The UNIX System Administrator's Guide to X

As the UNIX world enters a new era of graphical computing, UNIX system administrators face a new world of challenges on how to support these graphical environments for end users. This book provides loads of practical advice on the use of X Window for UNIX system administrators. The book concentrates on those areas of special interest to administrators, such as configurations, X terminals, and security.

This is the guide to X Window System commands, procedures, and software for UNIX system administrators. The CD-ROM which contains key system-administration tools, will further help system administrators make the transition to UNIX graphical environments.

• Introduction
• UNIX System Administration and X
• What Is X?
• X and Hardware
• How This Book is Organized
• Conventions Used in This Book
• How to Reach the Authors
• Section I — Introducing X
1. What is X?
• The X Window System
• Client-Server graphics
• The Display
• The X Environment
• The Root Windo
• User Interfaces in X: Motif and Open Look
• Window Managers
• The Motif Window Manager
• The Open Look Window Manager
• The Tab Window Manager
• Other Window Managers
• Active Windows
• Icons: On-Screen Symbols
• Summary
2. The X Administrator's Job
• Take This Job and…
• X Tasks For the Administrators
• Getting the Handle on X
• Where Does X Reside on Disk?
• X From the System Administrator's Point of View
• Common X Programs
• X Configuration Files
• X from the Software Developer's Point of View
• Platform File Layout Differences
• Sun Microsystems
• Hewlett-Packard
• IBM
• SGI
• COSE Systems
• The Common Desktop Environment
• Summary
3. Installing X
• Installing the X Window System
• Check Your Disk First
• X Versions
• What You Need to Install X
• Installing X: A Checklist
• Obtaining the X Window Source Code
• Unpacking The X Sources
• Read the Release Notes
• Preparing to Build the X Window System
• Determining Which Parts of X to Build
• Configuring the Build
• Identifying the Configuration Options
• Setting Up the Platform Configuration File
• Building X with Imake
• Building the World of X
• Installing X
• Setting Up Xterm
• Summary
• Section 2 — Workstations and X
4. Starting and Stopping X Sessions
• Configuring X to Launch Automatically
• Strategies for Starting the X Server
• Starting the X Server with Xinit
• Starting X with Startx
• Starting X on OpenWindows under Solaris 2.x
• Starting the X Environment with Xdm
• Starting X Under the COSE Common Desktop Environment
• Connecting to Other X Displays
• The DISPLAY Environment Variable
• Setting the Display Environment Variable Automatically
• Stopping X
• Summary
5. Setting User Environments
• Logging in to the X Environment
• Set All Command Paths
• Sun OpenWindows Paths
• Starting the X Server
• Basic X Start-Up Files
• Configuring and Loading X Resources
• Launching Applications
• Window Manager Start-Up Files
• Saving Application States with Session Managers
• Platform-Specific Differences
• Solaris OpenWindows User Accounts
• IBM User Accounts
• Hewlett-Packard User Accounts
• COSE User Accounts
• Summary
• Section 3 — Configuring X
6. Exploring Your X Environment
• Discovering X
• What Can You Tell at a Glance
• A UNIX Administrator's Toolbox
• Discovering Screen Capabilities with Xdpyinfo
• Tracking All the Windows with Xwininfo
• Listing Running Applications
• Listing X Properties with Xprop
• Checking and Changing X Server Settings
• Using xset to Control the Screen Saver
• Monitoring the System Load
• Killing Errant X Programs
• Summary
7. Fonts and the Font Server
• Fonts in X
• Explaining X Fonts
• Programs for Working with Fonts
• Choosing Font Directories
• Font Files
• Font Configuration Files
• Installing Fonts
• Choose the Font Directory
• Converting File Formats
• Making the Font Database in a Font Directory
• Adding to the Font Path
• Ask X Servers to Reread Font Information
• Verify Fonts with Xlsfonts
• Modifying the Font Path
• Helping Users Select Fonts
• Listing the Available Fonts
• Decoding the Long Font Names
• Viewing Fonts
• Setting Up the Font Server
• Setting Up the Font-Server Configuration File
• Starting the Font Server
• Verifying the Font Server is Running
• Adding the Font Server to the X Server's Font Path
• Verifying the Font Server Serves Fonts to the X Server
• Editing Fonts
• Summary
8. Resources and Resource Files
• X Resources
• Installing X Resources Files
• Naming the Application Defaults Files
• Places to Store X Resource Files
• User Host-Based Resources and Environment Valiables
• User X Server-Based Resources
• Application Resources
• The XUSERFILESEARCHPATH Envionment Variable
• Application Defaults
• X Application Command-Line Parameters
• Using the -xrm Command-Line Parameter
• Summary
9. The Keyboard, Keys, and Key Bindings
• The Problems with Keyboards
• Important Keys
• Modifying Key Mappings with Xmodmap
• Providing a Friendlier Front End to Xmodmap
• Using Xkeycaps to Change Keys
• Summary
10. Colors and Color Names
• Coloring Between the Lines
• Setting Colors on the Command Line
• Listing the Available Colors
• The Color Database Files
• Using RGB Numbers for Color Values Directly
• Setting the Screen Background
• Showing the Color Cells
• Summary
11. Bitmaps, Icons, and Screen Dumps
• Pop Icons
• Creating Your Own Icons and Bitmaps
• Changing the Screen Background to a Bitmap
• Changing Xterm Icons
• Capturing and Displaying Screen Images
• Using Xwd to Dump a Window's Contents
• Printing Screen Images with Xpr
• Undumping a Screen Image with Xwud
• Using Xgrabsc to Capture Screen Images
• Summary
12. Security and X
• An Overview of Security in X (There Isn't Any)
• Security Issues for System Administrators
• What You Can Do to Secure Your X System
• Simple Host-Based Security with Xhost
• Using the X Authority Package for Stronger Security
• Setting Up Your X Server to Use the .Xauthority File
• Turning on X Security  with Xdm
• Turning on X Security with Xinit
• Using the Xauth Program
• Locking the Screen While You're Away
• Securing Xterm for Sensitive Operations
• Summary
• Section IV — X Terminals
13. What is an X Terminal?
• What's So Special About X Terminals?
• X Terminal Add-Ons
• Local Window Managers and RAM
• Booting X Terminals
• X Terminals and Networking
• Logging in to X Terminals
• X Terminals and Fonts
• Serial-Line Support
• Summary
14. Configuring X Terminals
• Configuring X Terminals
• An Overview of the X Display Manger
• Configuring Xdm
• The Xdm-Config File
• Starting Xdm
• Killing Xdm
• Xdm in Action
• Choosing Which Host to Login
• Configuring Dtlogin on COSE Common Desktop Systems
• Configuring Xdm on Sun Systems
• Configuring Xdm on Hewlett-Packard's VUE
• Summary
• Section V — PC Connectivity
15. Turning DOS-Based PCs into X Terminals
• X and the Ubiquitous PC
• HCL-eXceed
• Configuring eXceed/W
• Xstart
• DESQview/X
• Windows Managers
• Advantages to DESQview/X
• Drawbacks to DESQview/X
• Other Microcomputer Operating Systems and X
• Summary
16. Running XFree86 on UNIX PCs
• Running X on UNIX PC with XFree86
• Installing XFree86
• Configuring XFree86 for Your Graphics Hardware
• Choosing the Proper X Server
• Starting XFree86
• Troubleshooting XFree86
• Building XFree86 from Source Code
• Obtaining XFree86
• Summary
• Section VI — Free Programs and What to DO with Them
17. Obtaining X and Other Free X Sources
• A Sampling of Free X Software
• Acquiring X
• Anonymous FTP
• The Xstuff Mail Archive
• CD-ROMs
• The Usenet News
• Getting Patches for X
• Summary
18. Using Make and Imake
• Working with Free Software
• Building C Programs
• X Programming Libraries
• Compiling and Linking X Programs
• Building Programs with Make
• Imake: Adding Bells and Whistles to Make
• Delving into Imake
• Xmkmf: A Wrapper Around Imake
• Creating Imakefiles
• Using the New Makefile
• Installing X Resource Files
• Where to Install X Programs
• Patching X Sources
• Summary
19. System Administration Utilities
• Whistle While You Work
• Monitoring the System Load
• Using Xnetload to Monitor Multiple Machines on a Network
• XSysStats
• Reading the Meter with Xmeter
• Other Monitoring Programs
• What to Do if None of These Tools Compile and Run
• Watching Disk Space Usage
• Displaying Data on the Amount of Disk Space Used
• Rocketing into Disk Space with Spacetool
• File and Disk-Browsing Utilities
• Bitmap Font Tools
• Extracting SNF Fonts
• Converting Fonts to PostScript
• Extracting Raw Bitmaps into Fonts
• Editing Fonts
• Obtaining These Tools
• Summary
20. Creating Graphical Front Ends for Text-Based Applications
• Front Ends
• Tickling Applications
• Working with Tcl
• Tk: Adding Widgets to Tcl
• Tk Examples
• Sending Messages Between Applications
• Using Tcl and Tk
• For More Information on Tcl
• Using Xgen to Generate Program Front Ends
• Learning Xgen
• Developing Xgen Applications
• For More Information on Xgen
• Using the COSE Windowing Korn Shell
• The Widget Creation Library
• Learning Wcl by Example
• Running Mri
• Where to Get These Program
• Summary
21. Screen Locking in X
• Locking the Screen
• How Screen Lockers Work
• Obtaining Screen-Locking Programs
• Summary
22. Debugging Applications with Xmon and Xscope
• Dealing with Errors
• X Errors
• Decoding the Error Message
• Watching the Errors
• Filtering Packets with Xmon
• Obtaining Xscope and Xmon
• Summary
23. Various Free X Sources
• A Lot of Odd and Sods
• Reading Documentation Online
• Telling Time
• Turning Your Workstation into a Home Entertainment Center
• Installing Workman
• Obtaining Workman
• Summary
24. Connecting to the Internet with X
• Get Your Kicks on Route 66
• Finding What You Need with Archie
• Installing xarchie
• Setting Up Archie
• Burrowing in the Gopher Hole
• Finding It All with Mosaic
• X FTP Tools
• Running Xgetftp
• Other FTP Tolls
• Summary
• Appendix A — For More Information
• Books
• UNIX Commands and Networking
• Books on X Usage
• X and Motif Programming Books
• Vendors
• PC X Servers
• X Terminals
• CD-ROMs
• Appendix B — Decoding X Errors

Very old, but still a valid reference book. Yes, it has its faults, but it still serves its purpose.