XFree86 provides standard window tools such as xterm and rxvt which can be used to run IRAF. rxvt is ok as a terminal but cannot do graphics. xterm can be used for IRAF graphics but doesn't support status line interaction very well, and lacks color graphics, a full-screen cursor, and error recovery on cursor reads. Nonetheless it has been used successfully for IRAF graphics on many platforms for years.

Most people will prefer to use xgterm and ximtool (or a similar display tool such as saoimage) for IRAF graphics and imaging. xgterm is based on xterm, providing an equivalent vt100 (text window) capability but a much enhanced graphics capability. ximtool provides a general interactive image display capbility, including support for multiple image frame buffers and frame blinking, independent zoom, pan, and color enhancement for each frame, and many other features. Both programs are implemented at the host level as general purpose window system tools, and are useful independently of IRAF. Detailed documentation on the basic operation and use of these programs is still in preparation (as of September 1995) but introductory documentation is available from the ftp archive in the same directory as the programs themselves. Our concern in this document is with the use of these programs with IRAF.