[techtalk] remote xwin?

[Laurel Fan]

Excerpts from linuxchix: 21-Apr-100 [techtalk] remote xwin? by Brian
Sweeney at mail.veinc 
> I have several RHL 6.0 machines on my network.  I would like one to act as
> the XServer, and have the others connect to it via an x interface to run
> apps, print, etc.  However, I don't want the "clients" to have to install
> the entire XWindows package.  I guess what I'm looking for is a "thin
> client to server" connection, but I'm not really sure if that fits the
> description...?

X has a slightly confusing way of talking about the client and server.
If you're using X programs on a remote machine, the computer you're
sitting at runs the server, and the remote runs clients.

The reason for this is that the X server (the program that talks to the
display hardware, draws windows, etc) runs on your machine. When you start
a program on the remote (such as gimp, for example), this program
connects to the X server, making it an X client.

> I've got a client like this running on an NT (Please don't stone me!)
> machine, using a program called SuperX (www.frontiertech.com).  I'm
> guessing, therefore, that it would be fairly straightforward on a fellow
> Linux box.

SuperX looks like an X server.

So, basically, all you want is an xserver.  (You might also want a few
xclients, such as xterm on your (thin client/x server), so you can
telnet/ssh to the (application server/x client) and start xclients)

>From the description of the xfree86-common package in debian:

   xfree86-common contains the filesystem infrastructure required for  
   further installation of the X Window System in any configuration.  
   
   Those wishing an X server only (with remote font services and clients)
   will also require the xserver-common package and an X server package. 
                                                                        
   The counterpart to the above configuration is a machine with the X   
   libraries (the xlib6g package), xbase-clients, a window manager, some
   X font packages, and likely many more client packages.               

I'd assume redhat has similar packages.