Starting Applications With X

Azrael · July 16, 2019, 6:46am

So, I wanted to see if I could just use X without a desktop. I installed Debian from a netinstall on a vm and installed xorg with apt. Logged in as a normal user with startx and had a big black background. Seemed like everything was working as expected, so I went to configure tint2 at start up. I tried putting it in .xinitrc and .xsessions, but neither worked even though a lot of online tutorials suggested this. Even tried making a script in /etc/profile.d/, but that didn't work either.

I should note I also tried restarting X and rebooting to make sure things worked or didn't. Not sure if maybe some syntax has changed for this, but any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Neo · July 16, 2019, 10:48am

You are attempting to run X as a client on a server which is not running a window manager?

Is that right?

Azrael · July 16, 2019, 11:20am

Just trying to run it as a window manager. Like openbox. I know those aren't the same, but openbox was the closest I know as neither are desktops. I guess that's client mode?

Neo · July 16, 2019, 12:53pm

Yes, but what window manager are you running?

Or, are you trying to run only a single xterm ?

Please list the exact commands you are running (or attempting to run) in the exact order of execution.

Preferably cut-and-paste all your command from your terminal window and post the results back here using code tags.

Thanks.

Reference:

X uses a client-server model. An X server program runs on a computer with a graphical display and communicates with various client programs. The X server acts as a go-between for the user and the client programs, accepting requests on TCP port 6000 for graphical output (windows) from the client programs and displaying them to the user (display), and receiving user input (keyboard, mouse) and transmitting it to the client programs.

In X, the server runs on the user's computer, while the clients may run on remote machines. This terminology reverses the common notion of client-server systems, where the client normally runs on the user's local computer and the server runs on the remote computer. The X Window terminology takes the perspective that the X Window program is at the centre of all activity, i.e. the X Window program accepts and responds to requests from applications, and from the user's mouse and keyboard input. Therefore, applications (on remote computers) are viewed as clients of the X Window server program.

The communication protocol between server and client runs network-transparently: the client and server may run on the same machine or on different ones, possibly with different architectures and operating systems. A client and server can communicate securely over the Internet by tunneling the connection over an encrypted connection.