As for your Xwindows question, depends on what you're looking for. If you want a way on unix/perl to create graphical apps, look at the Tk module.

If instead you are looking for a way to use X from your windows machine, there are a number of good applications. One of the commercial apps that I like is Exceed by Hummingbird. A nice free app is VNC, which is a little like PCAnywhere, but works on more than just Windows.

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