diff --git a/basis/ui/backend/x11/x11.factor b/basis/ui/backend/x11/x11.factor
index d4b2959297..bb35936c6c 100755
--- a/basis/ui/backend/x11/x11.factor
+++ b/basis/ui/backend/x11/x11.factor
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 USING: accessors alien alien.c-types arrays ui ui.private ui.gadgets
 ui.gadgets.private ui.gestures ui.backend ui.clipboards
 ui.gadgets.worlds ui.render ui.event-loop assocs kernel math
-namespaces opengl sequences strings x11.xlib x11.events x11.xim
+namespaces opengl sequences strings x11 x11.xlib x11.events x11.xim
 x11.glx x11.clipboard x11.constants x11.windows io.encodings.string
 io.encodings.ascii io.encodings.utf8 combinators command-line
 math.vectors classes.tuple opengl.gl threads math.rectangles
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ M: world client-event
     QueuedAfterFlush events-queued 0 > [
         next-event dup
         None XFilterEvent 0 = [ drop wait-event ] unless
-    ] [ ui-wait wait-event ] if ;
+    ] [ wait-for-display wait-event ] if ;
 
 M: x11-ui-backend do-events
     wait-event dup XAnyEvent-window window dup
diff --git a/basis/x11/authors.txt b/basis/x11/authors.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..db8d84451d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/basis/x11/authors.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Eduardo Cavazos
+Slava Pestov
diff --git a/basis/x11/clipboard/clipboard.factor b/basis/x11/clipboard/clipboard.factor
index 87b91624af..20bf66c704 100644
--- a/basis/x11/clipboard/clipboard.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/clipboard/clipboard.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: alien alien.c-types alien.strings alien.syntax arrays
 kernel math namespaces sequences io.encodings.string
-io.encodings.utf8 io.encodings.ascii x11.xlib x11.constants
+io.encodings.utf8 io.encodings.ascii x11 x11.xlib x11.constants
 specialized-arrays.int accessors ;
 IN: x11.clipboard
 
diff --git a/basis/x11/events/events.factor b/basis/x11/events/events.factor
index 07650a9da7..5673dd7f76 100644
--- a/basis/x11/events/events.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/events/events.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: alien alien.c-types arrays hashtables io kernel math
 math.order namespaces prettyprint sequences strings combinators
-x11.xlib ;
+x11 x11.xlib ;
 IN: x11.events
 
 GENERIC: expose-event ( event window -- )
diff --git a/basis/x11/glx/glx.factor b/basis/x11/glx/glx.factor
index e6001d3e59..c6c10385df 100644
--- a/basis/x11/glx/glx.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/glx/glx.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 !
 ! based on glx.h from xfree86, and some of glxtokens.h
-USING: alien alien.c-types alien.syntax x11.xlib namespaces make
+USING: alien alien.c-types alien.syntax x11 x11.xlib namespaces make
 kernel sequences parser words specialized-arrays.int accessors ;
 IN: x11.glx
 
diff --git a/basis/x11/unix/authors.txt b/basis/x11/unix/authors.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d4f5d6b3ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/basis/x11/unix/authors.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Slava Pestov
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/basis/x11/unix/unix.factor b/basis/x11/unix/unix.factor
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6084b83a9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/basis/x11/unix/unix.factor
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+! Copyright (C) 2009 Slava Pestov.
+! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
+USING: io.backend.unix namespaces system x11 x11.xlib ;
+IN: x11.unix
+
+SYMBOL: dpy-fd
+
+M: unix init-x-io dpy get XConnectionNumber <fd> dpy-fd set-global ;
+
+M: unix wait-for-display dpy-fd get +input+ wait-for-fd ;
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/basis/x11/windows/windows.factor b/basis/x11/windows/windows.factor
index 98ec2728fa..87a212bd8e 100644
--- a/basis/x11/windows/windows.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/windows/windows.factor
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2005, 2006 Eduardo Cavazos and Slava Pestov
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: alien alien.c-types hashtables kernel math math.vectors
-math.bitwise namespaces sequences x11.xlib x11.constants x11.glx
+math.bitwise namespaces sequences x11 x11.xlib x11.constants x11.glx
 arrays fry ;
 IN: x11.windows
 
diff --git a/basis/x11/x11.factor b/basis/x11/x11.factor
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e6e70c4cc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/basis/x11/x11.factor
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+! Copyright (C) 2005, 2009 Eduardo Cavazos, Slava Pestov.
+! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
+USING: alien.strings continuations io io.backend
+io.encodings.ascii kernel namespaces x11.xlib
+vocabs vocabs.loader calendar threads ;
+IN: x11
+
+SYMBOL: dpy
+SYMBOL: scr
+SYMBOL: root
+
+: init-locale ( -- )
+   LC_ALL "" setlocale [ "setlocale() failed" print flush ] unless
+   XSupportsLocale [ "XSupportsLocale() failed" print flush ] unless ;
+
+: flush-dpy ( -- ) dpy get XFlush drop ;
+
+: x-atom ( string -- atom ) [ dpy get ] dip 0 XInternAtom ;
+
+: check-display ( alien -- alien' )
+    [ "Cannot connect to X server - check $DISPLAY" throw ] unless* ;
+
+HOOK: init-x-io io-backend ( -- )
+
+M: object init-x-io ;
+
+HOOK: wait-for-display io-backend ( -- )
+
+M: object wait-for-display 10 milliseconds sleep ;
+
+: init-x ( display-string -- )
+    init-locale
+    dup [ ascii string>alien ] when
+    XOpenDisplay check-display dpy set-global
+    dpy get XDefaultScreen scr set-global
+    dpy get scr get XRootWindow root set-global
+    init-x-io ;
+
+: close-x ( -- ) dpy get XCloseDisplay drop ;
+
+: with-x ( display-string quot -- )
+    [ init-x ] dip [ close-x ] [ ] cleanup ; inline
+
+"io.backend.unix" vocab [ "x11.unix" require ] when
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/basis/x11/xim/xim.factor b/basis/x11/xim/xim.factor
index e4aaef9bbd..54f20a28dd 100644
--- a/basis/x11/xim/xim.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/xim/xim.factor
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
 USING: alien alien.c-types alien.strings arrays byte-arrays
 hashtables io io.encodings.string kernel math namespaces
-sequences strings continuations x11.xlib specialized-arrays.uint
+sequences strings continuations x11 x11.xlib specialized-arrays.uint
 accessors io.encodings.utf16n ;
 IN: x11.xim
 
diff --git a/basis/x11/xlib/xlib.factor b/basis/x11/xlib/xlib.factor
index 1a2cf09129..be7e6b4b10 100644
--- a/basis/x11/xlib/xlib.factor
+++ b/basis/x11/xlib/xlib.factor
@@ -1412,32 +1412,3 @@ FUNCTION: char* setlocale ( int category, char* name ) ;
 FUNCTION: Bool XSupportsLocale ( ) ;
 
 FUNCTION: char* XSetLocaleModifiers ( char* modifier_list ) ;
-
-SYMBOL: dpy
-SYMBOL: scr
-SYMBOL: root
-
-: init-locale ( -- )
-   LC_ALL "" setlocale [ "setlocale() failed" print flush ] unless
-   XSupportsLocale [ "XSupportsLocale() failed" print flush ] unless ;
-
-: flush-dpy ( -- ) dpy get XFlush drop ;
-
-: x-atom ( string -- atom ) dpy get swap 0 XInternAtom ;
-
-: check-display ( alien -- alien' )
-    [
-        "Cannot connect to X server - check $DISPLAY" throw
-    ] unless* ;
-
-: initialize-x ( display-string -- )
-    init-locale
-    dup [ ascii string>alien ] when
-    XOpenDisplay check-display dpy set-global
-    dpy get XDefaultScreen scr set-global
-    dpy get scr get XRootWindow root set-global ;
-
-: close-x ( -- ) dpy get XCloseDisplay drop ;
-
-: with-x ( display-string quot -- )
-    [ initialize-x ] dip [ close-x ] [ ] cleanup ; inline