Content deleted Content added
Clarify timelines again |
David Gerard (talk | contribs) realign images - they foul up on a wide screen in Classic |
||
Line 42:
==User interfaces==
{|border=0 align=left
|[[Image:
|-
|[[Image:DECwindows-openvms-v7.3-1.png|thumb|200px|DECwindows CDE on [[OpenVMS]] 7.3-1]]
|}
X deliberately contains no specification as to application [[user interface]], such as [[button (computing)|button]]s, [[menu (computing)|menu]]s, window [[title bar]]s and so on. These are provided by user software, such as [[window manager]]s, GUI [[widget toolkit]]s and [[desktop environment]]s, or application-specific GUIs, such as [[point of sale]]. As such, the "typical" X interface has varied tremendously over the years.
Line 53 ⟶ 56:
==Implementations==
The [[canonical]] implementation of X is the X.Org [[reference implementation]]. Due to the liberal [[software license|licensing]], a number of variations, both [[free software|free]] and [[proprietary software|proprietary]], have appeared. Commercial UNIX vendors have tended to take the reference implementation and adapt it for their hardware, usually customising it heavily and adding proprietary extensions.
{|border=0 align=right
|[[Image:X11_mac_gimp_app.jpg|thumb|200px|left|X11.app running rootless on [[Mac OS X]]. The screen shows [[GIMP]] running within the X window system.]]▼
|-
|[[Image:Wfm cygwinx rootless.png|thumb|200px|right|[[Cygwin/X]] running rootless on Microsoft [[Windows XP]]. The screen shows X applications (xeyes, xclock, [[xterm]]) sharing the screen with native Windows applications (Date and Time, Calculator).]]▼
|}
Up to [[2004]], the most common X variant on free [[UNIX-like]] systems was [[XFree86]], which started as a [[porting|port]] of X for [[Intel 80386|386]]-compatible PCs and, by the end of the 1990s, had become the greatest source of technical innovation in X and the ''de facto'' steward of X development. As of 2004, the most popular open source X server is the current [[X.Org Server|X.Org reference implementation]], a [[fork (software)|fork]] of XFree86.
▲[[Image:X11_mac_gimp_app.jpg|thumb|200px|left|X11.app running rootless on [[Mac OS X]]. The screen shows [[GIMP]] running within the X window system.]]
While X is most often associated with Unix, X servers also exist natively within other graphical environments. [[Hewlett-Packard]]'s [[OpenVMS]] operating system includes a version of X with [[CDE]], known as [[DECwindows]], as its standard desktop environment. [[Apple Computer|Apple]]'s [[Mac OS X v10.3]] (Panther) includes [[Apple X11]], based on XFree86 4.3 and X11R6.6, with better [[Mac OS X]] integration.
▲[[Image:Wfm cygwinx rootless.png|thumb|200px|right|[[Cygwin/X]] running rootless on Microsoft [[Windows XP]]. The screen shows X applications (xeyes, xclock, [[xterm]]) sharing the screen with native Windows applications (Date and Time, Calculator).]]
[[Microsoft Windows]] does not come with support for X, but there are many third party implementations available, both [[free software]] such as [[Cygwin/X]], [[Xming]], WeirdMind [http://www.tam.cornell.edu/Computer.old/remoteaccess/weirdmind/] and [[WeirdX]] and proprietary products such as [[WiredX]], [[Exceed]] and [[X-Win32]]. They are normally used to control X windows applications remotely.
Line 131 ⟶ 138:
[[XFree86]] originated in [[1992]] from the X386 server for [[IBM PC compatible]]s included with X11R5 in 1991, written by Thomas Roell and Mark W. Snitily and donated to the MIT X Consortium by Snitily Graphics Consulting Services (SGCS). XFree86 evolved over time from being just one port of X to being the leading open source implementation.
In May [[1999]], the Open Group formed [[X.Org]]. X.Org supervised the release of versions X11R6.5.1 onward. X development at this time was moribund [http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/appdev/story/0,10801,67861,00.html]; most technical innovation since the X Consortium had dissolved had taken place in the XFree86 project [http://keithp.com/~keithp/talks/Xarchitecture/Talk.htm]. In [[1999]], XFree86 joined X.Org as an honorary (non-paying) member [http://xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/000418.html], encouraged by various hardware companies [http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/12/01/1342251] interested in its use with Linux and its status as the most popular version of X.
By [[2003]], while Linux's popularity, and hence the installed base of X, surged, X.Org was all but inactive [http://xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-April/003127.html] and active development was largely carried out by XFree86. However, there was considerable dissent within XFree86. It was perceived as far too [[The Cathedral and the Bazaar|cathedral]]-like in its development model; developers were unable to get [[Concurrent Versions System|CVS]] commit access [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/002018.html] and vendors had to maintain extensive [[patch (computing)|patch]]es [http://www.advogato.org/person/mharris/diary.html?start=5]. In March 2003, Keith Packard, who had joined XFree86 after the end of the original MIT X Consortium, was expelled with considerable ill-feeling [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/001997.html] [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-March/002165.html] [http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2003-April/003016.html].
| |||