The X Window System is the graphical subsystem available for NetBSD and many Unix (and non Unix) systems. In fact it is much more than that: thanks to the usage of the X protocol, the X Window System is “network transparent” and can run distributed applications (client-server). This means, roughly, that you can run an application on one host (client) and transparently display the graphical output on another host (server); transparently means that you don't have to modify the application to achieve this result. The X Window System is produced and maintained by the X Consortium and the current release is X11R6. The flavour of X used by NetBSD is XFree86, a freely redistributable open source implementation of the X Window System.

Please note that the X Window System is a rather bare bones framework which acts again as a base for modern desktop environments like GNOME, KDE or XFCE, but they are not part of the X Windows System, and while NetBSD ships with the X Window System, it does not include these desktop environments. They can be added easily via the pkgsrc system, though, if needed.

When you start using X you'll find many new terms which you'll probably find confusing at first. The basic elements to use X are:

To summarize: in order to use a graphical environment you need

Normally, you can run at most one window manager at any given time on a given X server. (But you can run multiple X servers on a single computer.) If you are not running a window manager of your choosing, and start KDE/GNOME, then that desktop environment will run a window manager for you.

If you haven't chosen a minimal configuration during installation, X is already installed and ready to run on your computer. Depending on the exact hardware platform you run NetBSD and X on, you may or may not need to configure your X server. While most workstation ports (sparc, pmax, ...) will just work without further configuration if you use the right X-server, which is what /usr/X11R6/bin/X is usually linked to.

On PCs (i386, amd64), Shark and some other platforms, you will have to tune the X server first by create the menacing /etc/X11/XF86Config file. To get an idea of what this file looks like, examine the /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.eg file. The structure of the configuration file is described formally in XF86Config(5), which can be examined with the following command:

# man XF86Config

Before configuring the system it is advisable to carefully read the documentation found in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc: there are various README's for the video cards, for the mouse and even a NetBSD specific one (README.NetBSD.) I suggest to start by reading QuickStart.doc. You might have the feeling that other systems let you start more quickly and with less effort, but the time spent reading this documentation is not wasted: the knowledge of X and of your configuration that you gain will turn out very useful on many future occasions and you'll be able to get the most from your hardware (and software too.)

You can create the /etc/X11/XF86Config file manually with an editor or you can generate it automatically with an interactive configuration program. The best known programs are xf86config, XF86Setup (XFree86 3.x) and xf86cfg (XFree86 4.x). Both xf86config and xf86cfg are installed by default with X; XF86Setup is a graphical configuration tool which can be installed from pkgsrc.

You may find that a mixed approach is better: first create the XF86Config with one of the two programs and then check it and tune it manually with an editor. E.g. for the GUI based xf86cfg:

# xf86cfg
# configure to your will, and at the end save to /etc/X11/XF86Config
# vi /etc/X11/XF86Config 

or for the screen-oriented, non-graphical xf86config:

# xf86config
# configure to your will, and at the end save to /etc/X11/XF86Config
# vi /etc/X11/XF86Config 

The interface of the two programs is different but they both require the same set of information:

Before configuring the system you should collect the required information.

The first thing to check is the type of mouse you are using (for example, serial or PS/2, ...) and the mouse device (for example, wsmouse requires a different protocol). If you are using a serial mouse, choose the required protocol and specify the serial port to which it is connected.

For example, PS/2 and USB mice usually are attached to the wsmouse device, and as such you can use:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "wsmouse"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/wsmouse"
EndSection 

If you use a mouse with a scroll wheel, scrolling up and down is handled as mouse buttons 4 and 5 being pressed (respectively). Many applications like xterm or Firefox handle these button presses. To enable the scroll wheel, add the following lines to the "Pointer" section:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "wsmouse"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/wsmouse"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection 

For a serial mouse on the first serial port, try something like:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/tty00"
EndSection 

In this example. /dev/tty00 is the first serial port here, use /dev/tty01 for the second and so on. Protocol "auto" will try to automatically detect the protocol of your serial mouse. If this doesn't work, try values like "Microsoft", "IntelliMouse" or "Logitech", see /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config.eg and /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/README.mouse for more information.

Even if you have already configured your keyboard for wscons, you need to configure it for X too, at least if you want to get a non US layout.

An easy solution is to use the XKB protocol, specifying the keyboard type and layout.

This is one area in which that configuration programs are weak and you may want to choose the standard layout and modify the generated configuration file manually:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "keyboard"
        Option      "XkbRules" "xfree86"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc102"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "de"
        Option      "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
EndSection 

If you want to use the “Windows” keys on your keyboard, use “pc105” instead of “pc102” for XkbModel.

It is very important to correctly specify the values of the horizontal and vertical frequency of the monitor: a correct definition shields the monitor from damages deriving from an incompatible setup of the video card. This information can be found in the monitor's manual. In the X documentation directory there is a file containing the settings of many monitors; it can be used as a starting point to customize your own settings.

The video card can be chosen from the database of the configuration programs; the program will take care of all the needed setups. Video card support is slightly different between XFree86 3.x and 4.x.

XFree86 3.x has multiple servers for different categories of video card chipsets. XFree86 4.x has only one server. Different video chipsets are supported via platform independent driver modules, which can be found in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers.

When you exit the configuration program, it creates the file /etc/X11/XF86Config, which can be further examined and modified by hand.

Before starting X you should:

Now you can start X with the following command:

# startx

If X doesn't fire up there is probably some error in the configuration file.

If X starts but doesn't work as expected (for example, you can't move the mouse pointer) you can exit quickly with the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combination (not available on all ports). If everything worked correctly you are left in the X environment with the default window manager (twm): although it is a simple window manager many users feel that it is enough for their needs. If you want a highly configurable window manager with many bells and whistles, you have many choices in the package collection, see Section 9.9, “Other window managers” below.

To start customizing X, try giving the following command in an xterm to change the background color:

# xsetroot -solid DarkSeaGreen

The look of the X environment can be customized in several ways. The easiest method is to copy the default .xinitrc file in your home directory and modify it, or create a simple, new one from scratch. For example:

$ cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc $HOME/.xinitrc
$ vi $HOME/.xinitrc

The following example shows how to start the window manager (twm), open an instance of the xclock program in the lower right part of the screen and two xterm windows. The “Bisque4” color is used for the background.

The first part of the file is the same
...
# start some nice programs
xclock -geometry 50x50-1-1 &
xterm -geometry 80x34-1+1 -bg OldLace &
xsetroot -solid Bisque4 &
xterm -geometry 80x44+0+0 -bg AntiqueWhite -name login

twm    # no '&' here   

With this type of setup, to exit X you must end the window manager, which is usually done by selecting "exit" from its menu.

Even with this simple configuration X has a considerably nicer look. To give an even better look to the environment you can install some utility program from the package collection. For example:

If you don't like twm, which is a very simple window manager lacking many features and not very configurable, you can choose another window manager from the package collection. Some of the most popular are: fvwm2, olwm/olvwm (Open Look Window Manager), WindowMaker, Enlightenment, AfterStep.

In the rest of this section the installation of WindowMaker is described as an example. WindowMaker is a nice looking and highly configurable window manager. It can be installed directly via pkg_add:

# pkg_add -v windowmaker

Alternatively, it can be built from pkgsrc using the make install command:

# cd /usr/pkgsrc/wm/windowmaker
# make install

As usual, both pkg_add and make install will fetch the needed packages automatically, so there is no need to deal with dependencies manually.

More themes for WindowMaker are available in the wmthemes package.

WindowMaker is now installed; to start it you must modify your .xinitrc and/or .xsession file: substitute the line which calls twm with a line which calls wmaker. For example:

# start some useful programs
xclock -geometry 50x50-1-1 &
xdaemon2 -geometry +0-70 &
# start window manager:
wmaker   # no '&' here to exit the session after the window manager's done

The startx command will start the X11 session with WindowMaker. As configured in the example .xinitrc file above, choosing “Quit” or similar from the window manager's menu will quit the window manager and the X11 session.

If you always use X for your work and the first thing you do after you log in is run startx, you can set up a graphical login for your workstation which does this automatically. It is very easy:

The configuration files for xdm are in the /etc/X11/xdm directory. In the Xservers file X is started by default on “vt05”, which is the console you reach via “Ctrl+Alt+F5”; if you want to use another virtual console instead, this is the right place to modify the setting. In order to avoid keyboard contention between getty and xdm it is advisable to start xdm on a virtual terminal where getty is disabled. For example if in Xservers you have:

:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X :0 vt04

in /etc/ttys you should have

ttyE3   "/usr/libexec/getty Pc"         vt220   off secure

(Please note that vt04 corresponds to ttyE3 because vt start at 1 and ttyE start at 0).

If you want a nice look for your xdm login screen, you can modify the xdm configuration file. For example, to change the background color you can add the following line to the Xsetup_0 file:

xsetroot -solid SeaGreen

Instead of setting a color, you can put an image on the background using the xpmroot program: For example:

xpmroot /path_to_xpm/netbsd.xpm

If you experiment a little with the configuration file you can achieve many nice looking effects and build a pleasing login screen. Note that other display managers like gdm and kdm offer different ways of configuration, usually GUI based.