Cygwin/XFree86 is a port of XFree86 to the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. It runs on all recent consumer and business versions of Windows and is now installed via Cygwin’s setup.exe install. In the meantime, Garnome now is able to build both GNOME 2.0.0 and KDE 3.0.2. Garnome is a tool which automates the process of building GNOME 2 and KDE 3. It keeps track of all the dependencies and standard configuration work. Make sure you export some GCC optimization flags as described here before starting building the software though.
XFree 4.2 Makes it to CygWin – Garnome Builds Both Gnome and KDE
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I’m wondering … what kind of performance benefit does one see from running X on their Win32 box as opposed to using something like VNC and running it remotely?
I would imagine that all of the apps are running on the server anyway, so I wouldn’t think there would be too much difference? Also, when doing it this way, are you actually running KDE/Gnome on your Win32 box ?
I installed X 4.2 on Cygwin the other day and I think it’s very cool. Performance is similar to that of other windows X implementations such as Exceed’s.
Installation of X is extremely easy, as the Cygwin installer takes care of everything. The best part is that you don’t even need to run the X configuration applications nor tinker with the XF86Config files, as in Linux, BSD etc.
The only defficiency of X on Cygwin is that it does not support rootless windows.
Yes, you can run KDE 2.2 on your windows box, although I wasn’t able to install it (the download site was down). Keep in mind that only a few KDE apps have been ported at the moment. I don’t think GNOME is available but I’m sure people are working on it.
most people who dont like desktop *nix dislike it because of the ugly and slow xfree (though that is certainly not the only reason). why on earth would you run it on windoze? makes no sense to me. seems like you would be going from bad to worse.
anybody tried it and found any advantages?
not being a gnome or kde user myself ill probably never be able to comment on those from experience ;o)
what i CAN comment on from experience though is WindowMaker
lot of the menu selections dont function as yet… because the programs that they point to arent there yet
but WindowMaker itself is running like a dream :o)
incidentally cygwin was my first experience with Xfree86 4.2 as i downloaded the source to build on my linux and gave the cygwin a try at compiling before i copied it over.. and it worked perfect (my first time compiling any version of Xfree86 anywhere as a matter of fact :o) )
overall impression: very, VERY good!
most people who dont like desktop *nix dislike it because of the ugly and slow xfree (though that is certainly not the only reason).
Maybe that’s true for sophisticated users. But come on, with a modern CPU and graphics card your work will not be impeded by X’s slowness. Unless you work on graphic-intensive stuff of course.
why on earth would you run it on windoze? makes no sense to me.
For the same reason companies such as Hummingbird make money by selling similar applications such as Exceed. Where I work, we do all the development on Unix machines, which we access from Windows NT/2000 desktops.
anybody tried it and found any advantages?
Well, the obvious advantage is that you can run X Window applications that are not ported for Windows.
If you are required to use windows at your work (like me) it is quite usefull to have a *nix environment also.
Mostly open source programs run on *nix, now I can use them on my windows box too.
I can even make some scripts in a way that was impossible with a batch program.
Cygwin gives me everything I always wanted in windows +more.
with a modern CPU and graphics card your work will not be impeded by X’s slowness
No, we have Mozilla for that now
I was joking people!
Well, the obvious advantage is that you can run X Window applications that are not ported for Windows.
Except maybe for the high end Motif-based apps (which wouldn’t run on Windows anyway), what application is there on X that doesn’t have an equally as good or even better altenative on Windows?
Well, I use Xfree+Cygwin at work everyday, while others use Exceed. It REALLY helps (as I don’t want to pay for Exceed) to have many persons working on the same compiling machine. (although I edit my code with the Win32 native version of SCiTE).
Otherwise I’d be glad to have KDE 3.0.2 on my Windows system that way you can virtually use 2 OS at the same time (using the power of each one).
BTW, AFAIK GCC 3.1 is not available for cygwin yet
what application is there on X that doesn’t have an equally as good or even better altenative on Windows?
Well, I can’t think of any X application other than window managers, desktop environments and like you said, high-end (scientific) Motif-based ones.
think youre right about it not being available through the standard setup… but it will compile under cygwin from source
has anyone actually tried this with cygwin and gargnome, garnome always dies when trying. this is on a fresh up to date cygwin install…
Well, I can’t think of any X application other than window managers, desktop environments and like you said, high-end (scientific) Motif-based ones.
Take a look at freshmeat.net and you fill find a ton of applications. Many of them are available on windows but must only run in a *nix environment (unless the sources are compiled in CygWin).
Talking about compiling…..Windows does not even ship with a compiler and Visual C++ cost a fortune (for me, at least). In Cygwin you have it all for free. Maybe you can get another free compiler for windows but at least ‘gcc’ is well tested by being used for open source programs by the thousands.
Rajan’s initial question was whether there are X apps that don’t have good native windows alternatives.
For example, people are not likely to use an XFree86/Cygwin MP3 player, since there are already a bunch of windows native ones such as winamp, windows media player etc. Keep in mind that often, the native ones are also open source (freeamp is an example of a GPL MP3 player that runs on Windows and Linux). The same is true for a lot of every day applications (web browsers, word processors, you name it).
Other than windows managers and scientific applications, I can’t think of an application I use that does not have a windows port nor a windows equivalent. Maybe that’s because I only use a handful of programs (web browser, email client, audio player, video player, text editor and a compiler). Or maybe, because the lack of a free X implementation for windows forced people to make native ports of X applications (emacs for windows is an example).
Don’t get me wrong, I love Cygwin and I like and use XFree86/Cygwin but I have to concur that Rajan makes a valid point.
Some of you guys have such provincial views of application software that I can hardly believe it. One of you says “Except maybe for the high end Motif-based apps (which wouldn’t run on Windows anyway), what application is there on X that doesn’t have an equally as good or even better altenative on Windows?” I mean, you can’t even think of an X app which is an exceptional app BECAUSE it is an X app. And you can’t even imagine that such an app simply couldn’t be done on windows BECAUSE Windows has no remote display protocol. Go to viewtouch.com – and you’ll see an app and an app development framework which could ONLY be done BECAUSE it exploits all of the unique capabilities of X and of the open source universe. And I challenge you to tell me WHICH software on windows is better than this, and HOW it would be better IF it could be done on Windows.
I think about every 18 months I see somebody write a truly intelligent statement about the uniqueness and the advantages of X apps which are written for terminals. The rest of the time all I see is people who know X inside out but who have no idea what the ultimate point of X is – to write applications for people around the world, applications which are rich in both interface and input, and which are more reliable, easier to use, more versatile, far more cost affordable, more extensible and more powerful beyond anything ever written for windows.