comp.windows.x.apps FAQ

Herein lie frequently asked questions (and the answers) that are posted to comp.windows.x.apps, a group dedicated to the discussion of applications that run under the X Window System.

If you've never been on the receiving end of a merciless flame, and wish to experience this, then post a question about Windoze95 to this newsgroup. This is considered fair warning; so don't come crying to me.

Last modified: Tue Jul 30 20:04:54 2002

• 
  

• UPDATED ENTRIES:
  
  • XV: Gnuplot URL updated (Jul 30, 2002\
  • Tcl/Tk Page: Updates to various URLs (Sep 17, 2001)

  • XVIII: Updated download site for xrecord (Apr 26, 2001)

• MISC:
  

This entire FAQ is available, as one single document (updated once a month; meant for hardcopy, caching, etc.), at: www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/xapps/thefaq.html

Because of the transient nature of the Web, some of the links may, at times, point to an endless void. On such an occasion, the reader is urged to avail themselves of one of the numerous search engines and find alternate sites for the particular package; the Google engine merits a mention (if you are searching for an application by name, then this site will find it the fastest, as the Altavista index grows, it becomes too cluttered with useless stuff).

FTP URLs that locate files, have been split up into 2 components: the host-path and the file-name. Click on the file-name component of the URL to download the file; click on the host-path component, to browse the directory where the file resides.

Visit the FAQ Consortium (www.faqs.org)for centralized access to other USENET FAQs.

INDEX

I. Where do I get X programs?

1. The X Consortium's contrib ftp site
2. X11R6 distribution (standard X & contrib manifest)
3. comp.sources.x archives
4. HP/UX Archive Centres (great for keyword-based searches)
5. Sunsite
6. Various catalogs

II.Does anyone know of any good editors other than xedit?

1. GNU Emacs
2. XEmacs (previously known as Lucid Emacs)
3. aXe
4. xcoral
5. asedit
6. Misc. Tcl/Tk editors
7. sam
8. wily
9. vile/xvile
10. NEdit
11. ce (time-limited binaries; unconditional Linux binary)
12. xwpe (IDE, see IV, below)
13. xed
14. vim

III. Does anyone have any suggestions for X-based news-readers?

1. Gnus (with Emacs)
2. xrn
3. mxrn (Motif)
4. xvnews (OpenLook)
5. Netscape/Mozilla (Web-browser)
6. nn-tk (tcl/tk)
7. Misc Tcl/Tk news readers
8. Knews

IV. Any good debuggers (or front-ends) out there?

1. xxgdb, xdbx (gdb/dbx front-ends)
2. ups
3. tgdb (shareware, with source; tcl/tk)
4. DDD (Motif front-end to gdb/dbx)
5. xwpe

V. Can anyone suggest any good calendar programs?

1. xcal
2. xkal
3. ical (tcl/tk)
4. calentool (OpenLook)
5. k-lenders
6. plan (Motif)
7. xdiary (Motif)

VI. Are there any (CAD-type) drawing programs for X?

1. xfig
2. tgif
3. Misc. Tcl/Tk drawing editors

VII. Any virtual window managers out there?

1. fvwm (mwm-like (workspaces & virtual desktop))
2. piewm (twm based)
3. tvtwm (twm based)
4. vtwm (twm based)
5. olvwm (OpenLook)
6. ctwm (twm based (workspaces))
7. gwm (rooms)
8. scwm (fvwm2 based (multiple virtual desktops))

IIX. Project Management Software

1. comp.software-eng FAQ

IX. Where can I find icon libraries?

1. xpm-3 distribution
2. Anthony's X Icon Library
3. Really Humungous Library of Icons
4. Tony's Icon Collection
5. Erin's Icon Collection
6. Building Blocks and Icons
7. Graphic Element Samples
8. Yahoo's Archive

X. Are there any editors/paint-programs for xpm/GIF/TIFF/etc. image-formats?

1. xpaint
2. pixmap
3. gimp

XI. Are there any apps that can display files in parallel, highlighting (in color) the differences between them?

1. ediff (emacs/xemacs)
2. mgdiff (Motif)
3. tkdiff (tcl/tk)
4. xdiff (Motif)
5. tkxcd (tcl/tk)
6. yaxp (Motif)

XII. How do I make a screen-dump of my window and/or print it out?

1. xv (3.x is shareware, with source; also an excellent general- purpose image-browser)
2. xwpick
3. ImageMagick (also an excellent general-purpose image-browser)

XIII. Are there any mail-readers for X?

1. xmail
2. xmh
3. exmh (tcl/tk)
4. ml (Motif)
5. Rmail; MH-e; VM; Gnus (Emacs/XEmacs)
6. xfmail (Xforms)

XIV. How do I view AVI, MPEG, etc. movies/animations?

1. XAnim

XV. Is there any graphing/plotting or data-analysis software available?

1. gnuplot
2. Grace (Motif)
3. Herng-Jeng Jou's compendium of URLs
4. S. Baum's compendium of URLs

XVI. Is there any software that simultaneously duplicates an X display on multiple workstations?

1. xmx
2. Question 105 in the comp.windows.x FAQ

XVII. Are there any word-processors available for X?

1. StarOffice
2. Thot
3. SciText (Motif)
4. LyX (XForms)
5. Cicero (Tcl/Tk)
6. Question 88 in the comp.windows.x FAQ (includes commercial versions)
7. AbiWord

XVIII. Is there any software that can record and playback X events?

1. xrecord
2. xscript
3. xmon

APPENDIX

• Tcl/Tk
• GNU Archives Around The World
• Miscellaneous things X
• Acknowledgments (looking through the web logs, hardly anyone ever reads this page; sad but true.)

COPYRIGHT

This FAQ is Copyright 1994-2000 by Luis Fernandes. Only NON-COMMERCIAL distribution and reproduction is permitted and on the condition that this copyright message appear unchanged and in its entirety.

This FAQ is updated when I have the time. The text version of this FAQ is posted to comp.windows.x.apps and uploaded to the archive on or about the 15th of every month; the html document will always be the most up-to-date version. Additions, corrections, criticisms, marriage proposals and other suggestions are welcome and encouraged (especially marriage proposals; it's not like I'm desperate or anything, but I've been doing this for a few years now, and I've yet to receive a single proposal. Are there no women out there that find FAQ maintainers sexy?); please email them to the maintainer of this FAQ. If you are mailing a note about a new package, remember to include either the package's README or the URL to the package's home-page.