Finding Information on X and XFree86 on the net

# 9 Finding Information on X and XFree86 on the net

Contents of this section

For general X questions you should read the FAQ and the FAQ-Xt from the `comp.windows.x` newsgroup (you can achieve them from `ftp.x.org` in the directory `R5contrib` or from `rtfm.mit.edu` in `/pub/usenet_by_hierarchy/comp/windows/x` by anonymous ftp). Many Linux distributions include most relevant FAQs in the directory `/usr/doc`, so you might want to look there first.

Please note that `comp.windows.x` is the newsgroup for general X questions.

If you have questions on the XFree86 package and cannot find an answer in the documentation files (`XFree86, Xconfig, XF86_*` manpages or the `README` files in `/usr/X386/lib/X11/etc`) you may want to post a question to a newsgroup. The appropriate newsgroup for that purpose is `comp.windows.x.i386unix`, as this newsgroup is dedicated to the XFree86 system. If you have a problem with the server and want to post a question to this newsgroup, you should provide enough information for those that want to help you. It is no good idea telling: XFree86 is not working, what do I have to do? Here some things that should be included in all postings that are concerned with server problems:

- which Operating System and which release of it are you running
- which hardware do you have (at least bus type (ISA/EISA/VLB), graphic card (including chipset, video RAM type (D/VRAM), size and speed))
- a concise decription of the problem
- a printout of the server startup (you can generate that by running `startx 2>1 > Xerror.log` or `startx >& Xerror.log` depending on whether you use a bourne shell derivate (e.g. `bash`) or a C shell derivate (e.g. `tcsh`) as login shell)
- the used parts of the `Xconfig` (It is not a good idea to include all lines commented out by a leading #. This would be the largest part of your post and most people will already know the copyright statements :-)

Furthermore you should say what steps of trouble-shooting you already did (there are some mentioned in the XFree86 documentation files and in Appendix Some Questions and Answers ).

Bug reports or questions on XFree86 can be sent directly to `XFree86@physics.su.oz.au`. This is the contact address of The XFree86 Project.

There are some other newsgroups that cover X related topics:

- `comp.windows.x.apps` - for X applications
- `comp.windows.x.intrinsics` - for X intrinsic
- `comp.windows.x.motif` - for the Motif extension to X
- `comp.windows.open-look` - for OpenLook and the Xview extension to X

Note that most of these groups have FAQ lists that are posted regularly to these groups. As always with regular postings these can be obtained from `rtfm.mit.edu` via anonymous ftp.

Please do not post X related questions to any newsgroup of the `comp.os.linux.*` hierarchy. You will get better answers to your questions in those newsgroups dedicated to those questions, as nearly all those questions are not Linux-specific.

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