X11 forwarding allows you to run graphical programs on the SCS machines from your local computer. For example, if you have X11 forwarding enabled and you run the 'xstata' command in a shell on one of the SCS machines, a graphical Stata window will appear on your local desktop. You can use it as if it were running on your computer, though all data will still be in your IFS space or on the disk of the SCS machine you're using to run the program.
How to enable X11 forwarding depends on what kind of computer you're using.
There are two options for X11 forwarding on a Windows PC. You can purchase a copy of Hummingbird Exceed. Exceed is an X server for Windows that will allow you to do X11 forwarding directly to your desktop. Please note that we do not officially support Exceed and can only provide very limited help in its configuration.
You can also use ITS Virtual Sites to connect to the Statistics and Computation service, and run a program called Xming which is already installed on the Virtual Sites machines. This has the advantage of being officially supported, and it also saves you the cost of an Exceed license. Please see our directions for using Xming on Virtual Sites for information about how to do this.
To enable X11 forwarding on a Mac, you must install X11 using an OS X install DVD. X11 is an optional add-on and may have already been installed on your Mac. If it is installed, it will appear in the Applications/Utilities directory.
Once X11 is installed, launch X11. An X11 terminal window will appear. Run the following command in this terminal to connect to the Statistics and Computation service:
ssh -X [uniqname]@scs.itd.umich.edu
Now, any graphical program you run will open a graphical window on your local machine.
If you are using OS X 10.5 and you have X11 installed, you don't need to open X11. You can just run the command in Term.app, and X forwarding will work from there.
