Understanding linux DISPLAY variable
environment-variables, linux, xserver
Solution
The `DISPLAY` variable is used by X11 to identify your display (and keyboard and mouse). Usually it'll be `:0` on a desktop PC, referring to the primary monitor, etc.
If you're using SSH with X forwarding (`ssh -X otherhost`), then it'll be set to something like `localhost:10.0`. This tells X applications to send their output, and receive their input from the TCP port `127.0.0.1:6010`, which SSH will forward back to your original host.
And, yes, back in the day, when "thin client" computing meant an X terminal, it was common to have several hundred displays connected to the same host.
Problem
I am new to Linux and I had to set `DISPLAY` variable for running a Java application. Somehow I managed to do that, and I understand that display can be set using ``` <host>:<display>[.<screen>] ``` but what I am doing is `<host>:1001`. Now, this 1001 is 1001th display of this Linux? Are this many display possible in a machine or my understanding is wrong?