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<!--
The FreeBSD Documentation Project
$FreeBSD$
-->
<chapter id="x11">
<title>The X Window System</title>
<sect1>
<title>Synopsis</title>
<para>FreeBSD uses <application>XFree86</application> to provide users with a powerful
graphical user interface. <application>XFree86</application> is an open-source
implementation of the X Window System. This chapter
will cover installation and configuration of <application>XFree86</application> on a
FreeBSD system. For more information on <application>XFree86</application> and
video hardware that it supports, check the <ulink
url="http://www.XFree86.org/">XFree86</ulink> web site.</para>
<para>After reading this chapter, you will know:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The various components of the X Window System, and how they
interoperate.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>How to install and configure <application>XFree86</application>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>How to install and use different window managers.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>How to use TrueType fonts in <application>XFree86</application>.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>How to setup your system for graphical logins (<application>XDM</application>).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para>Before reading this chapter, you should:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Know how to install additional third-party
software (<xref linkend="ports">).</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x-understanding">
<title>Understanding X</title>
<para>Using X for the first time can be somewhat of a shock to someone
familiar with other graphical environments, such as Microsoft Windows or
MacOS.</para>
<para>It is not necessary to understand all of the details of various
X components and how they interact; however, some basic knowledge makes
it possible to take advantage of X's strengths.</para>
<sect2>
<title>Why X?</title>
<para>X is not the first window system written for Unix, but it is the
most popular. X's original development team had worked on another
window system before writing X. That system's name was
<quote>W</quote> (for <quote>Window</quote>). X is just the next
letter in the Roman alphabet.</para>
<para>X can be called <quote>X</quote>, <quote>X Window System</quote>,
<quote>X11</quote>, and other terms. Calling X11
<quote>X Windows</quote> can offend some people;
see &man.X.1; for a bit more insight on this.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>The X Client/Server Model</title>
<para>X was designed from the beginning to be network-centric, and
adopts a <quote>client-server</quote> model. In the X model, the
<quote>X server</quote> runs on the computer that has the keyboard,
monitor, and mouse attached. The server is responsible for managing
the display, handling input from the keyboard and mouse, and so on.
Each X application (such as <application>XTerm</application>, or
<application>Netscape</application>) is a <quote>client</quote>. A
client sends messages to the server such as <quote>Please draw a
window at these coordinates</quote>, and the server sends back
messages such as <quote>The user just clicked on the OK
button</quote>.</para>
<para>If there is only one computer involved, such as in a home or small
office environment, the X server and the X clients will be running on
the same computer. However, it is perfectly possible to run the X
server on a less powerful desktop computer, and run X applications
(the clients) on, say, the powerful and expensive machine that serves
the office. In this scenario the communication between the X client
and server takes place over the network.</para>
<para>This confuses some people, because the X terminology is
exactly backward to what they expect. They expect the <quote>X
server</quote> to be the big powerful machine down the hall, and
the <quote>X client</quote> to be the machine on their desk.</para>
<para>Remember that the X server is the machine with the monitor and
keyboard, and the X clients are the programs that display the
windows.</para>
<para>There is nothing in the protocol that forces the client and
server machines to be running the same operating system, or even to
be running on the same type of computer. It is certainly possible to
run an X server on Microsoft Windows or Apple's MacOS, and there are
various free and commercial applications available that do exactly
that.</para>
<para>The X server that ships with FreeBSD is called
<application>XFree86</application>, and is available for free, under a
license very similar to the FreeBSD license. Commercial X servers for
FreeBSD are also available.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>The Window Manager</title>
<para>The X design philosophy is much like the Unix design philosophy,
<quote>tools, not policy</quote>. This means that X does not try to
dictate how a task is to be accomplished. Instead, tools are provided
to the user, and it is the user's responsibility to decide how to use
those tools.</para>
<para>This philosophy extends to X not dictating what windows should
look like on screen, how to move them around with the mouse, what
keystrokes should be used to move between windows (i.e.,
<keycombo action="simul">
<keycap>Alt</keycap>
<keycap>Tab</keycap>
</keycombo>, in the case of Microsoft Windows), what the title bars
on each window should look like, whether or not they have close
buttons on them, and so on.</para>
<para>Instead, X delegates this responsibility to an application called
a <quote>Window Manager</quote>. There are dozens of window
managers available for X: <application>AfterStep</application>,
<application>Blackbox</application>, <application>ctwm</application>,
<application>Enlightenment</application>,
<application>fvwm</application>, <application>Sawfish</application>,
<application>twm</application>,
<application>Window Maker</application>, and more. Each of these
window managers provides a different look and feel; some of them
support <quote>virtual desktops</quote>; some of them allow customized
keystrokes to manage the desktop; some have a <quote>Start</quote>
button or similar device; some are <quote>themeable</quote>, allowing
a complete change of look-and-feel by applying a new theme. These
window managers, and many more, are available in the
<filename>x11-wm</filename> category of the Ports Collection.</para>
<para>In addition, the <application>KDE</application> and <application>GNOME</application> desktop environments both have
their own window managers which integrate with the desktop.</para>
<para>Each window manager also has a different configuration mechanism;
some expect configuration file written by hand, others feature
GUI tools for most of the configuration tasks; at least one
(<application>sawfish</application>) has a configuration file written
in a dialect of the Lisp language.</para>
<note>
<title>Focus Policy</title>
<para>Another feature the window manager is responsible for is the
mouse <quote>focus policy</quote>. Every windowing system
needs some means of choosing a window to be actively receiving
keystrokes, and should visibly indicate which window is active as
well.</para>
<para>A familiar focus policy is called <quote>click-to-focus</quote>.
This is the model utilized by Microsoft Windows, in which a window
becomes active upon receiving a mouse click.</para>
<para>X does not support any particular focus policy. Instead, the
window manager controls which window has the focus at any one time.
Different window managers will support different focus methods. All
of them support click to focus, and the majority of them support
several others.</para>
<para>The most popular focus policies are:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>focus-follows-mouse</term>
<listitem>
<para>The window that is under the mouse pointer is the
window that has the focus. This may not necessarily be
the window that is on top of all the other windows.
The focus is changed by pointing at another window, there
is no need to click in it as well.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>sloppy-focus</term>
<listitem>
<para>This policy is a small extension to focus-follows-mouse.
With focus-follows-mouse, if the mouse is moved over the
root window (or background) then no window has the focus,
and keystrokes are simply lost. With sloppy-focus, focus is
only changed when the cursor enters a new window, and not
when exiting the current window.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term>click-to-focus</term>
<listitem>
<para>The active window is selected by mouse click. The
window may then be <quote>raised</quote>, and appear in
front of all other windows. All keystrokes will now be
directed to this window, even if the cursor is moved to
another window.</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>Many window managers support other policies, as well as
variations on these. Be sure to consult the documentation for
the window manager itself.</para>
</note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Widgets</title>
<para>The X approach of providing tools and not policy extends to the
widgets that seen on screen in each application.</para>
<para><quote>Widget</quote> is a term for all the items in the user
interface that can be clicked or manipulated in some way; buttons,
check boxes, radio buttons, icons, lists, and so on. Microsoft
Windows calls these <quote>controls</quote>.</para>
<para>Microsoft Windows and Apple's MacOS both have a very rigid widget
policy. Application developers are supposed to ensure that their
applications share a common look and feel. With X, it was not
considered sensible to mandate a particular graphical style, or set
of widgets to adhere to.</para>
<para>As a result, do not expect X applications to have a common
look and feel. There are several popular widget sets and
variations, including the original Athena widget set from MIT,
<application>Motif</application> (on which the widget set in
Microsoft Windows was modeled, all bevelled edges and three shades of
grey), <application>OpenLook</application>, and others.</para>
<para>Most newer X applications today will use a modern-looking widget
set, either Qt, used by <application>KDE</application>, or
<application>GTK</application>, used by the
<application>GNOME</application>
project. In this respect, there is some convergence in
look-and-feel of the Unix desktop, which certainly makes things
easier for the novice user.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x-install">
<title>Installing XFree86</title>
<para>Before installing <application>XFree86</application>, decide on which version to
run. <application>XFree86 3.X</application> is a maintenance
branch of <application>XFree86</application> development. It is very stable, and it
supports a huge number of graphics cards. However, no new
development is being done on the software. <application>XFree86
4.X</application> is a complete redesign of the system with many
new features such as better support for fonts and
anti-aliasing. Unfortunately this new architecture requires
that the video drivers be rewritten, and some of the older
cards that were supported in 3.X are not yet supported in 4.X. As all
new developments and support for new graphics cards are done on that
branch, <application>XFree86 4.X</application> is now the default
version of the X Window System on FreeBSD.</para>
<para>The FreeBSD setup program offers users the opportunity to install
and configure <application>XFree86 4.X</application> during installation (covered in
<xref linkend="x-server">). To install and run
<application>XFree86 3.X</application>, wait until after the base
FreeBSD system is installed, and then install <application>XFree86</application>. For example,
to build and install <application>XFree86 3.X</application> from the
ports collection:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make all install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>Alternatively, either version of <application>XFree86</application> can be
installed
directly from the FreeBSD
binaries provided on the <ulink
url="http://www.XFree86.org/">XFree86 web site</ulink>. A binary
package to use with &man.pkg.add.1; tool is also available for
<application>XFree86 4.X</application>. When the remote fetching
feature of &man.pkg.add.1; is used, the version number of the
package must be removed. &man.pkg.add.1; will automatically fetch
the latest version of the application. So to fetch and install the
package of <application>XFree86 4.X</application>, simply type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pkg_add -r XFree86</userinput></screen>
<para>You can also use the ports collection to install
<application>XFree86 4.X</application>, for that you simply need
to type the following commands:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11/XFree86-4</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>The rest of this chapter will explain how to configure
<application>XFree86</application>, and how to setup a productive desktop environment.</para>
<!-- Easiest way is from sysinstall for XFree86 4.X -->
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x-config">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Christopher</firstname>
<surname>Shumway</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
<!-- July 2001 -->
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>XFree86 Configuration</title>
<indexterm><primary>XFree86 4.X</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>XFree86</primary></indexterm>
<sect2>
<title>Before Starting</title>
<para>Before configuration of <application>XFree86 4.X</application>,
the following information about the target system is needed:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Monitor specifications</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Video Adapter chipset</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Video Adapter memory</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<indexterm><primary>horizontal scan rate</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>vertical scan rate</primary></indexterm>
<para>The specifications for the monitor are used by
<application>XFree86</application> to determine the resolution and
refresh rate to run at. These specifications can usually be
obtained from the documentation that came with the monitor or from
the manufacturer's website. There are two ranges of numbers that
are needed, the horizontal scan rate and the vertical synchronization
rate.</para>
<para>The video adapter's chipset defines what driver module
<application>XFree86</application> uses to talk to the graphics
hardware. With most chipsets, this can be automatically
determined, but it is still useful to know in case the automatic
detection does not work correctly.</para>
<para>Video memory on the graphic adapter determines the
resolution and color depth which the system can run at. This is
important to know so the user knows the limitations of the
system.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Configuring XFree86 4.X</title>
<para>Configuration of <application>XFree86 4.X</application> is
a multi-step process. The first step is to build an initial
configuration file with the <option>-configure</option> option to
<application>XFree86</application>. As the super user, simply
run:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>XFree86 -configure</userinput></screen>
<para>This will generate a skeleton
<application>XFree86</application> configuration file in the
current working directory called
<filename>XF86Config.new</filename>. The
<application>XFree86</application> program will attempt to probe
the graphics hardware on the system and will write a
configuration file to load the proper drivers for the detected
hardware on the target system.</para>
<para>The next step is to test the existing
configuration to verify that <application>XFree86</application>
can work with the graphics
hardware on the target system. To perform this task, the user
needs to run:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>XFree86 -xf86config XF86Config.new</userinput></screen>
<para>If a black and grey grid and an X mouse cursor appear,
the configuration was successful. To exit the test, just press
<keycombo action="simul">
<keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
<keycap>Alt</keycap>
<keycap>Backspace</keycap>
</keycombo> simultaneously.</para>
<indexterm><primary>XFree86 4 Tuning</primary></indexterm>
<para>Next, tune the <filename>XF86Config.new</filename>
configuration file to taste. Open the file in a text editor such
as &man.emacs.1; or &man.ee.1;. First, add the
frequencies for the target system's monitor. These are usually
expressed as a horizontal and vertical synchronization rate. These
values are added to the <filename>XF86Config.new</filename> file
under the <literal>"Monitor"</literal> section:</para>
<programlisting>Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 30-107
VertRefresh 48-120
EndSection</programlisting>
<para>The <varname>HorizSync</varname> and
<varname>VertRefresh</varname> keywords may not exist in the
configuration file. If they do not, they need to be added, with
the correct horizontal synchronization rate placed after the
<varname>Horizsync</varname> keyword and the vertical
synchronization rate after the <varname>VertRefresh</varname>
keyword. In the example above the target monitor's rates were
entered.</para>
<para>X allows DPMS (Energy Star) features to be used with capable
monitors. The &man.xset.1; program controls the time-outs and can force
standby, suspend, or off modes. If you wish to enable DPMS features
for your monitor, you must add the following line to the monitor
section.</para>
<programlisting>
Option "DPMS"</programlisting>
<indexterm>
<primary><command>XF86Config</command></primary>
</indexterm>
<para>While the <filename>XF86Config.new</filename>
configuration file is still open in an editor, select
the default resolution and color depth desired. This is
defined in the <literal>"Screen"</literal> section:</para>
<programlisting>Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection</programlisting>
<para>The <varname>DefaultDepth</varname> keyword describes
the color depth to run at by default. This can be overridden
with the <command>-bpp</command> command line switch to
&man.XFree86.1;.
The <varname>Modes</varname> keyword
describes the resolution to run at for the given color depth.
In the example above, the default color depth is twenty-four
bits per pixel. At this color depth, the accepted resolution is
one thousand twenty-four pixels by seven hundred and sixty-eight
pixels.</para>
<para>To run at a resolution of one thousand twenty-four pixels by
seven hundred sixty-eight pixels at twenty-four bits per pixel,
add the <varname>DefaultDepth</varname> keyword with the
value of twenty-four, and add to the <literal>"Display"</literal>
subsection with the desired <varname>Depth</varname> the <varname>Modes</varname> keyword with the
resolution the user wishes to run at. Note that only VESA
standard modes are supported as defined by the target system's
graphics hardware.</para>
<para>Finally, write the configuration file and test it using
the test mode given above. If all is well, the configuration
file needs to be installed in a common location where
&man.XFree86.1;
can find it.
This is typically <filename>/etc/X11/XF86Config</filename> or
<filename>/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/XF86Config</filename>.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cp XF86Config.new /etc/X11/XF86Config</userinput></screen>
<para>Once the configuration file has been placed in a common
location, configuration is complete. In order to start
<application>XFree86 4.X</application> with &man.startx.1;,
install the <filename role="package">x11/wrapper</filename> port.
<application>XFree86 4.X</application> can also be started with
&man.xdm.1;.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Advanced Configuration Topics</title>
<sect3>
<title>Configuration with Intel i810 Graphics Chipsets</title>
<indexterm><primary>Intel i810 graphic chipset</primary></indexterm>
<para>Configuration with Intel i810 integrated chipsets
requires the <devicename>agpgart</devicename>
AGP programming interface for <application>XFree86</application>
to drive the card. To use <devicename>agpgart</devicename>,
the <filename>agp.ko</filename> kernel loadable module needs to
be loaded into the kernel with &man.kldload.8;. This can be
done automatically with the &man.loader.8; at boot time.
Simply add this line to
<filename>/boot/loader.conf</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>agp_load="YES"</programlisting>
<para>Next, a device node needs to be created for the
programming interface. To create the AGP device node, run
&man.MAKEDEV.8; in the <filename>/dev</filename>
directory:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /dev</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>sh MAKEDEV agpgart</userinput></screen>
<para>This will allow configuration of the hardware as any other
graphics board.</para>
<para>If you are using <application>XFree86 4.1.0</application> (or later) and messages
about unresolved symbols like
<literal>fbPictureInit</literal> appear, try adding the
following line after <literal>Driver "i810"</literal> in the
<application>XFree86</application> configuration file:</para>
<programlisting>Option "NoDDC"</programlisting>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x-fonts">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Murray</firstname>
<surname>Stokely</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Using Fonts in XFree86</title>
<sect2 id="type1">
<title>Type1 Fonts</title>
<para>The default fonts that ship with
<application>XFree86</application> are less than ideal for typical
desktop publishing applications. Large presentation fonts show up
jagged and unprofessional looking, and small fonts in <application>Netscape</application> are
almost completely unintelligible. However, there are several
free, high quality Type1 (PostScript) fonts available which
can be readily used
with <application>XFree86</application>, either version 3.X or
version 4.X. For instance, the URW font collection
(<filename role="package">x11-fonts/urwfonts</filename>) includes
high quality versions of standard type1 fonts (Times Roman,
Helvetica, Palatino and others). The Freefont collection
(<filename role="package">x11-fonts/freefont</filename>) includes
many more fonts, but most of them are intended for use in
graphics software such as the <application>Gimp</application>, and are not complete
enough to serve as screen fonts. In addition,
<application>XFree86</application> can be configured to use
TrueType fonts with a minimum of effort: see the
<link linkend="truetype">section on TrueType fonts</link> later.</para>
<para>To install the above Type1 font collections from the ports
collection, run the following commands:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11-fonts/urwfonts</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>And likewise with the freefont or other collections. To tell the X server
that these fonts exist, add an appropriate line to the
<filename>XF86Config</filename> file (in
<filename>/etc/</filename> for <application>XFree86</application>
version 3, or in <filename>/etc/X11/</filename> for version 4),
which reads:</para>
<programlisting>FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/URW/"</programlisting>
<para>Alternatively, at the command line in the X session
run:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>xset fp+ /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/URW</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>xset fp rehash</userinput></screen>
<para>This will work but will be lost when the X session is closed,
unless it is added to the startup file (<filename>~/.xinitrc</filename>
for a normal <command>startx</command> session,
or <filename>~/.xsession</filename> when logging in through a
graphical login manager like <application>XDM</application>).
A third way is to use the new
<filename>XftConfig</filename> file: see the
section on <link linkend="antialias">anti-aliasing</link>.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="truetype">
<title>TrueType Fonts</title>
<para><application>XFree86 4.X</application> has built in support
for rendering TrueType fonts. There are two different modules
that can enable this functionality. The freetype module is used
in this example because it is more consistent with the other font
rendering back-ends. To enable the freetype module just add the
following line to the <literal>"Module"</literal> section of the
<filename>/etc/X11/XF86Config</filename> file.</para>
<programlisting>Load "freetype"</programlisting>
<para>For <application>XFree86 3.3.X</application>, a separate
TrueType font server is needed.
<application>Xfstt</application> is commonly used for
this purpose. To install <application>Xfstt</application>,
simply install the port <filename role="package">x11-servers/Xfstt</filename>.</para>
<para>Now make a directory for the TrueType fonts (for example,
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType</filename>)
and copy all of the TrueType fonts into this directory. Keep in
mind that TrueType fonts cannot be directly taken from a
Macintosh; they must be in Unix/DOS/Windows format for use by
<application>XFree86</application>. Once the files have been
copied into this directory, use
<application>ttmkfdir</application> to create a
<filename>fonts.dir</filename> file, so that the X font renderer
knows that these new files have been installed.
<command>ttmkfdir</command> is available from the FreeBSD
Ports Collection as <filename role="package">x11-fonts/ttmkfdir</filename>.</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>ttmkfdir > fonts.dir</userinput></screen>
<para>Now add the TrueType directory to the font
path. This is just the same as described above for <link
linkend="type1">Type1</link> fonts, that is, use</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>xset fp+ /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>xset fp rehash</userinput></screen>
<para>or add a <option>FontPath</option> line to the
<filename>XF86Config</filename> file.</para>
<para>That's it. Now <application>Netscape</application>,
<application>Gimp</application>,
<application>StarOffice</application>, and all of the other X
applications should now recognize the installed TrueType
fonts. Extremely small fonts (as with text in a high resolution
display on a web page) and extremely large fonts (within
<application>StarOffice</application>) will look much better
now.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="antialias">
<title>Anti-Aliased Fonts</title>
<para>Starting with version 4.0.2, <application>XFree86</application>
supports anti-aliased
fonts. Currently, most software has not been updated to take
advantage of this new functionality. However, Qt (the toolkit
for the <application>KDE</application> desktop) does; so if
<application>XFree86 4.0.2</application> is used
(or higher), Qt 2.3 (or higher) and <application>KDE</application>,
all KDE/Qt applications can be made to use anti-aliased
fonts.</para>
<para>To configure anti-aliasing, create (or edit, if
it already exists) the file
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XftConfig</filename>. Several
advanced things can be done with this file; this section
describes only the simplest possibilities.</para>
<para>First, tell the X server about the fonts that are to be
anti-aliased. For each font directory, add a line similar
to this:</para>
<programlisting>dir "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/Type1"</programlisting>
<para>Likewise for the other font directories (URW, TrueType, etc)
containing fonts to be anti-aliased. Anti-aliasing makes
sense only for scalable fonts (basically, Type1 and TrueType) so
do not include bitmap font directories here. The
directories included here can now be commented out
of the <filename>XF86Config</filename> file.</para>
<para>Anti-aliasing makes borders slightly fuzzy, which makes very
small text more readable and removes <quote>staircases</quote> from
large text, but can cause eyestrain if applied to normal text. To
exclude point sizes between 9 and 13 from anti-aliasing, include
these lines:</para>
<programlisting>match
any size > 8
any size < 14
edit
antialias = false;</programlisting>
<para>Spacing for some monospaced fonts may also be inappropriate
with anti-aliasing. This seems to be an issue with
<application>KDE</application>, in particular. One possible fix for
this is to force the spacing for such fonts to be 100. Add the
following lines:</para>
<programlisting>match any family == "fixed" edit family =+ "mono";
match any family == "console" edit family =+ "mono";</programlisting>
<para>(this aliases the other common names for fixed fonts as <literal>"mono"</literal>),
and then add:</para>
<programlisting>match any family == "mono" edit spacing = 100;</programlisting>
<para>Supposing the
<literal>Lucidux</literal> fonts as desired whenever
monospaced fonts are required (these look nice, and do not seem
to suffer from the spacing problem), replace that last
line with these:</para>
<programlisting>match any family == "mono" edit family += "LuciduxMono";
match any family == "Lucidux Mono" edit family += "LuciduxMono";
match any family == "LuciduxMono" edit family =+ "Lucidux Mono";</programlisting>
<para>(the last lines alias different equivalent family names).</para>
<para>Finally, it is nice to allow users to add commands to this
file, via their personal <filename>.xftconfig</filename>
files. To do this, add a last line:</para>
<programlisting>includeif "~/.xftconfig"</programlisting>
<para>One last point: with an LCD screen, sub-pixel sampling may be
desired. This basically treats the (horizontally separated)
red, green and blue components separately to improve the horizontal
resolution; the results can be dramatic. To enable this, add the
line somewhere in the <filename>XftConfig</filename> file</para>
<programlisting>match edit rgba=rgb;</programlisting>
<para>(depending on the sort of display, the last word may need to
be changed from <quote>rgb</quote> to <quote>bgr</quote>, <quote>vrgb</quote>
or <quote>vbgr</quote>: experiment and see which works best.)</para>
<para>Anti-aliasing should be enabled the next time the X server is
started. However, note that programs must know how to take
advantage of it. At the present time, the toolkit
Qt does, so the entire <application>KDE</application> environment
can use anti-aliased fonts
(see <xref linkend="x11-wm-kde-antialias"> on
<application>KDE</application> for
details); there are patches for GTK+ to do the same,
so if compiled against such a patched GTK+, the GNOME environment
and Mozilla can also use anti-aliased fonts. In fact, there
is now a port called <filename role="package">x11/gdkxft</filename> which allows one
to use antialiased fonts without recompiling: see
<xref linkend="x11-wm-gnome-antialias"> for details.</para>
<para>Anti-aliasing is still new to FreeBSD and
<application>XFree86</application>;
configuring it should get easier with time, and it will soon be
supported by many more applications.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x-xdm">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Seth</firstname>
<surname>Kingsley</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>The X Display Manager</title>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>The X Display Manager (<application>XDM</application>) is
an optional part of the X Window System that is used for login
session management. This is useful for several types of
situations, including minimal <quote>X Terminals</quote>,
desktops, and large network display
servers. Since the X Window System is network and protocol
independent, there are a wide variety of possible configurations
for running X clients and servers on different machines
connected by a network. <application>XDM</application> provides
a graphical interface for choosing which display server to
connect to, and entering authorization information such as a
login and password combination.</para>
<para>Think of <application>XDM</application> as
providing the same functionality to the user as the
&man.getty.8; utility (see <xref linkend="term-config"> for
details). That is, it performs system logins to the display
being connected to and then runs a session manager on behalf of
the user (usually an X window
manager). <application>XDM</application> then waits for this
program to exit, signaling that the user is done and should be
logged out of the display. At this point,
<application>XDM</application> can display the login and display
chooser screens for the next user to login.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Using XDM</title>
<para>The <application>XDM</application> daemon program is
located in <filename>/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm</filename>. This program
can be run at any time as <username>root</username> and it will
start managing the X display on the local machine. If
<application>XDM</application> is to be run every
time the machine boots up, a convenient way to do this is by
adding an entry to <filename>/etc/ttys</filename>. For more
information about the format and usage of this file, see <xref
linkend="term-etcttys">. There is a line in the default
<filename>/etc/ttys</filename> file for running the
<application>XDM</application> daemon on a virtual terminal:</para>
<screen>ttyv8 "/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm -nodaemon" xterm off secure</screen>
<para>By default this entry is disabled; in order to enable it
change field 5 from <literal>off</literal> to
<literal>on</literal> and restart &man.init.8; using the
directions in <xref linkend="term-hup">. The first field, the
name of the terminal this program will manage, is
<literal>ttyv8</literal>. This means that
<application>XDM</application> will start running on the 9th
virtual terminal.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Configuring XDM</title>
<para>The <application>XDM</application> configuration directory
is located in <filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm</filename>. In
this directory there are several files used to change the
behavior and appearance of
<application>XDM</application>. Typically these files will
be found:</para>
<informaltable frame="none">
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>File</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry><filename>Xaccess</filename></entry>
<entry>Client authorization ruleset.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>Xresources</filename></entry>
<entry>Default X resource values.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>Xservers</filename></entry>
<entry>List of remote and local displays to manage.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>Xsession</filename></entry>
<entry>Default session script for logins.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>Xsetup_</filename>*</entry>
<entry>Script to launch applications before the login
interface.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>xdm-config</filename></entry>
<entry>Global configuration for all displays running on
this machine.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>xdm-errors</filename></entry>
<entry>Errors generated by the server program.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><filename>xdm-pid</filename></entry>
<entry>The process ID of the currently running XDM.</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
<para>Also in this directory are a few scripts and programs used
to setup the desktop when <application>XDM</application> is
running. The purpose of each of these files will be briefly
described. The exact syntax and usage of all of these files is
described in &man.xdm.1;.</para>
<para>The default configuration is a simple rectangular login
window with the hostname of the machine displayed at the top in
a large font and <quote>Login:</quote> and
<quote>Password:</quote> prompts below. This is a good starting
point for changing the look and feel of
<application>XDM</application> screens.</para>
<sect3>
<title>Xaccess</title>
<para>The protocol for connecting to
<application>XDM</application> controlled displays is called
the X Display Manager Connection Protocol (XDMCP). This file
is a ruleset for controlling XDMCP connections from remote
machines. By default, it allows any client to connect, but
that does not matter unless the <filename>xdm-config</filename>
is changed to listen for remote connections.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Xresources</title>
<para>This is an application-defaults file for the display
chooser and the login screens. This is where the appearance
of the login program can be modified. The format is identical
to the app-defaults file described in the
<application>XFree86</application> documentation.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Xservers</title>
<para>This is a list of the remote displays the chooser should
provide as choices.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Xsession</title>
<para>This is the default session script for
<application>XDM</application> to run after a user has logged
in. Normally each user will have a customized session script
in <filename>~/.xsessionrc</filename> that overrides this
script.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Xsetup_*</title>
<para>These will be run automatically before displaying the
chooser or login interfaces. There is a script for each
display being used, named <filename>Xsetup_</filename> followed
by the local display number (for instance
<filename>Xsetup_0</filename>). Typically these scripts will
run one or two programs in the background such as
<command>xconsole</command>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>xdm-config</title>
<para>This contains settings in the form of app-defaults
that are applicable to every display that this installation
manages.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>xdm-errors</title>
<para>This contains the output of the X servers that
<application>XDM</application> is trying to run. If a display
that <application>XDM</application> is trying to start hangs
for some reason, this is a good place to look for error
messages. These messages are also written to the user's
<filename>~/.xsession-errors</filename> file on a per-session
basis.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Running a Network Display Server</title>
<para>In order for other clients to connect to the display
server, edit the access control rules, and enable the connection
listener. By default these are set to conservative values.
To make <application>XDM</application> listen for connections,
first comment out a line in the <filename>xdm-config</filename>
file:</para>
<screen>! SECURITY: do not listen for XDMCP or Chooser requests
! Comment out this line if you want to manage X terminals with xdm
DisplayManager.requestPort: 0</screen>
<para>and then restart <application>XDM</application>. Remember that
comments in app-defaults files begin with a <quote>!</quote>
character, not the usual <quote>#</quote>. More strict
access controls may be desired. Look at the example
entries in <filename>Xaccess</filename>, and refer to the
&man.xdm.1; manual page.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Replacements for XDM</title>
<para>Several replacements for the default
<application>XDM</application> program exist. One of them,
<application>KDM</application> (bundled with
<application>KDE</application>) is described later in this
chapter. <application>KDM</application> offers many visual
improvements and cosmetic frills, as well as the
functionality to allow users to choose their window manager
of choice at login time.</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="x11-wm">
<sect1info>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Valentino</firstname>
<surname>Vaschetto</surname>
<contrib>Contributed by </contrib>
</author>
<!-- June 2001 -->
</authorgroup>
</sect1info>
<title>Desktop Environments</title>
<para>This section describes the different desktop environments
available for X on FreeBSD. A <quote>desktop environment</quote>
can mean anything ranging from a simple window manager to a
complete suite of desktop applications, such as
<application>KDE</application> or <application>GNOME</application>.
</para>
<sect2 id="x11-wm-gnome">
<title>GNOME</title>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-gnome-about">
<title>About GNOME</title>
<para><application>GNOME</application> is a user-friendly
desktop environment that enables users to easily use and
configure their computers. <application>GNOME</application>
includes a panel (for starting applications and displaying
status), a desktop (where data and applications can be
placed), a set of standard desktop tools and applications, and
a set of conventions that make it easy for applications to
cooperate and be consistent with each other. Users of other
operating systems or environments should feel right at home
using the powerful graphics-driven environment that
<application>GNOME</application> provides.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-gnome-install">
<title>Installing GNOME</title>
<para>The easiest way to install
<application>GNOME</application> is through the
<quote>Desktop Configuration</quote> menu during the FreeBSD
installation process as described in <xref linkend="default-desktop"> of Chapter 2. It can also
be easily installed from a package or the ports
collection:</para>
<para>To install the <application>GNOME</application> package
from the network, simply type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pkg_add -r gnome</userinput></screen>
<para>To build <application>GNOME</application> from source, use
the ports tree:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11/gnome</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>Once <application>GNOME</application> is installed,
the X server must be told to start
<application>GNOME</application> instead of a default window
manager. If a custom <filename>.xinitrc</filename> is already in
place, simply replace the line that starts the current window
manager with one that starts
<application>/usr/X11R6/bin/gnome-session</application> instead.
If nothing special has been done to configuration file,
then it is enough to simply type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>echo "/usr/X11R6/bin/gnome-session" > ~/.xinitrc</userinput></screen>
<para>Next, type <command>startx</command>, and the
<application>GNOME</application> desktop environment will be
started.</para>
<note><para>If a display manager, like
<application>XDM</application>, is being used, this will not work.
Instead, create an executable <filename>.xsession</filename>
file with the same command in it. To do this, edit the file
and replace the existing window manager command with
<application>/usr/X11R6/bin/gnome-session</application>:
</para></note>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>echo "#!/bin/sh" > ~/.xsession</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>echo "/usr/X11R6/bin/gnome-session" >> ~/.xsession</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>chmod +x ~/.xsession</userinput></screen>
<para>Another option is to configure the display manager to
allow choosing the window manager at login time; the section on
<link linkend="x11-wm-kde-details">KDE details</link>
explains how to do this for <application>kdm</application>, the
display manager of <application>KDE</application>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-gnome-antialias">
<title>Anti-aliased fonts with GNOME</title>
<para>While anti-aliased fonts made their first appearance on
<application>XFree86</application> desktops in the <application>KDE</application> environment and are supported
there in the standard installation, it is also possible to
use them with GTK applications such as the <application>GNOME</application>
environment. The most straightforward way is probably by
using the <application>libgdkxft</application> library, in
the <filename role="package">x11/gdkxft</filename> port. After installing this
port, read the
<filename>/usr/X11R6/share/doc/gdkxft/README</filename> file
carefully.</para>
<para>Then, all that is needed is to tell GTK
applications to look for their font-rendering functions in
<filename>libgdkxft.so</filename> before looking in the
standard place, <filename>libgdk.so</filename>. This is
easily accomplished by setting an environment variable to
point to the right place; with the Bourne shell
(<application>/bin/sh</application>) or similar shells, type
the command (to start <application>The Gimp</application>,
say)</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>LD_PRELOAD=/usr/X11R6/lib/libgdkxft.so gimp</userinput></screen>
<para>and with csh and similar shells, type</para>
<screen>
&prompt.user; <userinput>setenv LD_PRELOAD /usr/X11R6/lib/libgdkxft.so</userinput>
&prompt.user; <userinput>gimp</userinput>
</screen>
<para>Or, the commands</para>
<programlisting>
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/X11R6/lib/libgdkxft.so
export LD_PRELOAD
</programlisting>
<para>can be put into <filename>.xinitrc</filename>,
<filename>.xsession</filename> or in the appropriate
place(s) in
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession</filename>,
depending on how X is normally started. However, this
short-cut may cause problems if Linux GTK binaries are
run.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="x11-wm-kde">
<title>KDE</title>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-kde-about">
<title>About KDE</title>
<para><application>KDE</application> is an easy to use
contemporary desktop environment. Some of the things that
<application>KDE</application> brings to the user are:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>A beautiful contemporary desktop</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A desktop exhibiting complete network transparency</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>An integrated help system allowing for convenient,
consistent access to help on the use of the
<application>KDE</application> desktop and its
applications</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Consistent look and feel of all
<application>KDE</application> applications</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Standardized menu and toolbars, keybindings, color-schemes, etc.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Internationalization: <application>KDE</application>
is available in more than 40 languages</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Centralized consisted dialog driven desktop configuration</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>A great number of useful
<application>KDE</application> applications</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para><application>KDE</application> has an office application
suite based on <application>KDE</application>'s
<quote>KParts</quote> technology consisting
of a spread-sheet, a presentation application, an organizer, a
news client and more. <application>KDE</application> also
comes with a web browser called
<application>Konqueror</application>, which represents
a solid competitor to other existing web browsers on Unix
systems. More information on <application>KDE</application>
can be found on the <ulink url="http://www.kde.org/">KDE
website.</ulink></para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-kde-install">
<title>Installing KDE</title>
<para>Just as with <application>GNOME</application> or any
other desktop environment, the easiest way to install
<application>KDE</application> is through the <quote>Desktop
Configuration</quote> menu during the FreeBSD installation
process as described in <xref linkend="default-desktop"> of Chapter 2. Once again, the software
can be easily installed from a package or from the ports
collection:</para>
<para>To install the <application>KDE</application> package
from the network, simply type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pkg_add -r kde3</userinput></screen>
<para>To build <application>KDE</application> from source,
use the ports tree:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11/kde3</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>After <application>KDE</application> has been installed,
the X server must be told to launch this application
instead of the default window manager. This is accomplished
by editing the <filename>.xinitrc</filename> file:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>echo "exec startkde" > ~/.xinitrc</userinput></screen>
<para>Now, whenever the X Window System is invoked with <command>startx</command>,
<application>KDE</application> will be the desktop.</para>
<para>If a display manager such as
<application>xdm</application> is being used, the
configuration is slightly different. Edit the
<filename>.xsession</filename> file instead. Instructions
for <application>kdm</application> are described later in
this chapter.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="x11-wm-kde-details">
<title>More Details on KDE</title>
<para>Now that <application>KDE</application> is installed on
the system, most things can be discovered through the
help pages, or just by pointing and clicking at various menus.
Windows or Mac users will feel quite at home.</para>
<para>The best reference for <application>KDE</application> is
the on-line documentation. <application>KDE</application>
comes with its own web browser,
<application>Konqueror</application>, dozens of useful
applications, and extensive documentation. The remainder of
this section discusses the technical items that are
difficult to learn by random exploration.</para>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-kde-kdm">
<title>The KDE display manager</title>
<para>An administrator of a multi-user system may wish to have
a graphical login screen to welcome users.
<link linkend="x-xdm"><filename>xdm</filename></link> can be
used, as described earlier. However,
<application>KDE</application> includes an
alternative, <application>kdm</application>, which is designed
to look more attractive and include more login-time options.
In particular, users can easily choose (via a menu) which
desktop environment (<application>KDE</application>,
<application>GNOME</application>, or something else) to run
after logging on.</para>
<para>To begin with, run the <application>KDE</application>
control panel, <command>kcontrol</command>, as
<username>root</username>. It is generally considered
unsafe to run the entire X environment as
<username>root</username>. Instead, run the window manager
as a normal user, open a terminal window (such as
<filename>xterm</filename> or <application>KDE</application>'s
<filename>konsole</filename>), become <username>root</username>
with <userinput>su</userinput> (the user must be in the
<groupname>wheel</groupname>
group in <filename>/etc/group</filename> for this), and then
type <userinput>kcontrol</userinput>.</para>
<para> Click on the icon on the left marked <guibutton>System</guibutton>, then on
<guibutton>Login manager</guibutton>. On the right there are
various configurable options, which the
<application>KDE</application> manual will explain in greater
detail. Click on <guibutton>sessions</guibutton> on the right.
Click <guibutton>New type</guibutton> to add various window
managers and desktop environments. These are just labels,
so they can say <application>KDE</application> and
<application>GNOME</application> rather than
<application>startkde</application> or
<application>gnome-session</application>.
Include a label <literal>failsafe</literal>.</para>
<para> Play with the other menus as well, they are mainly
cosmetic and self-explanatory. When you are done, click on
<guibutton>Apply</guibutton> at the bottom, and quit the
control center.</para>
<para> To make sure <application>kdm</application> understands
what the labels (<application>KDE</application>,
<application>GNOME</application> etc) mean, edit the files used
by <link linkend="x-xdm">xdm</link>.
<note><para>In <application>KDE 2.2</application> this has
changed: <application>kdm</application> now uses its own
configuration files. Please see the <application>KDE
2.2</application> documentation for details.</para>
</note>
In a terminal window, as <username>root</username>,
edit the file
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession</filename>. There is
a section in the middle like this:</para>
<screen>case $# in
1)
case $1 in
failsafe)
exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
;;
esac
esac</screen>
<para>A few lines need to be added to this section.
Assuming the labels from used were <quote>KDE</quote> and
<quote>GNOME</quote>,
use the following:</para>
<screen>case $# in
1)
case $1 in
kde)
exec /usr/local/bin/startkde
;;
GNOME)
exec /usr/X11R6/bin/gnome-session
;;
failsafe)
exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0
;;
esac
esac</screen>
<para>For the <application>KDE</application>
login-time desktop background to be honored,
the following line needs to be added to
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0</filename>:</para>
<screen>/usr/local/bin/kdmdesktop</screen>
<para>Now, make sure <application>kdm</application> is listed in
<filename>/etc/ttys</filename> to be started at the next bootup.
To do this, simply follow the instructions from the previous
section on <link linkend="x-xdm">xdm</link> and replace
references to the <command>/usr/X11R6/bin/xdm</command>
program with <command>/usr/local/bin/kdm</command>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-kde-antialias">
<title>Anti-aliased Fonts</title>
<para>Starting with version 4.0.2,
<application>XFree86</application> supports anti-aliasing via
its <quote>RENDER</quote> extension, and starting with version 2.3, Qt (the
toolkit used by <application>KDE</application>) supports this
extension. Configuring this is described in <xref
linkend="antialias"> on antialiasing X11 fonts. So, with
up-to-date software, anti-aliasing is possible on a
<application>KDE</application> desktop. Just go to the KDE
menu, go to <guimenuitem>Preferences</guimenuitem> -> <guimenuitem>Look and Feel</guimenuitem> -> <guimenuitem>Fonts</guimenuitem>, and click
on the check box
<guibutton>Use Anti-Aliasing for Fonts and Icons</guibutton>.
For a Qt application which is not part of
<application>KDE</application>, the environment variable <varname>QT_XFT</varname>
needs to be set to <literal>true</literal> before starting the program.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="x11-wm-xfce">
<title>XFce</title>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-xfce-about">
<title>About XFce</title>
<para><application>XFce</application> is a desktop environment
based on the GTK
toolkit used by <application>GNOME</application>, but is much
more lightweight and meant for those who want a simple,
efficient desktop which is nevertheless easy to use and
configure. Visually, it looks very much like
<application>CDE</application>, found on commercial Unix
systems. Some of <application>XFce</application>'s features
are:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>A simple, easy-to-handle desktop</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Fully configurable via mouse, with drag and
drop, etc </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Main panel similar to <application>CDE</application>, with menus, applets and
app launchers</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Integrated window manager, file manager,
sound manager, <application>GNOME</application> compliance module, and other things</para></listitem>
<listitem><para> Themeable (since it uses GTK) </para></listitem>
<listitem><para> Fast, light and efficient: ideal for
older/slower machines or machines with memory limitations</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<para> More information on <application>XFce</application>
can be found on the <ulink url="http://www.xfce.org/">XFce
website</ulink>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x11-wm-xfce-install">
<title>Installing XFce</title>
<para>A binary package for <application>XFce</application>
exists (at the time of writing). To install, simply type:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pkg_add -r xfce</userinput></screen>
<para> Alternatively, to build from source, use the ports
collection:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>cd /usr/ports/x11-wm/xfce</userinput>
&prompt.root; <userinput>make install clean</userinput></screen>
<para>Now, tell the X server to launch
<application>XFce</application> the next time X is started.
Simply type this:</para>
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>echo "/usr/X11R6/bin/startxfce" > ~/.xinitrc</userinput></screen>
<para>The next time X is started,
<application>XFce</application> will be the desktop.
As before, if a display manager like
<filename>xdm</filename> is being used, create an
<filename>.xsession</filename>, as described in the
section on <link linkend="x11-wm-gnome">GNOME</link>, but
with the <filename>/usr/X11R6/bin/startxfce</filename>
command; or, configure the display manager to allow
choosing a desktop at login time, as explained in
the section on <link linkend="x11-wm-kde-kdm">kdm</link>.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</chapter>
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