Re: xfree - gdm - gtk+ - gnome

[Aschwin van der Woude <aschwin van der woude creanor com>]

On Tue, 2003-01-07 at 22:32, tom wrote:
> I dont know what is when called
> 
> if I execute 'startx', the xserver is started
> but whats happening if I start gdm ?
> gdm is a 'display manager', why we do need a display manager?
> if I have two screens, where do I have to configure it, in xfree or in gdm?
> and whats about the 'window manager'?
> the same with the 'session' (gnome-smproxy)?

X-windows manages your hardware (display-adapter, mouse, keyboard) and
allows software to display there gui's, by using a standard
client-server protocol. X-windows is the server and the software needing
to display there GUI's are the clients.

GDM is a convenient way to start sessions (KDE, GNOME, etc.), and can
also serve as a display-manager for X-windows servers on a network.
This way you can have a single application-server serving the same
applications to multiple X-windows servers.

A window-manager allows you to manage the windows containing the
client-GUI's, including moving, resizing, closing a window.

This explanation should also hint at the answer to your question where to configure 
the use of two monitors. X-server manages your hardware, and can be told you have two
display-adapter each with a screen. When this is setup correctly and the software
you are using has proper support for multiple heads, you can conveniently use all
of the heads.

GNOME 2.2 (due by the end of this month) will have support for multi-head setups.

I suggest reading the XFree86 manual to see how to setup a multi-head system.

Have fun,

-Aschwin