With your XF86Config file configured, you're ready to fire up the
X server and give it a spin. First, be sure that /usr/X11R6/bin
is on your path.
The command to start up XFree86 is
startx
xinit (in case you're used to using xinit
on other UNIX systems).
This command will start the X server and run the commands found in the
file .xinitrc in your home directory. .xinitrc is just a
shell script containing X clients to run. If this file does not exist,
the system default /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc will be used.
A standard .xinitrc file looks like this:
#!/bin/sh
xterm -fn 7x13bold -geometry 80x32+10+50 &
xterm -fn 9x15bold -geometry 80x34+30-10 &
oclock -geometry 70x70-7+7 &
xsetroot -solid midnightblue &
exec fvwm2
This script will start up two xterm clients, an
oclock, and set the root window (background) color to
midnightblue. It will then start up fvwm2, the
window manager. Note that fvwm2 is executed with the shell's
exec statement; this causes the xinit process to be
replaced with fvwm2. Once the fvwm2 process exits, the X
server will shut down. You can cause fvwm2 to exit by using the
root menus: depress mouse button 1 on the desktop background---this
will display a pop up menu which will allow you to Exit Fvwm2.
Be sure that the last command in .xinitrc is started with
exec, and that it is not placed into the background (no
ampersand on the end of the line). Otherwise the X server will shut
down as soon as it has started the clients in the .xinitrc
file.
Alternately, you can exit X by pressing ctrl-alt-backspace
in combination. This will kill the X server directly, exiting the window
system.
The above is a very, very simple desktop configuration. Many wonderful
programs and configurations are available with a bit of work
on your .xinitrc file.
If you are new to the X Window System environment, we strongly suggest
picking up a book such as The Joy of X: An Overview of the X
Window System by Niall Manfield (Addison-Wesley 1993, ISBN
0201-565129). Using and configuring X is far too in-depth to cover
here. See the man pages for xterm, oclock, and
fvwm2 for clues on getting started.
This document is copyright 1996 by Eric S. Raymond. You may use, disseminate, and reproduce it freely, provided you:
These restrictions are intended to protect potential readers from stale or mangled versions. If you think you have a good case for an exception, ask me.
This document was originated by Matt Welsh in the dim and backward abysm of time. Thanks, Matt!