Re: Newbie : XWin, rxvt, gv

[Jason Dufair <jase at dufair dot org>]

<fergus@bonhard.uklinux.net> writes:
MIME-Version: 1.0
> After using rxvt without XFree I thought I'd try XFree. I'm amazed. Almost
> everything just works, and the bits that don't must be my bad driving. It's
> so nice to use gnuplot (which compiled oob) and not wgnuplot, for instance.
> Apart from a minor error msg, xdvi simply works. So does latex. I'm
> absolutely staggered.
>
> I'm running W98/SE.
>
> I would like to ask a couple of questions:
>
> Q1 of 2.
>
> I start things up with a three-line batch file
>
>     set DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0
>     start XWin -multiwindow
>     run rxvt {switches} -e /bin/bash
>
> I'm sorry: I'm completely new to this. are the args to DISPLAY to do with
> size and resolution or something else? What is the role of the word "start"?
> I ask because on exiting rxvt I always end up with a copy of XWin hanging
> around that has to be kill'd through Task Manager. Can I omit the word
> start, or if not, should there be a 4th line that carries the sense of "stop
> XWin"? Similarly, the word "run". Can I omit this word and just use
>
>     rxvt {switches} -e /bin/bash?
The args to display are the ip address of the X server that your X
client apps will use.  The :0.0 has to do with "display numbers" and,
theoretically running multiple X servers on the same host.
start just causes the batch file to launch the command following in a
separate process, a sort of fork, so that subsequent commands in the
batch file execute in parallel with the "start"ed command.  Not sure
about W98, but W2K has info in the main help file (Start button, help),
about "start".  Not sure about the semantics of "run."  Perhaps it's an
alias for "start."
You *want* XWin to be "hanging around," at least as long as you want to
continue running X apps.  XWin.exe is the X server and is necessary to
run X-based apps.
You might also try running XWin with -clipboard (depending on which
version of XWin.exe you have - I'm using test series 90, I think).
Allows windows/X clipboard integration.  Additionally, if you run test
series (somewhere in the high eighties, maybe), you get a handy little
tray icon where you can kill XWin.exe with a nice menu and not feel
guilty about killing the process.  Look on the Cygwin/XFree website for
the "Server Test Series".  I found 91 to be a bit unstable but 90 to be
pretty decent (one crash every few days on Win2K).
-- 
Jason Dufair - jase@dufair.org
http://www.dufair.org/
"Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5"