Jeremy, I think I've found the cause why these X servers from X11R7.4 won't launch! When debugging a problem in TeX I had to look into /tmp and found these directories: drwx------ 3 x11 wheel 102 16 Dez 20:16 launch-MAAEET drwx------ 3 pete wheel 102 16 Dez 17:18 launch-PBeS8k drwx------ 3 pete wheel 102 16 Dez 20:24 launch-mO2Grc drwx------ 3 x11 wheel 102 16 Dez 20:07 launch-osj5UZ Each contains one object inside: srwx------ 1 pete wheel 0 16 Dez 17:18 :0 Because the :0 socket is hidden it's not found ... This unique time I could launch X11R7.4's Xorg server might have succeeded when Launch Service was not up-to-date, or whatever (I double-clicked the X11.app in /Applications/Utilities; in the menu bar the X11 menu was very sparse then. The About entry in the menu showed a different version then XFree 4.4.0.) -- Greetings Pete A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.