[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: X11 Server for ms windows



On Wed, Apr 23, 2003 at 04:32:06PM -0700, Craig Dickson wrote:
> Michael Heironimus wrote:
> 
> > XFree86 used to have to do the same thing, but now it supports putting X
> > windows right next to Windows windows (that's called a "rootless" X
> > server). In the current version it works, but not all that well.
> 
> I use Cygwin's XFree86 all the time, but I didn't know it could work
> without a root window. (Probably it couldn't back when I set it up.)
> In what way does it not work well?

Yes, I think it's a recent addition, and it's actually not even
documented on the cygwin page - I think it's not officially supported
yet, but it does work. The main problem I saw with it was that you still
needed to run a local X window manager - you don't have X clients
running inside Windows windows, you have X clients running inside twm
(or whatever) windows that happen to be right next to Windows windows on
the screen.

That means they don't show in the Windows taskbar, and they can't be
minimized to the taskbar (they'll iconify however the window manager
you're running does it, which may look a little strange). If your window
manager uses a desktop menu of some sort it will be inaccessible, so you
can't iconify a window in a window manager that assumes you'll click the
background and use a window list menu to get it back. Sometimes I also
had trouble moving windows around, etc. It's usable, but it's far from
perfect.

-- 
Michael Heironimus



Reply to: