X windows and applications advice

[Frank Schima]

Hi Jamie,


On May 20, 2014, at 4:27 AM, James Griffin <jpg88 at icloud.com> wrote:

> I wanted to run some xterms earlier and found I needed to install
> XQuartz. Then I remembered (possibly incorrectly) that I could use X11
> built using Macports.
> 
> Would you say using the X11 implementation is better in terms of using
> and availability of X applications, many of which I will install using
> Macports? I mean, the applications from Macports, are they able to be
> used on XQuartz X server, I'm guessing they can be. 
> 
> I'm not experienced with X11 on Mac computers really so I apologise if
> this is a silly question. 

X11 acts the same on OS X as it does anywhere else. So you can ssh into a Linux box and run X11 applications from there on your Mac.

You basically have 2 options to install X11 on OS X. 

1. Use Macports. 
Type the following in Terminal:
sudo port install xorg-server
Follow this up by logging out and logging back in. 
This is my preferred method because it uses Macports and is thus simple to keep updated. 

2. Install XQuartz from <http://xquartz.macosforge.org/>. 

But you cannot install both or things may not work. You should only have one X11 server running. If you have both, I suggest to uninstall XQuartz and only go with the Macports xorg-server port. You may need to force uninstall xinit and re-install it, followed by logging out and logging back in. 

After installing X11, my favorite test to to also install the xeyes port and simply type “xeyes” at the command line to test your X11 setup. X11 will automatically startup and a small window with eyes that track the mouse will appear. I often see people make the mistake that they think they need to “launch X11” manually first for X11 to work but that is not true. 


HTH,
Frank

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