpert-request@x.org with a valid return electronic address.
The xannounce mailing list carries major X announcements, such as new
releases (including public patches from the Consortium), public reviews,
adoption of standards by the X Consortium, and conference announcements. It
does NOT carry advertisements, source code, patches, or questions. If you
already receive the Usenet news group comp.windows.x.announce or the xpert
mailing list, you don't need to be added to the xannounce mailing list.
Otherwise, to subscribe, send a request to xannounce-request@x.org. Note:
only redistribution addresses will be accepted for this list -- i.e. no
personal addresses. If you wish to receive xannounce yourself, please contact
your mail administrator to set up a local redistribution list and to put you
on it.
comp.windows.x.apps is not gatewayed to a mailing list.
In addition, the X Consortium sponsors these public lists:
bug-clx CLX bug reports and discussions
x-ada X and ada
x11-3d X and 3d graphics
ximage image processing and X
xvideo discussion of video extensions for X
x-agent protocols for external agents (e.g. editres)
To subscribe to any of the above mailing lists, send mail to the list with
"-request" appended; this example adds pat@mumble.widget.com to the xpert
mailing list:
% mail xpert-request@x.org
Subject: (none needed)
subscribe xpert pat@mumble.widget.com
^D
To unsubscribe:
% mail xpert-request@x.org
Subject: (none needed)
unsubscribe
^D
The Fresco list was made public 3/94; send to "requests@x.org" a message
containing "subscribe fresco <address>".
Other lists include:
A mailing list discussing the Andrew User Interface System (formerly Andrew
Toolkit) is maintained by the Andrew Consortium. To subscribe, write to
info-andrew-request@andrew.cmu.edu and specify whether you want messages in
Andrew format or ASCII. The ASCII versions are copied to netnews group
comp.soft-sys.andrew.
A mailing list discussing the TeleUSE builder can be subscribed to by sending
a request to teleusers-request@alsys.com.
A mailing list discussing the UIM/X builder can be subscribed to by sending a
subject line of "subscribe" to uimx-request@ivev.bau.tu-bs.de.
A mailing list to address issues of using Motif on Sun workstations is
sponsored by Freedom Software at freedom@telerama.pgh.pa.us.
A mailing list for the Motif-C++ bindings is sponsored by Ronald van Loon;
subscribe to motif++-request@motif.xs4all.nl.
A mailing list for topics related to the XPM pixmap-format is sponsored by
Arnaud Le Hors of Group Bull; send to xpm-talk-request@sophia.inria.fr for
information.
A mailing list for SUIT users is available from
suit-users-request@uvacs.cs.virginia.edu. (This group is gatewayed to
the newsgroup comp.windows.suit.)
A mailing list for imake users is available by sending "subscribe imake-talk"
to imake-talk-request@primate.wisc.edu.
A mailing list for topics related to Motif is sponsored by ?? ??;
subscribe to motif-request@??. (This group is gatewayed to
the newsgroup comp.windows.x.motif.)
A mailing list (amiga-x11@nic.funet.fi) for topics related to the port of X11
to the Amiga can be subscribed by sending to mailserver@nic.funet.fi a
message containing
Subject: Adding myself to AMIGA-X11
SUBS AMIGA-X11 Your Real Name
A mailing list for MetaCard users is available by sending to
listserv@grot.starconn.com a message containing
subscribe metacard-list firstname lastname
quit
A mailing list for Wafe users is available by sending to
listserv@wu-wien.ac.at a message containing
subscribe Wafe <Your Name>
help
A mailing list discussing the fvwm window manager can be subscribed to
by sending to majordomo@shrug.org a message containing
subscribe fvwm
A mailing list discussing the xemacs editor can be subscribed to by sending a
request to xemacs-request@cs.uiuc.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 5) How can I meet other X developers? (What X user groups are there?)
O'Reilly and Associates sponsors a mailing list for the use of X user group
organizers; subscribe by sending to listserv@ora.com the message "subscribe
xgroups your@internet.address".
Local area X user's groups are listed in Issue 4 of O'Reilly's X Resource
journal.
The French X User Group is called AFUX and is based in Sophia Antipolis by
CERICS. Information can be obtained from Miss Vasseur or Miss Forest; BP 148;
157, rue Albert Einstein; 06561 Valbonne Cedex; Phone: +33 93 95 45 00 / 45
01; Fax: +33 93 95 48 57. [10/90]
The European X User Group was formed in 1989 to represent X users in Europe.
It holds technical conferences at regular intervals. The EXUG also publishes
a regular newsletter which is distributed free of charge to members. The
EXUG also runs a email mailing list for members which is frequently used to
address issues of European interest in X. Info: Tel: +44 (0) 954 789095;
Fax: +44 (0) 954 781797; Email: info@exug.demon.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 6)! What related FAQs are available?
This is the general comp.windows.x FAQ. Most FAQs are on rtfm.mit.edu; the
ones mentioned below are typically also on ftp.x.org in contrib/faqs/.
Liam R. E. Quin (lee@sq.sq.com) posts a FAQ on Open Look to
comp.windows.open-look.
Ken Sall (ksall@cen.com) posts a FAQ on Motif to comp.windows.x.motif.
Peter Ware (ware@cis.ohio-state.edu) posts a FAQ to comp.windows.x.intrinsics.
Art Mulder (art@cs.ualberta.ca) posts to comp.windows.x a FAQ on maximizing
the performance of X.
Steve Kotsopoulos (steve@ecf.toronto.edu) posts to comp.windows.x a FAQ about
using X on Intel-based Unix systems.
Justin Kibell (jck@citri.edu.au) posts to comp.windows.x a FAQ on games for
X.
Luis Fernandes (elf@ee.ryerson.ca) posts to comp.windows.x.apps a FAQ on X
applications; see also http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/xapps/faq.html.
John Cwikla (cwikla@wri.com) posts to comp.windows.x.intrinsics a FAQ on
available widgets. See also http://www.wri.com/~cwikla/widget/ and Xlopedia
there.
Wade Guthrie (wade@nb.rockwell.com) posts to comp.windows.misc a FAQ which
includes information on platform-independent GUI (PIGUI) development kits.
Pete Phillips (pete@smtl.demon.co.uk) posts to comp.sources.wanted a FAQ on
project-management programs.
Wade Guthrie (wade@nb.rockwell.com) posts to comp.windows.misc a FAQ on on
platform-independent GUI toolkits (PIGUI).
The FAQ in alt.binaries.pictures contains information on viewing images with
X and on massaging image formats.
The FAQ in comp.mail.mh (gatewayed to MH-users@ics.uci.edu) includes a
section on xmh.
The FAQ in comp.lang.lisp contains information on several interface tools and
toolkits.
The FAQ for the Andrew User Interface System is available for ftp from
ftp.andrew.cmu.edu (128.2.232.154).
The FAQ list for comp.lang.tcl details information on particular tcl/TK-based
packages and related mailing lists.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 7) How do I ask a net-question so as to maximize helpful responses?
When asking for help on the net or X mailing lists, be sure to include all
information about your setup and what you are doing. The more specific you
are, the more likely someone will spot an error in what you are doing.
Without all the details, people who want to help you often have to guess --
if they are able to respond at all.
Always mention what version of X you are using and where you got it from. If
your server came from a different source as the rest of your X system, give
details of that, too. Give the machine type, operating system, and O/S
version for both the client and server machine. It may also be appropriate
to mention the window manager, compiler, and display hardware type you are
using.
Then tell exactly what you are doing, exactly what happens, and what you
expected/wanted to happen. If it is a command that fails, include the exact
transcript of your session in the message. If a program you wrote doesn't
work the way you expect, include as little of the source necessary (just a
small test case, please!) for readers to reproduce the problem.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 8) What publications discussing X are available?
The trade magazines (Unix World, Unix Review, etc.) are publishing more
articles on X. Two X-specific publications include:
- O'Reilly and Associates publishes "The X Resource: A Practical Journal of
the X Window System" (103 Morris St. #A, Sebastapol, CA 95472). Editorial
information: Paula Ferguson (paula@ora.com).
- The X Journal is started bi-monthly publication September 1991 on a variety
of X topics. Subscription information: The X Journal, Subscriber Services,
Dept XXX, P.O. Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834, USA. Editorial information:
editors%topgun@uunet.uu.net, editors@unx.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 9) What are these common abbreviations/acronyms?
Xt: The X Toolkit Intrinsics is a library layered on Xlib which provides the
functionality from which the widget sets are built. An "Xt-based" program is
an application which uses one of those widget sets and which uses Intrinsics
mechanisms to manipulate the widgets.
Xmu: The Xmu library is a collection of Miscellaneous Utility functions
useful in building various applications and widgets.
Xaw: The Athena Widget Set is the Consortium-implemented sample widget set
distributed with X11 source.
Xm: The OSF/Motif widget set from the Open Software Foundation; binary kits
are available from many hardware vendors.
Xhp (Xw): The Hewlett-Packard Widget Set was originally based on R2++, but
several sets of patches exist which bring it up to R3, as it is distributed
on the X11R4 tapes. Supplemental patches are available to use it with R4 and
later.
CLX: The Common Lisp X Interface is a Common Lisp equivalent to Xlib.
XDMCP: The X Display Manager Protocol provides a uniform mechanism for a
display such as an X terminal to request login service from a remote host.
XLFD: The X Logical Font Description Conventions describes a standard logical
font description and conventions to be used by clients so that they can query
and access those resources.
RTFM: Common expert-speak meaning "please locate and consult the relevant
documentation -- Read the Forgotten Manual".
UTSL: A common expression meaning "take advantage of the fact that you aren't
limited by a binary license -- Use The Source, Luke".
API: Application-Programmer Interface. The function calls, etc., in a
programming library.
BDF: Bitmap Distribution Format; a human-readable format for uncompiled X
fonts.
GUI: graphical user interface.
UIL: the User Interface Language, part of OSF/Motif which lets programmers
specify a widget hierarchy in a simple text "outline" form
WCL: the Widget Creation Language, a package which extends the understanding
of the Xt resource format such that a widget hierarchy and actions on the
widgets can be specified through the resources file
UIMS: User Interface Management System
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 10) What is the ICCCM? (How do I write X-friendly applications?)
The Inter-Client Communication Conventions Manual is one of the
official X Consortium standards documents that define the X environment. It
describes the conventions that clients must observe to coexist peacefully
with other clients sharing the same server. If you are writing X clients,
you need to read and understand the ICCCM, in particular the sections
discussing the selection mechanism and the interaction between your client
and the window manager.
Alternate definition: the ICCCM is generally the M in "RTFM" and is
the most-important of the least-read X documents.
Get the ICCCM from these sources:
- Version 2.0 of the ICCCM is an X Consortium standard as of R6. See
xc/doc/specs/ICCCM in the R6 distribution.
Older versions include:
- as part of the R5 and R4 distribution
- in the later editions of the Scheifler/Gettys "X Window System" book
- as an appendix in the new version of O'Reilly's Volume 0, "X
Protocol Reference Manual." A version in old copies of ORA Volume 1 is
obsolete. The version in the Digital Press book is much more readable,
thanks to the efforts of Digital Press's editors to improve the English and
the presentation. [from David Rosenthal, 10/90]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 11) What is the X Consortium, and how do I join?
The X Consortium was formed in January of 1988 to further the
development of the X Window System and has as its major goal the promotion of
cooperation within the computer industry in the creation of standard software
interfaces at all layers in the X Window System environment. MIT for many
years provided the vendor-neutral architectural and administrative leadership
required to make the organization work. The X Consortium is now an independent
consortium.
Most of the Consortium's activities take place via electronic mail,
with meetings when required. As designs and specifications take shape,
interest groups are formed from experts in the participating organizations.
Typically a small multi-organization architecture team leads the design, with
others acting as close observers and reviewers. Once a complete
specification is produced, it may be submitted for formal technical review by
the Consortium as a proposed standard. The standards process typically
includes public review (outside the Consortium) and a demonstration of proof
of concept.
Your involvement in the public review process or as a member of the
Consortium is welcomed. Membership in the Consortium open to any
organization; there are several membership categories. Write to Bob
Scheifler, President, X Consortium, One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
02142-1301, or send a message to membership@x.org, or look in
/pub/DOCS/XConsortium on ftp.x.org, or use the URL
http://www.x.org/ftp/pub/DOCS/XConsortium.
[2/90; 9/93; 12/93; 5/94]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 12) Just what are OPEN LOOK and Motif?
OPEN LOOK and Motif are two graphical user interfaces (GUIs). OPEN
LOOK was developed by Sun with help from AT&T and many industry reviewers;
Motif was developed by the Open Software Foundation (OSF) with input from many
OSF members.
OPEN LOOK is primarily a user-interface specification and style-guide;
there are several toolkits which can be used to produce OPEN LOOK
applications. Motif includes an API specification; the only sanctioned Motif
toolkit is the one from OSF. However, there are other toolkits which can be
used to produce programs which look and behave like OSF/Motif; one of these,
ParcPlace's (formerly Solbourne's) OI, is a "virtual toolkit" which provides
objects in the style of OPEN LOOK and Motif, at the user's choice.
OPEN LOOK GUI is also the name of a product from AT&T, comprising
their OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit and a variety of applications.
[Thanks to Ian Darwin, ian@sq.com, 5/91]
With the recent COSE announcement it appears that Sun will be phasing
out support for OPEN LOOK in favor of Motif.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 13) What is "low-bandwidth X" (LBX)? XRemote? PPP? SLIP? CSLIP?
The one-line summary of LBX is:
LBX = "XRemote" + reply/event/error compaction + caching
There are several options for using X over serial lines:
SLIP - Serial Line IP; this is both a mechanism and a protocol for sending IP
packets over point-to-point serial links. It has been around for several
years, and implementations are available for many of the major TCP/IP
implementations. Most X Terminal vendors supply this as a checkoff item,
although nobody really ever uses it since it is horribly slow. The TCP/IP
headers add 40 bytes per packet and the TCP/IP encoding of the X protocol is
rather verbose (rightfully so; it is optimized for packing and unpacking over
high-speed links).
CSLIP - Compressed header SLIP; this is a variant of SLIP that compresses the
40 bytes of TCP/IP headers down to about 5 or 6 bytes. It still doesn't do
anything about reencoding the X protocol. Modems that do compression can
help, but they increase packet latency (it takes time to dribble the
uncompressed data through typical serial interfaces, plus the compression
assembly time).
PPP - Point-to-Point Protocol; this is an emerging standard for point-to-point
links over serial lines that has a more complete set of option negotiation
than SLIP. A growing number of people see the combination of PPP for the
serial line management and CSLIP for the header compression as becoming common
for running normal TCP/IP protocols over serial lines. Running raw X over the
wire still needs compression somewhere to make it usable.
XRemote - this is the name of both a protocol and set of products originally
developed by NCD for squeezing the X protocol over serial lines. In addition
to using a low level transport mechanism similar to PPP/CSLIP, XRemote removes
redundancies in the X protocol by sending deltas against previous packets and
using LZW to compress the entire data stream. This work is done by either a
pseudo-X server or "proxy" running on the host or in a terminal server. There
are several advantages to doing compression outside the modem:
(1) You don't *have* to have compressing modems in there if you wouldn't
otherwise be using them (e.g. if you were going to be directly
connected), and
(2) It reduces the I/O overhead by cutting down on the number of bytes
that have to cross the serial interface, and
(3) In addition to the effects of #2, it reduces the latency in delivering
packets by not requiring the modem to buffer up the data waiting for
blocks to compress.
LBX - Low Bandwidth X; this is an X Consortium project that is working on a
standard for this area. It is being chaired by NCD and Xerox and is using
NCD's XRemote protocol as a stepping stone in developing the new protocol.
LBX will go beyond XRemote by adding proxy caching of commonly-used
information (e.g. connection setup data, large window properties, font
metrics, keymaps, etc.) and a more efficient encoding of the X protocol. The
hope is to have a Standard ready for public review in the first half of next
year and a sample implementation available in R6.
Additional technical information about how XRemote works and a few notes on
how LBX might be different are available via anonymous ftp from ftp.x.org in
contrib/ in the following files:
XRemote-slides.ps slides describing XRemote
XRemote-LBX-diffs.ps more slides describing some of LBX
[information provided by Jim Fulton, jim@ncd.com; 7/92]
There is also a set of slides on ftp.x.org from Jim Fulton's talk at
the 7th X Technical Conference.
LBX is designated as a work in progress in R6. See
workInProgress/README and workInProgress/lbx/README in the R6 distribution
for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 14) TOPIC: USING X IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 15) What are all these window managers? (Where can I get a "virtual" wm?)
The window manager in X is just another client -- it is not part of the X
window system, although it enjoys special privileges -- and so there is no
single window manager; instead, there are many, which support different ways
for the user to interact with windows and different styles of window layout,
decoration, and keyboard and colormap focus. In approximate chronological
order (generally, the more recent ones conformant more with the ICCCM):
wm: this simple title-bar window manager was phased out in R2 or R3
uwm: the Universal Window Manager is still popular for its speed, although it
is very outdated. Moved to contrib/ on the R4 tape.
twm (old): Tom's Window Manager was among the first non-Consortium window
managers and offered the user a great deal of customization options in a
re-parenting window manager.
awm: the Ardent Window Manager was for a while a hotbed for hackers and
offered some features (dynamic menus) not found on more current window
managers
rtl: Siemen's window manager tiles windows so that they don't overlap and
resizes the window with the focus to its preferred size.
dxwm: Digital's dxwm is part of the DECwindows offering
hpwm: HP's window manager offers a 3D look; it is a precursor of mwm
mwm: the Motif window manager is part of the OSF/Motif toolkit
tekwm: Tektronix's window manager offering
olwm (Sun): olwm implements the OPEN LOOK GUI and some of the Style Guide
functionality
olwm (AT&T): ditto
gwm: Bull's Generic Window Manager emulates others with a built-in Lisp
interpreter. Version 1.7h (10/91) is on the R5 contrib tape; 1.7p-beta1 is on
koala.inria.fr:/pub/gwm/gwm-1.7p_beta_1.tar.gz and
ftp.x.org:/contrib/window_managers/gwm-1.7p_beta_1.tar.gz. [4/95]
m_swm: the Sigma window manager is on the R4 tape
pswm: Sun's PostScript-based pswm is part of the OpenWindows release
swm: Solbourne's swm is based on the OI toolkit and offers multiple GUI
support and also a panning virtual window; configuration information comes
from the resources file. Sources are on ftp.x.org in contrib/swm.tar.Z; they
require OI binaries.
twm (new): the new Tab Window Manager from the R4 tape is a reworked twm and
is the basis for several derivatives, including the one on later X releases
vtwm: vtwm offers some of the virtual-desktop features of swm, with a
single-root window implementation. A new version, vtwm-5.3, is based on the
R5 twm and is available from ftp.x.org. [1/94]
tvtwm: Tom's Virtual Tab Window Manager is also based on the Tab Window
Manager and provides a virtual desktop modeled on the virtual-root window of
swm. It is available on ftp.x.org and mirroring archive servers. The current
[3/95] version is available at
ftp.x.org:/contrib/window_managers/tvtwm.pl11.tar.gz.
olvwm: the vtwm-style virtual-desktop added to Sun's olwm. It is available on
archive servers; version 4.1 [2/94] is on ftp.x.org.
mvwm: the vtwm-style virtual-desktop added to OSF's mwm. A beta version is
floating around (most recently from suresh@unipalm.co.uk) but requires a
source license to OSF/Motif 1.1.3 [3/92].
NCDwm: the window manager local to NCD terminals offers an mwm look
XDSwm: the window manager local to Visual Technology's terminals is simple
but full-featured.
ctwm: Claude Lecommandeur's (lecom@sic.epfl.ch) modification of the R5 twm
offers 32 virtual screens in the fashion of HP vuewm and also offers the
window overview used in vtwm and tvtwm. Version 3.1 [2/94] source is on
ftp.x.org; 3.2.p1 [1/95] source is on sunsite.unc.edu.
vuewm: HP's MWM-based window manager offers configurable workspaces. SAIC
offers a version of this VUE environment.
4Dwm: SGI's enhanced MWM
piewm: this version of tvtwm offers pie menus
pmwm: IXI's Panorama version of MWM offers olvwm-like features. Info: +44
223 236 555, +1 408 427 7700; mmoore@x.co.uk or michaela@x.co.uk or
laurie@ixi.com.
fvwm: this virtual window manager has been rewritten from scratch and is very
light on system resources (between half and two-thirds the memory usage of
twm, on which it was based). fvwm offers most of the features others provide,
plus additional features. Source is available from sunsite.unc.edu in
/pub/Linux/X11/window-managers/; fvwm-1.24r-source.tar.z was current in
1/95. Information: http://neutrino.nuc.berkeley.edu/neutronics/todd/fvwm.html.
mwm 2.0: the 2.0 version of mwm includes support for multiple workspaces.
9wm, by David Hogan (dhog@cs.su.oz.au), is an X window manager which attempts
to emulate the Plan 9 window manager 8-1/2 as far as possible within the
constraints imposed by X. The latest version of 9wm is held at
ftp://ftp.cs.su.oz.au/dhog/9wm.
mwfm: MWFM is a Microsoft-Windows-Program-Manager-style applications
manager. It offers Unix users the ability to work in a MS-Windows-like
environment. Sources are at ftp.x.org:contrib/desktop_managers/mwfm1.0.tar.Z
Also of possible use is vr, by Richard Mauri (rmauri@netcom.com), on
ftp.x.org and ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de
(pub/comp/X11/contrib/clients/vr/vr-1.01.tar.Z); Vr is a workspace manager
intended to be window-manager-independent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 16) Why does my X session exit when I kill my window manager (sic)?
It needn't. What is probably happening is that you are running your
window manager as the last job in your .xsession or .xinitrc file; your X
session runs only as long as the last job is running, and so killing your
window manager is equivalent to logging out. Instead, run the window manager
in the background, and as the last job instead invoke something safe like:
exec xterm -name Login -rv -iconic
or any special client of your devising which exits on some user action. Your
X session will continue until you explicitly logout of this window, whether or
not you kill or restart your window manager.
Alternatively, there is a chance that you are using OpenLook, which by
default kills all clients on logging out. Change your Exit menu choice from
EXIT to WMEXIT to correct this behavior.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
David B. Lewis faq%craft@uunet.uu.net
"Just the FAQs, ma'am." -- Joe Friday
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