Certification Summary

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The X Window System provides a state-of-the-art graphical user interface and offers features not found in other GUI environments. Although the X Window System can be complicated, you should be able to configure it during the RHEL 3 installation process. Alternatively, the Red Hat Display Settings tool simplifies the setup or reconfiguration process.

One of the key parts of the X Window system is the X Font Server. If it isn't running, or the /tmp or /home directory partitions are full, you can't run the Linux GUI.

The X Window system works as client and server. X Clients and X Servers can be located on different computers on a network. You can set it up with appropriate xhost, DISPLAY, and firewall commands. If you prefer, you don't have to worry about your firewall, as you can bypass it through the Secure Shell.

The look and feel of the X Window interface is determined by your choice of desktop. RHEL 3 comes with several desktop environments, including GNOME, KDE, and twm. The GNOME desktop interface is the default for RHEL 3.

You can customize the GUI start process in a number of ways. You can configure a default login manager. With an appropriate .xinitrc file, you can set up X Clients to start when you run the startx command. Plus, if you create an .xinitrc file and then run the switchdesk command, Linux modifies the .xinitrc file. Alternatively, you can run the Sessions utility to configure X Clients in the GNOME desktop.

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