You will want to add the X window executables to your path. Your path
is the list of directories to be searched when you type a command. You
will also want to add the man pages from XFree86 to the list of pages
to be searched when you are looking for documentation. The way to do
this depends on the shell you are using. With tcsh or csh add the
following two lines to a file named
~/Library/init/tcsh/path: (You may need to create this file and
directory path if it does not exist already.)
setenv PATH "${PATH}:/usr/X11R6/bin"
setenv MANPATH "${MANPATH}:/usr/X11R6/man"
You are now ready to go. On Mac OS X, you can run XFree86 from the text console or in full screen mode with Aqua. To get to the text console in Mac OS X you need to logout and type ``>console'' as the user name. This will shutdown Core Graphics and bring up the console login prompt. Login again as your user.
From the text console you can start the X Window System by typing ``startx''. After a brief wait at least one terminal window should pop up for you. So far it probably isn't very impressive as you might not even have a window manager running to allow you to move windows around.
When you are ready to quit XFree86 type ``exit'' in the main terminal window or quit with the window manager if you have one running. Unfortunately the X server won't shutdown correctly and you will get an apparently frozen screen with only a spinning beachball cursor on it. Nothing you type shows up on the screen, but in fact your keystrokes are being received by the console. Type ``logout'' to return to normalcy after a brief delay. With Darwin this should put you back at the text console login prompt. With Mac OS X, Core Graphics will restart and you should be given a login window.
To start XFree86 in Quartz mode you can launch the XDarwin application
in the /Applications folder, or from the command line type
``startx -- -quartz''. When the X window system is active, it takes over
the entire screen. You can switch back to the Mac OS X desktop by
holding down Command-Option-A. This key combination can be changed in
the user preferences. From the Mac OS X desktop, just click on the
XDarwin icon in the floating switch window to switch back to the X window
system. You can change this behavior in the user preferences so that
clicking on the XDarwin icon in the Dock switches as well.
Customize X Windows
The X window system is very customizable and you will certainly want to
change some things. There is a lot you can do to control how your windows
look, how the windows are moved, resized, etc. You will likely want to
get a better window manager than twm, which is included with
XFree86. The .xinitrc file in your home directory controls what
programs are run when you start the X window system. You can find a sample
.xinitrc file in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.
There are several window managers that have been ported to Darwin. The best collection of window managers and other X window clients is at Darwinfo's ports page. Another good place to look for Darwin ports in general is at Stepwise's Softrak site.
Good luck!