X Window System
From Computer History Wiki
The X Window System (sometimes called X11 or just X) is the now-dominant window system used by applications which wish to perform output to a window (either in the form of text, graphics, or images). Unlike earlier window systems, which were part of an operating system, or interacted though subroutine calls, X is based on a protocol which runs over a reliable byte stream. An X session can be run over any data network which provides such streams. (Currently TCP/IP internets are used, but in the past the CHAOS protocol was also used.) The streams connect the application to an X server which has direct access to the display being used.
External links
- The X Window System, Robert W. Scheifler, Jim Gettys (ACM Transactions on Graphics 5 (2), April 1986)
- The X Window System, Robert W. Scheifler, Jim Gettys (TR-368,MIT-LCS)
- X version history, prehistory
