40 Years of the X Window System

If you've used a graphical desktop on Linux or UNIX of some kind in the last forty years, then you've used X. This video is sponsored by PCBWay. If you want to get PCBs from just $5 then check out pcbway.com today! Most likely, you've used X11 with a window manager like GNOME or KDE, but all of that work has been the job of X, probably the 11th version of it, X11. The future of X looks unclear though, as it's new (well, 16 year old brother), Wayland is chomping at its heels. In this video, we discover what brought X into this world, why Wayland seeks to replace it, and whether you should replace X11 yourself. Take yourself down memory lane and take yourself to the future in this video!

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#retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #infosec

Credits / Resources:. Wikipedia: X11 Windowing System https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

Raymond, Eric S: The Art of Unix Usability http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taouu/html/ch03s01.html

Rosenthal, David. X Window system at 40 (Blog): https://blog.dshr.org/2024/07/x-window-system-at-40.html

Horozian, David: Why Wayland (Blog) https://blog.gistre.epita.fr/posts/david.horozian-2023-01-29-why-wayland/

The Register - X Window System is 40: https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/21/x_window_system_is_40/

Scheifler, Robert W. Email debuting of X, 1984: https://www.talisman.org/x-debut.shtml

Other credits: Young, Douglas A. "X Window System: C Programming and Applications with Xt." Høgsberg, Kristian. "Wayland: A New Display Server." Linux Plumbers Conference, 2010. "A Technical Introduction to the X Window System." MIT, https://web.mit.edu. "Wayland Architecture," Wayland Project, https://wayland.freedesktop.org. "The History of the X Window System," USENIX, https://www.usenix.org. Wayland FAQ: https://wayland.freedesktop.org/faq.html YouTube Credits:

RetroBytes:The History of X11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-N-fgKWYGU

Oddstone Games: From Pixels To Perception: Linux's X11 vs Wayland in Great Details https://youtu.be/g5hw5Nisd8k?si=IJx5fRpa25nf4rh4

Linux.conf.au: "A Political History of X" - Keith Packard (LCA 2020) https://youtu.be/cj02_UeUnGQ?si=KFp0R5kWOReDc9HQ

Computer History Museum: X Windows System Design Principles, lecture by James Gettys https://youtu.be/KdmNHM9BKY0

Apple's Biggest Flop! Documentary - Steve Jobs The Lisa Computer 1983 TechinfoTV / Bodyfit https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wHqFe_flpRE ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC4k0H8AeJ8