7. Running X

8mb of memory is a recommended minimum for running X. The server, window manager and an xterm take about 4 Mb of memory themselves. On a 4Mb system that would leave nothing left over for other applications like gcc that expect a few meg free. X will work with 4Mb of memory, but in practice compilation while running X can take 5 or 10 times as long due to constant paging.

7.1. Starting xdm, the display manager

To start the display manager, log in as root on the console and type: ``xdm -nodaemon''.

You can start xdm automatically on bootup un-commenting the following code in /etc/rc.local:

  if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm ]; then
    echo -n ' xdm'; /usr/X11R6/bin/xdm
  fi

On the default OpenBSD 2.2 installation, you will need to create the virtual console device for the X server:

cd /dev
 ./MAKEDEV ttyC5

Note that the binary distributions of XFree86 for OpenBSD don't include support for the XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1 protocol.

7.2. Running X without the display manager

The easiest way for new users to start X windows is to type: ``startx >& startx.log''. Error messages are lost unless you redirect them because the server takes over the screen.

To get out of X windows, type: ``exit'' in the console xterm. You can customize your X by creating .xinitrc, .xserverrc, and .twmrc files in your home directory as described in the xinit and startx man pages.