Features

• Cost - Cygwin/X is free for use.

• Modifiability - Cygwin/X source code is freely available for modification.

• Color Depths - Supports all color depths supported by Windows.

• Multi-Window Mode - Multi-Window mode allows each X Client to be opened in, and managed by, its own Windows window. This makes each X Client show up independently in the task bar. Additionally, the icon hint provided by the X Client is used for the Windows window icon.

• Rootless Mode - Rootless mode makes the root window for the X Server be transparent, making all of the X Clients float over the other Windows windows. Rootless mode requires an external window manager, such as twm, openbox, fvwm2, WindowMaker, etc.

• Fullscreen Mode - Fullscreen mode allows the entire display to be taken over by Cygwin/X, which works particularly well when logging into a remote XDM server.

• No Decoration Mode - No Decoration mode creates a full-sized root window (not to be used with Fullscreen, Multi-Window, or Rootless modes) without any Windows window decorations (title bar, border, etc.).

• Clipboard Integration - Clipboard integration between the X clipboard and the Windows clipboard. Supports text only. Works with Unicode and MBCS strings for non-U.S. locales.

• Remote Logins - Remote logins to XDM (X Display Manager) services are supported, allowing the entire session to be managed by a remote machine. Coupled with Full Screen mode, Cygwin/X can be used as an alternative to a KVM switch for *nix machines on your local network.

• Remote Clients - Remote clients can be launched and displayed in your Cygwin/X session either via telnet or via X11 tunneling over ssh, using either Cygwin's openssh package, PuTTY, or any other ssh client.

• Remote Access - You can use Cygwin's openssh package and its sshd daemon to allow X11 tunneling of applications from your Windows machine to other machines on your network. For example, you can launch emacs on your Windows machine and use it to view and edit files remotely from any other machine with an X Server.

• DirectDraw Acceleration - Every mode except for the current Multi-Window mode supports acceleration via DirectDraw.

• OpenGL Graphics - The Mesa 3D Graphics Library provides software-based OpenGL support. There is experimental support for hardware-accelerated OpenGL provided using the native WGL interface.

• Non-U.S. Keyboard Layouts - Many non-U.S. keyboard layouts are detected automatically, causing the appropriate keyboard map to be loaded. Keyboard layouts that are not automatically detected can be added to the list of automatically supported layouts easily upon request. Command line configuration support is also provided to allow manually specifying a keyboard layout.

• AltGr Support - Cygwin/X properly handles the AltGr key used in many non-U.S. keyboard layouts and passes this key on to each particular X Client for further processing.

• Start Menu Icons - Windows Start Menu icons are provided to launch installed X Clients (such as xterm, xeyes, emacs, etc.).

• Tray Icon - A tray icon is provided to indicate that the server is running, to allow easy access to the Exit command, and to toggle visibility of the root window in Multiwindow mode.

• Configurable Tray Icon Menu - Menu entries can be added to the configurable tray icon menu via a .XWinrc file in the user's home directory, or via a system.XWinrc file in /etc/X11.

• Resize support - Integrates native Window or monitor resizing with the RANDR extension.

Maybe Features

• Support - Free support may be available in the Cygwin/X mailing list. The people answering questions are usually the same people that wrote the software, so they can often fix a problem if one is discovered.

• Windows Versions - Supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. In theory, all Windows versions supported by Cygwin are supported by Cygwin/X. In practice, it is untested with versions prior to Windows XP and possibly broken.

Ex-Features

• PseudoColor - 8 bit PseudoColor (palletized color) support in Full Screen mode (-fullscreen) and when running Windows in an 8 bit color depth.Who knows if this still works?

Non-Features

Some things which Cygwin/X just can't do

• Make your Windows desktop accessible over the network. (This problem is solved by VNC or RDP)

• Magically make native Windows applications be able to run on one computer and display on a different computer.