Two-Minute Drill

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Here are some of the key points from the certification objectives in Chapter 6.

X Server

• The X Server is the software that manages the graphics display on the local computer, which includes your monitor/graphics adapter, keyboard, and mouse.

• X Servers work with local and remote X Clients to keep your display up to date. X Servers send inputs from the keyboard and mouse to X Clients. Then X Clients send instructions to the X Server to update the graphics on the monitor.

• You can configure the X Server during the RHEL 3 installation process. You can also configure or modify the configuration using the Red Hat Display Settings tool.

• The X Server configuration is stored in the /etc/X11/XF86Config file.

X Font Server

• If your X Font Server is not running, you won't be able to start the Linux GUI. Make sure it's set to run in your current run level, and that the /tmp and /home directory partitions are not full.

X Clients

• RHEL 3 supports a great number of X Client programs. These include terminal emulators, desktop accessories (such as the File Manager), and more.

• You can send the display of an X Client program to a remote system by using the -display option.

Remote Display of X Applications

• By default, X Clients sends display output to the local computer.

• You can send display output to other computers with the -display command line option.

• The local system must be willing to accept your remote X Client. You can run the xhosts +remotepc command to accept remote X Clients from the computer named remotepc.

• You can log into the remote client using the Secure Shell.

• You can set the DISPLAY environment variable on the X Client computer to direct all display output to a remote X Server.

Desktops and Window Managers

• The X Window System just gives you a blank electronic canvas. The look and feel of a GUI is provided by the window manager and desktop.

• The two main desktop environments are GNOME and KDE.

• You can use switchdesk from a terminal window or the command line interface console to select your default desktop.

The X Start Process

• You can configure the X Window interface to start automatically, or you can start it manually from the command line console with the startx command.

• You can customize the startx process by configuring X Clients in the ~/.xinitrc or the Sessions manager.

• You can set up graphical logins with the X display manager, the KDE display manager, or the GNOME display manager.

Basic Graphical Applications

• The default RHEL 3 Web browser is Mozilla. The default graphical e-mail client is Evolution.

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