Mac OS X in a Nutshell

Running XDarwin

XDarwin can be run in two modes: full-screen or rootless. Either of these modes run side by side with Aqua, although full-screen mode hides the Finder Desktop. To launch the X server, double-click the XDarwin application (/Applications).

You will be prompted to choose which of these two modes to run. In rootless mode, X11 applications take up their own window on your Aqua Desktop. In full-screen mode, X11 takes over the entire screen and is suitable if you want to run an X11 Desktop environment (DTE) like GNOME, KDE, or Xfce. If you prefer rootless mode, you will probably want to run OroborOSX, an X window manager with an Aqua look and feel (see Section 23.5, later in this chapter).

You can still access your Mac OS X Desktop while in full-screen mode by pressing Option-

-A. To go back to the X11 Desktop, press either Option-

-A, or click the XDarwin icon in the Dock.

Running XDarwin from the Console

XDarwin can also be run from the Darwin console. To do so, first shut down Core Graphics by logging into the machine as console. When the console prompt appears, log in with your normal username.

Once logged in, start the X11 server by entering the command exec startx. To quit X11, type exit from the main login Terminal window. If there is a long delay showing only the spinning ...