Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with xwindows

Is there an X Windows GNU screen equivalent?

Kemayo — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:29:07 -0800

Linux filter: Is there an equivalent to GNU screen for X Windows? I want to be able to leave a program running on a server at home, "attach" to it from a remote computer with X (probably Xming) to use that program, then "detach" while leaving it running.

I can do this with linux console applications using GNU screen, but Google has not turned up a way to do this with X applications. It's possible that this is because I don't know the correct terminology to search for -- "screen" is not a useful keyword when searching with other GUI words.

VNC would work, but would not be ideal -- I like using an X server so the remote applications can coexist easily with my local applications.

Remotely starting local X application?

Kadin2048 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:16:09 -0800

How do I restart an X Windows application running on a remote machine, and have it display on that computer's locally-attached display? (I do not want to forward/tunnel it to the machine I'm sitting at.) Two computers, foo and bar. Foo is a machine connected to a big display, but lacking any local controls (keyboard or mouse). Bar is a laptop. Foo normally runs an X Windows application, but sometimes this application crashes.

How can I, by connecting to foo from bar via SSH, restart an X app running on foo, and have it come back up on foo's display? All the resources I can find on the net deal with forwarding X connections so that I could display them remotely on bar (which I can do fine), but that's not what I want. I want to issue the command via SSH, but have the application display itself on the local display. (And once I get it running, I want to close down the SSH connection.)

I'm sure it has something to do with the DISPLAY variable, but I can't figure out what to set it as. (I've tried setting it to "localhost:0" and "127.0.0.1:0" as well as ":1" on both, but both give "can't open display" errors.)

It seems like this ought to be a lot easier than tunneling an X connection, but I'm stumped.

This is all using Knoppmyth, which is Debian/X11.org-based, with Bash.

How do I assign mouse input to the proper window with multiple GLX windows?

Java_Man — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 21:19:20 -0800

How do I assign mouse input to the proper window with multiple GLX windows? Hello,
I am programming an application that can render to several possible types of windows (GLUT, MFC, etc.) depending on platform. It is configured so that multiple windows can be displayed simultaneously.
I am having some trouble adding GLX window support under Linux. I can set up multiple windows and display different content on each: that works just fine. But if someone clicks on a window, I don't know how to assign the click to the proper window (though I can register its location in x, y coords). I'm having a hard time finding documentation (or a tutorial) that helps with this issue. Does anyone know where I can find some good information online?
For now, all of the windows are on the same display.
Also, it is important that this be done with GLX windows, so please do not suggest that I just use GLUT and be done with it.
Thank you.

Xwindows on dynamic IP?

eebs — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:00:32 -0800

X Windows filter: I have a Windows XP desktop with a static IP address. I connect to a unix machine and run certain programs that have graphical user interfaces, which in turn appear on my desktop monitor. I want to do the same with my laptop on a dynamic IP address, obtained automatically. HELP! To be able to do this task on my desktop machine, I start an X Windows emulator, XWin32 in this case. Then login to the unix machine using a secure shell client. Finally, in the secure shell client, I issue the following command:

setenv DISPLAY ###.###.###.###:0.0

(###.###.###.### is my static IP address)

How can I accomplish this on my laptop, which obtains a dynamic IP address (presumably a different one) everytime I start a new internet connection?

I don't know a whole a lot about networking. But, if there is a way of figuring out the IP address for a particular connection session, then my problem is solved? If so, how can I find that IP address?

Modeline blues.

I EAT TAPAS — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 15:46:44 -0800

I got a DVI -> HDMI connector to connect my computer (Gentoo, Xorg 7, Geforce 7600GS) to my HDTV (Philips 30" CRT). It'll only display in 720x480 with awful overscan... regardless of what's in my xorg.conf. Help! So, here's what I've tried.

I first connected a Windows box to try PowerStrip. While I never got it perfect, I came close (and with much higher resolutions than 720x480). PowerStrip reported the following Modelines:

Modeline "1440x900" 96.500 1440 1504 1536 1760 900 903 906 912 +hsync +vsync
Modeline "1920x1080" 63.975 1920 2008 2052 2206 1080 1081 1095 1125 interlace

Now, X will *start* with the above modelines, but I always end up with a 720x480 display, even though that's not defined in xorg.conf at all. I'm sure I'm using the right xorg.conf -- editing the other options will indeed affect what happens when I start the X server, just not the resolutions.

Other pertinent info from the xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVidia Graphics Adapter"
Driver "nvidia"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "NVidia Graphics Adapter"
Monitor "Philips30"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1080" "1440x900"
Depth 16
Modes "1920x1080" "1440x900"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Remote GUI Sessions on Linux

voidcontext — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 12:21:18 -0800

Remote X Server access over SSH. I've got a Linux (Ubuntu) server that I have root access to over SSH and a Windows XP workstation that I'd like to set up as the client. Any good resources and tutorials? I'm sort of familiar with Linux, I've set up and run headless web and database servers. But this is a bit beyond me, I've never looked at Linux GUI stuff before. I've got SSH set up to allow trusted X11 forwarding, and can connect and get to a remote command prompt fine, but can't start X.

I've got Cygwin and it's X Windows components installed on the XP machine, but there are obviously some configuration steps I'm overlooking. I'm hoping someone knows of a good tutorial or howto that would walk me through some of the steps.

The Cygwin documentation seems to assume some knowledge of X Windows that I don't have. I just need a shove in the right direction.