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Re: Displaying remote Xclients without server window


On Thu, 2 Jun 2005, Stephan Wehner wrote:

> I'm thinking about setting up an X server on a Windows machine without
> the server window itself.
>
> I want an xterm running on the remote (e.g. Linux) machine to be
> visible on my local machine as its own window, which can be moved
> around, minimized, resized etc. on the Windows machine just like any
> other Windows application window. Then, if I run e.g. ghostview in
> that xterm, the new window appears on my Windows machine.

You must be thinking of multiwindow mode.  This is already the default in
the latest versions of the xorg-x11 packages.  Just run "startx" or
"startxwin.sh", or use the "-multiwindow" parameter when invoking XWin.

On the off chance you want to run your own window manager and still not
see the root window, try the -rootless parameter instead.

There are also display forwarding issues (e.g., via ssh), but you'd have
those even with the root window.

> In addition, these remotely running windows show up separately on my
> Windows taskbar.

Yep, definitely multiwindow. :-)

> Plus, available remote applications appear in the Windows
> Start Menu automagically, and when launched run on the remote machine,
> but display on the Windows machine. (The user sees no difference,
> except maybe for authentication)
>
> Is it already possible with existing (cygwin) code? Or other packages?

Heh.  That's something you'd have to do yourself.  You can create a
Windows shortcut that starts the X server, and then starts an xterm on the
remote machine with DISPLAY set appropriately.  FWIW, I found that it's
usually better to run a local xterm that runs ssh instead of running a
remote xterm over ssh (as you said, the user sees no difference).  In case
you're interested, here's the command line for my shortcut (I don't check
for a running X server -- I leave that as an exercise for the reader):

c:\cygwin\bin\run.exe /bin/bash --login -c "/usr/bin/xterm -display 127.0.0.1:0 -bg '#ffffff' -fn 10x20 -rw -cu -si -sk -sb -sl 5000 +cn -T 'Remote xterm' -n 'Remote xterm' -e /usr/bin/ssh -C -X -2 user@host.domain &"

HTH,
	Igor
-- 
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     |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'		Igor Pechtchanski, Ph.D.
    '---''(_/--'  `-'\_) fL	a.k.a JaguaR-R-R-r-r-r-.-.-.  Meow!

"The Sun will pass between the Earth and the Moon tonight for a total
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