about – x11 display server – display or login manager – window manager

14.Jun.2017

The X11 Window System

Developer(s)	X.Org Foundation
Initial release	6 April 2004; 13 years ago^[1]

Stable release	1.19.3 / 15 March 2017; 2 months ago^[2]
Repository	http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver, git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/xserver, git://anongit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver
Written in	C
Operating system	Cross-platform
Size	3.7 MiB^[3]
Available in	English
Type	Display server
License	MIT License
Website	www.x.org

The X Window System (commonly referred to as X or X11) is a network-transparent graphical windowing system based on a client/server model. Primarily used on Unix and Unix-like systems such as Linux, versions of X are also available for many other operating systems. Although it was developed in 1984, X is not only still viable but also is in fact the standard environment for Unix windowing systems. (src)In February 2004, with version 4.4.0, The XFree86 Project adopted a license change that the Free Software Foundation considered GPL incompatible.Most open source operating systems using XFree86 found this unacceptable and moved to a fork from before the license change.^[3] The first fork was the abortive Xouvert, but X.Org Server soon became dominant.Most XFree86 developers also moved to X.Org.

Example configuration:

When using the MATE-Desktop also runs very vell on Debian8 but also Suse12 and Centos7.

display server:
- The X server manages the display hardware.
- captures input events from the user via keyboard or mouse (or other input device) and passes the information to a client application that has requested it.
- It also receives requests from the application to perform some graphical action. For example, if you use your mouse to move a window on the screen, the X server passes the information to the window manager, which responds by telling the server where to reposition the window, and the X server performs the action.
- If the client is a calculator, such as xcalc, it might request that digits be displayed into the window as the user clicks on buttons to enter a number.
- In any case, it is always the server that interacts with the hardware.
- Thus only the server software has to be hardware-specific.
- In fact, only the parts of the server that actually interact with the hardware need to be rewritten for X to be ported to new systems or to be usable with a new terminal or a new type of input device, for example. As long as the X clients are written to use the X Protocol, they can run on any system and communicate with the X server.
- it is funny – just like any other server this thing communicates with other programs on the network-level – hence the ability of linux – to run a grafical program on a client (where it consumes RAM and ressources) and tunnel that grafical output encrypted over network (ssh) to the x-server that the user is sitting at.
- credits: Shmuel Csaba Otto Traian
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_server
- Package: xserver-xorg
  Source: xorg
  Version: 1:7.7+7
  Installed-Size: 298
  Maintainer: Debian X Strike Force <debian-x@lists.debian.org>
  Architecture: i386
  Provides: xserver
  Depends: xserver-xorg-core (>= 2:1.15.0.901), xserver-xorg-video-all | xorg-driver-video, xserver-xorg-input-all | xorg-driver-input, xserver-xorg-input-evdev, libc6 (>= 2.7), xkb-data (>= 1.4), x11-xkb-utils
  Recommends: libgl1-mesa-dri
  Description-en: X.Org X server
  This package depends on the full suite of the server and drivers for the
  X.Org X server. It does not provide the actual server itself.
  Description-md5: 3d8c1d268e8af6b69f54d86fbd5a3939
  Tag: hardware::input, hardware::video, interface::daemon, network::server,
  role::metapackage, use::driver, x11::xserver
  Section: x11
  Priority: optional
  Filename: pool/main/x/xorg/xserver-xorg_7.7+7_i386.deb
  Size: 109252
- examples: XQuartz, XDarwin(OSX), Cygwin/X, Mir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_display_servers
display / login manager: lightdm
- This is the first X program run by the system if the system (not the user) is starting X and allows you to log on to the local system, or network systems.
- Version: 1.10.3-3
  Installed-Size: 524
  Maintainer: Debian Xfce Maintainers <pkg-xfce-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
  Provides: x-display-manager
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libgcrypt20 (>= 1.6.0), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.37.3), libpam0g (>= 0.99.7.1), libxcb1, libxdmcp6, debconf (>= 0.5) | debconf-2.0, lightdm-gtk-greeter | lightdm-greeter, dbus, libpam-systemd | consolekit, adduser
  Recommends: xserver-xorg
  Suggests: accountsservice, upower
  Description-en: simple display manager
  An X display manager that:
  * Has a lightweight codebase
  * Is standards compliant (PAM, ConsoleKit, etc)
  * Has a well defined interface between the server and user interface
  * Fully themeable
  * Cross-desktop (greeters can be written in any toolkit)
  Description-md5: 1fd757fd0b15d99e160ffa78f0717022
  Homepage: https://launchpad.net/lightdm
  Tag: role::program
  Section: x11
  Priority: optional
  Filename: pool/main/l/lightdm/lightdm_1.10.3-3_i386.deb
  Size: 166.236
- examples: LightDM, GDM, KDM, LXDM, WDM, https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Displaymanager/
- screenshot of lightdm login screen under debian8:
  - screenshot of xdm login screen under debian8:
- apt-get install wdm

window manager: marco
- In the X Window System, the X Server itself does not give the user the capability of managing windows that have been opened. Instead, this job is delegated to a program called a window manager.
  
  The window manager gives windows a border and allows you to move them around and maximize/minimize them. The user interface for these functions is left up to its author. Often, the window manager is just one component of Desktop Environments suite. (src)
- Version: 1.8.2+dfsg1-6
  Installed-Size: 679
  Maintainer: MATE Packaging Team <pkg-mate-team@lists.alioth.debian.org>
  Provides: x-window-manager
  Depends: libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.12.4), libc6 (>= 2.4), libcairo2 (>= 1.10.0), libcanberra-gtk0 (>= 0.2), libcanberra0 (>= 0.2), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.11), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1), libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.35.9), libgtk2.0-0 (>= 2.24.0), libgtop2-7 (>= 2.22.3), libice6 (>= 1:1.0.0), libmarco-private0 (= 1.8.2+dfsg1-6), libpango-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libpangocairo-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libpangoft2-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libsm6, libstartup-notification0 (>= 0.7), libx11-6 (>= 2:1.4.99.1), libxcomposite1 (>= 1:0.3-1), libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1), libxext6, libxfixes3, libxinerama1, libxrandr2, libxrender1, zenity, marco-common (= 1.8.2+dfsg1-6)
  Breaks: mate-window-manager (<= 1.0.0-2)
  Description-en: lightweight GTK+ window manager for MATE
  Marco is a small window manager, using GTK+ to do everything.
- It is developed mainly for the MATE Desktop.
  Description-md5: 95519840e2380540cca6bbdf96f6395e
  Homepage: http://www.mate-desktop.org/
  Tag: uitoolkit::gtk
  Section: x11
  Filename: pool/main/m/marco/marco_1.8.2+dfsg1-6_i386.deb
  Size: 252.000
- examples: FluxBox , Xfce, sawfish, https://wiki.debian.org/WindowManager

about – x11 display server – display or login manager – window manager

The X11 Window System

Example configuration:

display server:

display / login manager: lightdm

window manager: marco

Links:

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