Just Curious..

[gmleeii]

Can I exit the Aqua GUI with the shutdown now command and then launch a different window manager like X11 from the command line and run that without Aqua running or does the X11 package depend on Aqua. If that is a no, can I then install a window manager that will run on the mac without actually having to run Aqua. Like the title says, I'm just curious. Thanks...

[sao]

gmleeii wrote:
...without Aqua running or does the X11 package depend on Aqua.
In X11, the top window, called the root window, is the size of the screen and contains all other windows and also the desktop background. As a standalone graphical environment it has full control over the screen.

In MacOS X it is Quartz (the graphics engine) who has full control of the screen.

In Fullscreen (rooted mode) the two environments take turns and each of them take full control of the screen. We see only one at a time, but it's very easy to switch between them.

In Rootless mode the two environments mix. Letting Quartz take care of the desktop background, eliminating the X11 top window or root window. That's why this mode is called 'rootless'. This way eliminates the need to switch between two screens.

Apple X11 supports only 'rootless' mode at the moment.