I think the original post exhibits some confusion about what X really is, which nobody seems to have addressed - so I will have a go...
At the most basic level, X is a network graphics protocol, an X application is a client using this protocol, and an X-server is an application which implements the protocol by translating it into actions on a graphical display, as well returning events from input devices... X is not a GUI, but provides a facility on which one can be built. One very special type of client - the window manager, is responsible for implementing the 'look and feel' of a GUI. Jim Gettys, if I remember correctly, spoke a lot about providing 'mechanism' but not 'policy' when he originally developed X. The important thing is that with MacOS and Windows, you get what you are given and that is it. The X distribution was a toolkit to let the user design exactly what they wanted, but there was 'some assembly required' so to an end user who was used to being spoon fed, it looked very basic. X originally shipped with a small, simple GUI based on a sample window manager called twm. It was small and simple, and evolved into window managers like fvwm, which implements a virtual desktop which can be larger then the display. They are still much faster and leaner than the likes of Gnome and KDE. Strictly, the GNOME and KDE GUI's are more than just their respective window managers. They also imply a set of libraries and conventions followed by applications, and a set of support utilities. There was a time when X-Servers used to be separate X-terminals, connected to a central time sharing system by a LAN. The current trend toward integrated graphics on personal computers, with the X protocol running over a loopback device, often with shared memory acceleration, makes it easy to forget the underlying architecture. Personally I still use an X-terminal on my desk, because it doesn't make any noise and it means I have equivalent access to all of the computers on my LAN (I use XDMCP to select which host handles log-in and window manager as part of the login process). Regards, DigbyT On Wed, Jan 25, 2006 at 11:29:52PM +1300, Chris Bannister wrote: > On Mon, Jan 23, 2006 at 01:58:39PM -0600, Kent West wrote: > > Joe wrote: > > > > >Hi Kent I do not mean to bother you but I am confused. If I have X running > > >it shows a GNOME desktop. Is this correct? X is the underlying "server" and > > >GNOME is what I see? I was under the impression that X is a Desktop such as > > >KDE or GNOME. > > [..] > > > It's possible to run X by itself without having any clients running; in > > such as case, all you'll see is a grayish hatched background with a > > mouse pointer. > > [..] > > e.g. > [EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/qct$ X > > Handy, for debugging. :-), i.e. if that fails the problem is definitely > with the xserver, NOT with KDE/GNOME/WHATEVER. > > -- > Chris. > ====== > Reproduction if desired may be handled locally. -- rfc3 -- Digby R. S. Tarvin digbyt(at)digbyt.com http://www.digbyt.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]