1. The X Windows system Unit objectives A.Explain the purpose of GUI components, list common window managers and desktop environments B. Configure X Windows to work with video hardware, keyboards, and mice

2. Topic A: GUI components

3. GUI Components •Graphical interfaces are easier •User friendly •Many graphical tools to simplify administration •Multiple environments to choose from •Need to understand components

4. GUI components

5. The X Windows system •X Windows –The component of the GUI that displays graphics on the terminal screen •X clients –The programs that tell X Windows server how to draw the graphics and display the results

6. Major GUI components •Window manager –Determines the appearance of the windows drawn on the screen by X Windows •Desktop environment –Works with the window manager to provide a unified environment that includes standard programs and development tools •KDE •GNOME •XFce continued

7. KDE Desktop Environment

8. GNOME Desktop Environment

9. Common window managers

10. Controlling the graphical interface •Many methods to start X Windows •Can edit config files directly or with x client tools •Starting and stopping X Windwos –Runlevel 5 settings include a display manager •Gnome-gdm •KDE-kdm

11. XClients config files •Runlevel 5 starts automatically •From runlevel 3 –Gdm at command line –Startx •Starts X Windows and the manager or desktop specified in.Xclients

12. The Desktop Switching Tool

13. Topic B: Configuring X Windows

14. Configuring X Windows •For the video adapter card, X Windows requires: –The video adapter card model –The amount of RAM on the video adapter card –The chipset on the video adapter card continued

15. Video monitor values •X Windows also requires information about the monitor –The maximum resolution supported –The horizontal sync (hsync) range –The vertical sync (vsync) range •/etc/X11/xorg.conf –Configuration file used by X Windows on Fedora Core 2

16. Mouse configuration using mouseconfig

17. The Display settings utility

18. Using Xvidtune •Although most monitors today support a wide range of hsync and vsync values, choosing too high a value for either may damage the monitor •Xvidtune –Program used to fine-tune the vsync and hsync video card settings for use in X Windows

19. The xvidtune utility

20. Unit summary •Learned the purpose GUI components such as X Windows, window managers, and desktop environments •Gathered hardware information and configured X Windows settings, and ran X applications from the command line

21. If a video card is not recognized by the X configuration utility during the installation process, which of the following actions should be taken to enable X to display after installation is complete? A. Edit the /etc/inittab to boot the X Window System B. Identify the chipset on the video card and obtain the driver from the manufacturer. C. Inspect the CMOS for information on the video card and install the drivers that came with the video card. D. Edit /etc/lilo.conf to include a boot message to the kernel pointing to the location of the video drivers.

22. If a video card is not recognized by the X configuration utility during the installation process, which of the following actions should be taken to enable X to display after installation is complete? A. Edit the /etc/inittab to boot the X Window System B. Identify the chipset on the video card and obtain the driver from the manufacturer. C. Inspect the CMOS for information on the video card and install the drivers that came with the video card. D. Edit /etc/lilo.conf to include a boot message to the kernel pointing to the location of the video drivers. Answer: B

23. A new video card is added to a Linux workstation. Which of the following files is used to configure X? A. /usr/conf/Xconfig B. /etc/X11R6/Xconfig C. /etc/X11/XF86Config D. /root/Xwindows/Xconf

24. A new video card is added to a Linux workstation. Which of the following files is used to configure X? A. /usr/conf/Xconfig B. /etc/X11R6/Xconfig C. /etc/X11/XF86Config D. /root/Xwindows/Xconf Answer: C.

25. Which of the following is the best way to change video resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768? A. Run xf86config to change the resolution. B. Reinstall Linux with more options for X Server. C. Reinstall X Server with support for the 1024x768 resolution. D. Restart X Server after typing "resolution=1024x768" as root.

26. Which of the following is the best way to change video resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768? A. Run xf86config to change the resolution. B. Reinstall Linux with more options for X Server. C. Reinstall X Server with support for the 1024x768 resolution. D. Restart X Server after typing "resolution=1024x768" as root. Answer: A

27. Any Questions?