Will X11 and Terminal converge?
I wonder if these two terminal variants will eventually roll into one program, I certainly hope so. Is there a reason why this isn't done already? I use X11 mostly in order to use X applications, but I wish X11 contains some of the features Terminal has, like scroll bar and windows settings. It would be great if X11 is simply an option that can be turned on and off in Terminal.
Comments
Originally posted by giba
I wonder if these two terminal variants will eventually roll into one program, I certainly hope so. Is there a reason why this isn't done already?
Because Apple's terminal program is a native Quartz WM program that takes advantage of the full rendering engine, and doesn't require X11 to be running, where as xterm (the default temrinal in Apples X setup) is a third party terminal program as old as the hills.
I use X11 mostly in order to use X applications, but I wish X11 contains some of the features Terminal has, like scroll bar and windows settings.
I agree that it would be nice for X programs launched in the terminal to start X automatically, but this would also be nice for other X programs started from the finder as well.
Have you tried using gnome-terminal or kde's terminal (I forget the name)?
They have loads of great features (tabs for instance), and are both better than basic X-term.
I tend to connect to my Linux box using xterm on my Mac, (ssh -X) then run gnome-terminal from the x-term, and then minimise xterm.
I can then use lots of gnome terminals, with tabs, and stuff. Of course to go the whole hot just type 'gnome-session' after logging on and get your whole Linux desktop taking over your Mac!
Check out iTerm for a native terminal with tabs.
Originally posted by giba
I wonder if these two terminal variants will eventually roll into one program, I certainly hope so. Is there a reason why this isn't done already? I use X11 mostly in order to use X applications, but I wish X11 contains some of the features Terminal has, like scroll bar and windows settings. It would be great if X11 is simply an option that can be turned on and off in Terminal.
as others have pointed out, X11 is not a terminal. it just so happens that by default, X11 opens a program 'xterm' which performs the same functions as Terminal, but xterm!=X11. X11 is a whole windowing environment. it allows all kinds of programs (mostly Unix, Linux and BSD-made programs) to run on your mac (if they are properly compiled that is). For example, there is an office suite called "OpenOffice.org". It (right now) can only run in X11. So if you download that program, in order to use it, you have to have the X11 windowing environment open (X11.app).
Originally posted by chych
I don't know how but I have heard of some ability to use Terminal instead of xterm (you can use the terminal and it calls X11 stuff somehow). Don't know how true that is.
Sure, that's what I do. Just set your DISPLAY right. I never use xterm or gnome-terminal or whatever.
It should work like any other application. You should be able to place X11 applications in the Applications folder (like Gimp and OpenOffice), and be able to launch it with just a double click. No fuss!
Note: Im not sure if this is the way X11 is implemented in Panther though. If it is, all congrats to Apple!
.:BoeManE:.
Originally posted by wmf
Sure, that's what I do. Just set your DISPLAY right. I never use xterm or gnome-terminal or whatever.
How do I set my DISPLAY then? Is there any drawback of doing this?