Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:01:04 +0100 From: "Julian H. Stacey" <jhs@berklix.com> To: freebsd-x11@freebsd.org, logan@xentac.com Subject: Re: Using XOrg on a FreeBSD Server Message-ID: <201011162001.oAGK14F7065027@fire.js.berklix.net> In-Reply-To: Your message "Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:29:47 %2B0100." <201011161829.oAGITlQd081437@lurza.secnetix.de>
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> From: Oliver Fromme <olli@lurza.secnetix.de> Oliver Fromme wrote: > Logan Moore <logan@xentac.com> wrote: > > I've set up FreeBSD on one of my servers, and I have a nice 24" 1920x1200 > > monitor plugged into it. It seems a shame to be wasting such a decent > > monitor on a simple black and white terminal, so I've been contemplating > > installing XOrg on the server to get a bit of extra functionality from the > > terminals. I'm not thinking KDE or Gnome... just a simple window manager > > like one of the *box's or even just straight up xdm running terminals and > > maybe some basic GUI tools like a text editor/file manager. > > I would connect the monitor to a machine where it is more > useful, i.e. a PC or workstation, and let the server run > headless. Yes. Same on remote servers & home gateways. No X. SUID 0 programs accumulate with X, & more libs indexed by ldconfig to trust. Some older servers have little memory. X servers hog memory: Some have memory leaks I've heard, mine just starts bloated, `top` shows SIZE=167 Meg, RES=73548K, but doesn`t leak worse after that. (1600x1200 & xdm & fvwm with 24 panels, eg 4 x FvwmPagerLabel each with DeskTopSize 3x2 # wide x high ) Even if some X will get swapped out if inactive, I suppose vibrating a mouse could swap out tons of processes & zap server response. I've had workstations where the graphics card locked the machine up, & needed a cold reboot to clear it (& or a replacement) The less to go wrong in a server the better, especially if there's no one there 24/7 to reset. ( eg best also have no SLIP, PLIP, USB to external devices, no CDROM drives that accelerate hard & pull power rails etc). + if you ever get frustrated (eg with some xauth, dns, ipfw, configs that don't play), & want to do a quick dirty debug with "xhost +" better not expose your display on a public server. Cheers, Julian -- Julian Stacey: BSD Unix Linux C Sys Eng Consultants Munich http://berklix.com Mail plain text; Not HTML, quoted-printable & base 64 spam formats. Avoid top posting, it cripples itemised cumulative responses.
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