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The article trips into the age-old trap of X11's client/server terminology being the opposite of expectations. In X, the server is the graphical terminal (i.e.

by pavlov 5y ago

The article trips into the age-old trap of X11's client/server terminology being the opposite of expectations. In X, the server is the graphical terminal (i.e. your computer) and the client is the remote computer executing the program. The idea is that display and UI devices are the static resources being served to any number of programs.

dmead 5y ago
I came here to say this. either the author was confused by the features or they chose to reverse it to make it easier to understand.
Aeolun 5y ago
Not saying you are wrong, but I’ve never referred to it like that. If my linux desktop is running an application that I’m seeing through an X client on my laptop, then my laptop is the client, and the desktop is the server.
- asveikau 5y ago
  The application is the client. It calls connect() to reach the display server. Even Windows and Mac have a concept of a display server which is pretty closely the same. Yet people don't seem to criticize that?
- simonh 5y ago
  At the level of the hardware that’s fine, but in X Windows software architecture terminology the X Server is the user application presenting the UI. It’s not technically accurate to say that this or that computer is the server or client, the X architecture isn’t about hardware, it’s about software components. You often run both the X server and several X client applications on the same box for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Software_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Software_archi...
- linsomniac 5y ago
  Nope. In X, your monitor is the server. In your example, the laptop is the X server, and the desktop is the X client. HOWEVER, and probably what trips people up, is that the desktop is your COMPUTE server. But the laptop is the PIXEL SERVER. I mean, sure, you can call your laptop the client all day long, but in X windows terminology the laptop is the X server. So you'd be wrong. :-)
randomswede 5y ago
Technically, the client is the program executing on the remote computer, not the remote computer itself. I mostly find it confusing that people find X11 client / server technology confusing The client is the one asking for updates on the screen, the server is the one updating the screen. OK, in X11 the server is the think closest to the user, maybe that's what's so confusing?

by pavlov 5y ago

dmead 5y ago

I came here to say this. either the author was confused by the features or they chose to reverse it to make it easier to understand.

Aeolun 5y ago

Not saying you are wrong, but I’ve never referred to it like that. If my linux desktop is running an application that I’m seeing through an X client on my laptop, then my laptop is the client, and the desktop is the server.

asveikau 5y ago
The application is the client. It calls connect() to reach the display server. Even Windows and Mac have a concept of a display server which is pretty closely the same. Yet people don't seem to criticize that?
simonh 5y ago
At the level of the hardware that’s fine, but in X Windows software architecture terminology the X Server is the user application presenting the UI. It’s not technically accurate to say that this or that computer is the server or client, the X architecture isn’t about hardware, it’s about software components. You often run both the X server and several X client applications on the same box for example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Software_architecture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System#Software_archi...
linsomniac 5y ago
Nope. In X, your monitor is the server. In your example, the laptop is the X server, and the desktop is the X client. HOWEVER, and probably what trips people up, is that the desktop is your COMPUTE server. But the laptop is the PIXEL SERVER. I mean, sure, you can call your laptop the client all day long, but in X windows terminology the laptop is the X server. So you'd be wrong. :-)

randomswede 5y ago

Technically, the client is the program executing on the remote computer, not the remote computer itself. I mostly find it confusing that people find X11 client / server technology confusing The client is the one asking for updates on the screen, the server is the one updating the screen. OK, in X11 the server is the think closest to the user, maybe that's what's so confusing?