You can use vnc (Virtual Network Computing) to gain access to your X11 desktop and reduce desktop clutter in general. In an X11 terminal window, install the X11 vnc via Fink (fink install vnc). Then type vncserver :2 -localhost; enter a password and confirm. You can then exit the X11 terminal. This will run the vncserver on display 2, using the default settings, and only allow connections via the localhost. The vncserver installed by Fink will only display X11 windows, not your OS X desktop.
To connect to the vnc server, type vncviewer localhost:2
at an X11 terminal prompt, and enter the password when prompted. You will then have your X11 desktop, and it should be running twm as its window manager. You can change this (I set mine to icewm, installed through Fink) by editing ~/.vnc/xstartup and changing the line:
twm &to (for example)
icewm &to use the Ice Window Manager. I have also used KDE and Gnome with this method, all installed from Fink, but icewm seems to be the most responsive. So why bother with vnc on localhost?
ssh -C -L 5902:localhost:5902 user@mac.ip.addressThe -C enables compression over the connection, which will help speed things up (replace user and mac.ip.address with the proper values for your machine). You then connect to the vnc server using a viewer on the local machine, again with the command vncviewer localhost:2, and there's your home desktop, with the X11 apps still running as you left them.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20030415063634335