What is Xtools?

Aqua X Window Server for Mac OS X Beta, the final product is slated to ship when Mac OS X ships in early 2001.

Xtools is a full implementation of the X Windows system running on Mac OS X. Based on X11R6.4, Xtools inherits the clean, fast, stable, and portable codebase from XFree86. Integration with the Aqua environment is enabled by building the X server on top of Cocoa and QuickDraw, providing a rootless X windows display while still retaining the ability to use native applications.

Xtools is an easy-to-use, flexible Mac OS X application that integrates the best elements of Apple's Aqua desktop with state-of-the-art X Window tools to provide a powerful extension to Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X. Tenon's Xtools for OS X (pronounced 'ten') not only allows remote X (pronounced 'X") applications to be displayed on the Mac OS X desktop, but also includes a complete set of X tools and libraries to support local execution of X applications and games on OS X. Extending Mac OS X with Tenon's X Window porting environment enables high-resolution 3D-modeling & animation, graphical visualization and image rendering applications to be built directly on Mac OS X.

The X Window System is an open source, industry standard for displaying remote graphical applications. X is highly portable, being both hardware and operating system independent, so users on one computer can work directly with applications on another computer. The X Window System allows enterprise-wide personal computer desktops to connect to mission critical applications and information-based systems on UNIX, Linux, and NT servers. Xtools on Apple's new Mac OS X Aqua desktop extends the reach and strength of Mac OS X, and enables Macs with Apple's new operating system to become the desktop of choice for all enterprise applications, be they local or remote.

Features:

Rootless X Windows on Aqua desktop
Full Integration with Aqua supports simultaneous execution of X- and Aqua-based applications. Support for both copy and paste functions is provided between X and native Mac applications.

Full screen mode
If desired, X window applications can be displayed on a "virtual dedicated screen," isolating them from native Mac OS X windows. Full screen mode is selectable in the Xtools preferences.

Applications menu
X applications can be executed directly from the Xtools Application menu, with no need to access an X-terminal window.

Multi-display support
X applications can be displayed on all available screens. (At present, rootless mode does not work on multiple screens.)

Remote client execution
Support for executing X clients remotely. (Note that the current pre-release does not support initialization of such connections by the server. However, a more convenient way to start remote clients is planned for the final release.)

Multi-button mouse support
Left and right mouse buttons are supported on a multi-button mouse. Dragging with the middle mouse button does not always update the screen.

OpenGL support
Display of remote OpenGL applications. (Note that final release will also support OpenGL development and add hardware acceleration.)

XIE support
XIE has been shown to be functional (test by running 'xieperf -all').

XDM capable<(b>
Xshm support
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Notes:

The ability to close a X window by clicking the close button has been disabled. For the time being, use kill or xkill to terminate applications.

Do not change the screen resolution or color depth while Xtools is running. It's ok to shut Xtools down, change the resolution or depth, and then restart Xtools.

As this is a beta, there are occasional crashes. Also, a few of the ported applications have been known to hang Xtools. Especially, the Xtools server has been known to hang when X11 menus are "flipped." If this happens, you will have to force quit Xtools.

Download Xtools for Mac

Architecture

IBM PowerPC

System Requirements

From Mac OS 10.0 up to Mac OS 10.1

Compatibility notes

Mac OS X Beta - Mac OS X

Emulating this? It could probably run under: QEMU