Re: X-window keys
On Fri, 14 Jun 1996, Max Hyre wrote:
> Martin Alonso Soto Jacome's <masoto@uniandes.edu.co> answer got to
> me first:
>
> > Well, that's exactly what xdm is intended for. xdm tries to keep an
> > xserver running permanently, so that you can always login to the system
> > using a nice graphical login prompt dialog box.
>
> ``Oh'', he said in a quiet voice. (I've just started using X under
> Linux, and hadn't grasped the differences between startx and xdm.)
>
> At the time I was tweaking the ModeLines to get the display size
> best suited to the screen, and thus was starting and killing X
> constantly. Next time, I'll just use startx, and save myself some
> hassle.
You can also leave xdm running in the background, and start the server
manually whenever you want to use X. Remove the line
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X
from the /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers file, and xdm won't start an X server
automatically. You can then use a command like
X -query localhost
...to start an X server when you need one.
If it's present, it might also be an idea to remove the line
xdm-start-server
from /etc/X11/config, as if it's present then the X configuration scripts
will add the line back to /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers next time you configure
or update the X packages. Replace it with no-xdm-start-server, and you
shouldn't ever be prompted about xdm starting a server again.
Steve Early
sde1000@cam.ac.uk
Reply to: