XWinLogon has a default configuration when it is started, which is my default configuration and likely to be a lot of people’s default configuration. It is set up to use SSH as the connecting mechanism and then run the X session over the tunnel. All one must do is to type in the IP or domain name of their server and their username, then click connect. The X server will be launched, then ssh will come up inside of xterm. It will first ask you to verify the fingerprint of the remote server, then for your password. After connecting to the remote server, the command that you specified (default is startkde) will be executed. The Display Num is the local display number to use. The Font Server only has an effect if you change it to specify a font server. It doesn’t do anything if left as-is. The Save Session button just saves these options to a batch file that you can click on without having to launch XWinLogon.
Connection Types
These are pretty self explanatory. Most people would want to use SSH because of the security that it offers. I have never used rsh but I included it because some do. XDMCP should work in broadcast mode if you do not specify a server. Rexec was not enabled because I did not have rexec.exe in my Cygwin installation and I couldn’t find it in the setup package. When I get it, I’ll build another release.
Connection Mode
Standard Mode pretty much sends bitmaps across the network for every change in the screen. OpenGL mode enables 3D support, which probably won’t run very fast over the network, but I’m sure that there are some 3D applications you would want it for and it should definitely run better than Standard Mode.
Connection Options
Clipboard integration allows you to copy and paste between your X session and Windows. I use this all the time. I don’t see why it isn’t on by default in the Cygwin distro, unless it causes problems that I don’t see. Tray Icon determines whether or not a small icon will appear in your system tray, next to your clock, that represents your X session. I recommend leaving this one on. Compression is for an ssh connection, where it will compress the data before sending it over the network. This is great if you want to run an X session over the Internet, but if it is on a local network (100Mbps), I would leave it off because of the time required to compress/decompress. Backing Store determines whether the X session will repaint the screen across the network all the time or if it will “remember” what the scren looked like until a change is made to the screen.
Window Modes
Single window mode is the most common mode. It makes all windows from your remote session appear inside of a single window on your desktop, usually the resolution of your screen. Multiple window mode makes each window show up on your desktop as an individual window, managed by Windows itself instead of inside the X session container window. External window mode is really cool, but a pain in the butt unless you set your Command as a shell script that will launch a remote window manager, then an application. External window mode means that windows are separate on the Windows desktop, but they are not managed by Windows, they are managed by a window manager from your X session that you run. If you aren’t careful, it can get pretty messy. Create a shell script that will run ‘kwin &’ then a shell like konsole or something similar, then set your command as this shell script.
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