Xlaunch vs Startx vs Startxwin vs Xterm vs X Display Environment Packages

Question

I have downloaded Cygwin on my Windows machine and ssh into an Unix-based machine.

What is the difference between Xlaunch, Startx, Startxwin, Xterm, and X Display Environment Packages (GNOME Flashback Desktop Environment, KDE Plasma Desktop Environment, LXDE Desktop Environment, MATE Desktop Environment, Xfce Desktop Environment)?

I tried reading through http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ug/cygwin-x-ug.pdf, but it is extremely confusing for a person with somewhat knowledge of computers and a desire to learn about them. Appreciate if you could simplify the differences for me.

Answer 1

There are 2 standard ways to initiate the XWin X Server on cygwin:

1) Use the X Server on the Menu.
2) Run startxwin from the shell.

The two methods are equivalent. startx is the default method on a Unix/Linux Machine, but it need some adaptation on cygwin, so startxwin was created.

Xterm is a terminal. It provides X interface capability to another program typically a command shell and requires the X Server running.

xlaunch: GUI tool for configuring and starting the XWin X server. It is an optional auxiliary tool; you can ignore it.

The X Display Environments provide additional look and feel flavors on top of the X Server capability.