From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Thu Jun 25 03:18:30 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CE49B98BDEE for ; Thu, 25 Jun 2015 03:18:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "wonkity.com", Issuer "wonkity.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 693B82838 for ; Thu, 25 Jun 2015 03:18:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9) with ESMTP id t5P3IRT7003885 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO); Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:18:27 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9/Submit) with ESMTP id t5P3IQMe003880; Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:18:27 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:18:26 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: kpneal@pobox.com cc: Quartz , FreeBSD questions Subject: Re: Any utils worth installing a GUI on a server for? In-Reply-To: <20150625014331.GB51828@neutralgood.org> Message-ID: References: <558B3F60.7060809@sneakertech.com> <20150625014331.GB51828@neutralgood.org> User-Agent: Alpine 2.20 (BSF 67 2015-01-07) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:18:27 -0600 (MDT) X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2015 03:18:30 -0000 On Wed, 24 Jun 2015, kpneal@pobox.com wrote: > On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 07:38:08PM -0400, Quartz wrote: >> Traditionally I have always run fileservers headless, with any >> administration being done through ssh. However, I'm currently working >> with a system that's somewhat overpowered for its job and I'm >> considering throwing a window manager on there just to have access to >> more stuff. Are there any utilities out there that require or really >> benefit from a window manager that are worth installing one for? The >> system's main function is a sort of NAS that can have usb drives plugged >> directly into it, so I'm only really interested in stuff that would >> relate to that: for example disk partitioning/repair programs or fancy >> shells for messing with samba/nfs/zfs, etc. > > Would you benefit from having multiple xterms open? You know, a couple > of command lines for your use, a couple for showing the status of the > machine, etc. All on screen at the same time. tmux can do that without X. :) No, I don't use it that way, but it can split the screen into multiple consoles. > If you run just an X server plus twm plus xterms then I guarantee that > no user will ever notice. True, but there are some pretty big security implications with X. If the utilities and X can be kept on a client machine, it makes things easier.