Hitchhiker's Guide to Openbsd

11 - The X Window System
Table of Contents
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11.1 - Introduction to X
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11.2 - Configuring X
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11.3 - Configuring X on amd64 and i386
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11.4 - Starting X
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11.5 - Customizing X
11.1 - Introduction to X
The X Window System (sometimes just called "X", other times, incorrectly called "X Windows") is the 
environment which provides graphics services to OpenBSD and other Unix-based systems. However, by 
itself, X provides very little: one also must have a "Window Manager", to present a user interface. Most 
of the "personality" one will feel from X will be due to the window manager, rather than X itself. 
OpenBSD ships with a free version of the 
fvwm(1)
 and 
cwm(1)
window managers, although you may 
wish to use any of the other window managers that are in 
packages
. Search using a key of "
window 
manager
" for a list of the many window managers available. 
X is considered a "client-server" structured protocol, however the terminology is sometimes confusing. 
The computer with the graphics on the screen is the "X Server". The application which directs the X 
server what to put on its screen is the "X Client", even though it may be a much more powerful 
computer in a data center. This model can be used to have large, processor intensive applications (X 
clients) running on a very powerful machine, using the X Server running on a small, low power machine 
on your desk for their user interface. 
It is possible to run X clients on a system without any graphical support. For example, one could have an 
application (the X client) running on an mvme88k, displaying its output on an alpha's graphical display 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq11.html (1 of 14)9/4/2011 10:02:17 AM

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11 - The X Window System
(the X server). Since X is a well-defined, cross-platform protocol, it is even possible to have an X 
application running on (for example) a Solaris machine use an OpenBSD machine for its display. 
The client and server can also be running on the same machine, and for most of this section, that will be 
the assumption.