Sign-Ons

Installing Cygwin and Xfree86 on a Windows

  1. Visit the cygwin website at www.cygwin.com and select .
  2. Select Open, which will run the setup program.
  3. Select Next.
  4. Select Next because we want to install from the Internet.
  5. Select to install for all users, leave the text type alone and then select next.
  6. I usually place the Local Package Directory in c:\temp\cygwin, then select Next.
  7. Select Next because we want to use the Direct Connection.
  8. Now we need to select a mirror, try and pick on is the US, I usually start with ftp.nas.nasa.gov.
  9. Now to select the packages to install.
    • Under the Admin category, click on the + and select the latest version of cygrunsrv.
    • Under the editors category click on the + and pick at least one editor that you are familiar with, if not then skip (you can use wordpad).
    • Under the net category click on the + and pick the lastest verision of openssh (click on the circle of arrows).
    • Under the XFree86 category click on the Default option and change it to install.
  10. Now click on Next and go get a cup of coffee, it will take several minutes if you have a fast connection or much longer if you have a slow connection.
  11. When the installation is complete, allow the creation of desktop icons.

Running Cygwin and XFree86

  1. Run cygwin using either the desktop icon or through the start menu.
  2. In the bash shell you should now recreate the password and group files. 
    mkpasswd -l > /etc/passwd
mkgroup -l > /etc/group
  3. You can now use ssh to connect to any machine running an ssh daemon, including even another Windows machine. Simply type ssh username@machine. If this is the first time you have connected to this machine you will be asked if you want to continue, say yes and then enter the password for username.
  4. If you would like to run XFree86 there are a few things you should know.
    • XFree86 comes with a couple of its own window managers, which I do not like. I view this setup as a compromise to working in front of a real Linux machine, where everything works the way it was intended. With this in mind I recommend allowing Windows to manage the windows that X generates.
    • Windows becomes very cluttered when many windows are open at the same time. Linux has smart window managers that provide numerous virtual desktops that make it easy to keep windows organized by machine, task, etc.
    • All may not work exactly as you expect so don't be surprised if you need to experiment to get things to work as well as you would like.
  5. You first should edit the file c:\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin\startxwin.sh and near the bottom where it starts the XWin server add -clipboard as an option to XWin -multiwindow. This will allow you to copy and paste from the X clipboard to the Windows clipboard.
  6. Now just execute the file, enter startxwin.sh and press enter.
  7. In the xterm that is created you can type ssh -X linux1.stat.iastate.edu and press enter. What this does is to "tunnel" all the X stuff through the encrypted ssh session. Now you can type sensitive information and know that someone with a packet sniffer cannot read the X packets sent from your machine to the remote machine.
  8. Now that you are connected to the remote machine you can run an X application just by typing its name.