X Windows Setup

To run some ECE software at home, students will have to install a X Windows server package. Follow these easy steps to get it to work.

Download software you need

If you haven't already, download SSH Secure Shell from e-sales. Get to know this program since you will most likely be using this throughout your college career, if not in industry. After downloading, install where you prefer. Now you have a choice in X Windows Server software to use. There is a package called XMing that worked for me, but there were some problems with some adobe fonts. I also noticed some other differences when compared to another package, Cygwin. Cygwin has a slightly more complicated installation, but I feel that it is better. It is your choice, but this guide will follow Cygwin. You can find Cygwin here.

After downloading ,run the Cygwin setup.exe. Continue through the menus until you come to packages page. Browse down to the 'X11' entry and expand the sub entries. Select the 'xorg-x11-base' entry. Several other entries will also be selected. That is ok. Continue through the installation. The packages will be downloaded an installed.

Run the X Windows Server

Search your Cygwin installation directory the startxwin.bat file. You will use this file to start the X Windows server. When you find it, run it. You should see an 'X' in the lower right task bar. This means that the server is running.

Configure Secure Shell

First thing we need to do is add the ECE Bert server to our profiles list. Click the 'Profile' button and select 'Add Profile'. After adding in the the useful Bert info click on the 'Tunneling' tab. Select 'Tunnel X11 Connections'. Connect to the Bert server.

Run your X Windows Application

Now you can run your X Windows application from home. Many guides suggest testing it out using the 'xclock &' command. This will not work on Bert. You can run that on the Icarus server though if you wish to give it a test first.

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