X11

X11

X11 is a windowing system and graphical user interface commonly used on UNIX-like operating systems. It allows applications to display windows and graphics on the screen.
Os & Utilities System Utilities
X11 image
windowing-system graphical-user-interface unix
X11 alternatives ➤

X11: Windowing System & Graphical UI for UNIX-like OS

X11 is a windowing system and graphical user interface commonly used on UNIX-like operating systems. It allows applications to display windows and graphics on the screen.

What is X11?

X11, also known as X Window System, is a popular graphical user interface and network-transparent windowing system used on many Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It provides the standard toolkit and protocols to build GUI applications that can display windows on the screen and interact with a mouse, keyboard, and other input devices.

Some key features of X11 include:

  • Hardware independence - X11 abstracts away low level details of graphics hardware allowing for software to be portable across different platforms
  • Network transparency - An X11 app can display on one machine while actually running on another on the network
  • Client-server model - The X server manages, displays and handles input while X client apps connect to it
  • Extensibility - X11 can be extended via extensions like rendering OpenGL content in app windows
  • Common on Linux/Unix - X11 has been the standard GUI for Unix operating systems for decades and continues to be in wide usage, particularly with Linux desktops.

While newer display servers like Wayland have emerged recently, X11 continues to be supported across all Linux distributions and remains essential knowledge for Unix/Linux application development.

X11 Features

Features

  1. Client-server architecture
  2. Network transparency
  3. Extensibility
  4. Configurability
  5. Modularity

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Widely supported across platforms

Allows remote access

Highly customizable and extensible

Cons

Complex architecture

Steep learning curve

Less user-friendly than modern alternatives

Official Links

Official Website
https://www.x.org/

The Best X11 Alternatives

Top Os & Utilities and System Utilities and other similar apps like X11

Here are some alternatives to X11:

Compiz icon
Compiz
Wayland icon
Wayland
XQuartz icon
XQuartz
Suggest an alternative ❐

Compiz icon

Compiz

Compiz is an open source compositing window manager for the X Window System. It was developed by Novell for Linux Desktops based on GNOME and KDE. Compiz uses 3D graphics hardware to provide enhanced desktop visual effects including transparency and animations that improve usability and provide an appealing user experience.As...
Wayland icon

Wayland

Wayland is a display server protocol that is intended to eventually replace the X Window System (X11) on Linux systems. Unlike X11, Wayland does not include a built-in network transparency model and direct rendering managers. Instead, Wayland works directly with the Linux kernel mode-setting and buffer management systems to provide...
Wayland image
XQuartz icon

XQuartz

XQuartz is an open-source implementation of the X Window System that enables running X11 applications on macOS. It works by providing an X11 server environment along with the core X11 client libraries needed to run and display X11 applications on macOS.Without XQuartz, it would not be possible to natively run...
XQuartz image