Subject: Linux XFree86 HOWTO
From: [email-masked] (Helmut Geyer)
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 20:41:24 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce,comp.os.linux.help,comp.os.linux.admin,comp.windows.x.i386unix,comp.answers,news.answers

Archive-name: linux/howto/XFree86
Last-modified: 13 May 94

  The Linux XFree86 HOWTO
  Helmut Geyer, [email-masked]
  v2.0 , 2. May 1994

  This	document   describes  how  to	obtain,	install  and  configure
  XFree86[TM] for Linux systems. XFree86  version 2 is an enhanced  ver-
  sion of the X Window System version 11 release 5 with support for many
  versions of UN*X running on Intel[TM]	386/486/Pentium[TM]  platforms,
  including  Linux.  It	supports  a  great amount of video hardware for
  these systems and includes  many  bugfixes  beyond  the  MIT	standard
  release  of X.  It is intended to help Linux users install and config-
  ure XFree86. It covers all versions of XFree86 starting  from	version
  2.0.	It is furthermore intended to answer some basic questions about
  X and programs using X.  Please read this file and the referenced doc-
  umentation  files  BEFORE  installing and starting XFree86. IF YOU ARE
  NOT CAREFUL, YOU MIGHT DAMAGE YOUR HARDWARE.	If you have access to  a
  printer  capable  of	printing  DVI  or  PostScript[TM] documents, you
  should consider to get those versions of this HOWTO as  these	provide
  far more readability by better formatting.  A WWW version of this file
  and	many	other     HOWTOs	can	be	read	using
  http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html.

  1.  Introduction

  This	file is meant to help you setting up your XFree86 system. It is,
  however, far from complete. You have to look to several other files or
  manpages  to	get complete information. It is noted at the appropriate
  places, which files have to be read. For  a  complete	description  on
  features  and	the installation please look at the documentation files
  and manuals that come with XFree86 (residing in  /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc
  and its subdirectories as well as in /usr/X386/man/man?) (-- To read a
  manpage just run man program_name, the other documentation  files  are
  plain	ascii	and  can be read with the editor of your choice or using
  more or less.--) .  The most important files will be	pointed	out  to
  you  in this HOWTO. The documentation files are packages separately in
  a file called *-doc* [cf. 4.1]   from the XFree86 binary distribution.

  Any bundeled distribution of XFree86 should include the  documentation
  files.  If it doesn't, please contact the distributor on how to obtain
  these.

  Other manual pages from the stock X11R5 distribution can be  found  in
  the  *-man*  file  of the XFree86 distribution. These manpages come as
  sources for the nroff program.

  To read them you will need a working man program as well as the  groff
  package  for	formatting  them. Note that it is often required to read
  manpages, so you should install the groff package anyway. (I think  it
  is  no good idea that in many distributions this package is considered
  optional).

  This file comes  WITHOUT  ANY	WARRANTY  OF  FITNESS.	If  you  damage
  anything following these informations, you are on your own.

  1.1.	Copyright notice

  The XFree86 HOWTO is copyrighted (c) Helmut Geyer 1994

  A verbatim copy of the XFree86 HOWTO may be reproduced and distributed
  in any medium physical or electronic without permission of the author.
  Translations	works are similarly permitted without express permission
  if  it  includes  a  notice	on   who   translated	it.   Commercial
  redistribution  is  allowed  and encouraged; however, the author would
  like to be notified of any such distributions.

  Short quotes	may  be	used  without	prior  consent	by  the	author.
  Derivative work and partial distributions of this HOWTO have to either
  include a verbatim copy of this file or make a verbatim copy	of  this
  file	available.  If the latter is the case, a pointer to the verbatim
  copy must be stated at a clearly visible place.  If  you  want  to  do
  either of the last possibilities, you should contact the author.

  1.2.	Requirements on reading this HOWTO

  You  should  be aquainted to some very basic facts of a Unix, e.g. you
  should be able to read a  text  file	or  read  a  manpage.  A  simple
  introduction	into  Unix  can	be  found  in	the Installation Guide &
  Getting Started document by Matt Welsh.  Everyone  who  installes  and
  runs	Linux  for  the	first	time,  should  read  this document. This
  document is written in LaTeX and can	be  obtained  in  several  forms
  (PostScript,	DVI,  TeX  or  ASCII format) from sunsite.unc.edu in the
  directory /pub/Linux/docs/LDP or from tsx-11.mit.edu in the  directory
  /pub/linux/docs/LDP by anonymous ftp.

  Many	Linux  distributions provide this document in at least one form.
  You should find it in the /usr/doc directory. In  this  directory  you
  can find a lot of interesting documentation files, so you should check
  this directory and read the appropriate files.

  1.3.	Feedback

  Comments, criticism or suggestions on this document are very	welcome.
  If  you  think  that	something  is  missing, something is obsolete or
  wrong, or something could be done better, feel free to contact  Helmut
  Geyer via email, [email-masked].

  1.4.	New versions

  The  ASCII  version  of  this	document  will	be  posted regularly to
  comp.os.linux.announce,  comp.windows.x.i386unix,  news.answers,   and
  comp.answers.	In  addition	to  those sites that archive the answers
  newsgroups, the latest version can be found on sunsite.unc.edu in  the
  directory  /pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO. This site carries not only the ASCII
  version but also other formats (DVI, PostScript[TM]  and  HTML),  too.
  These	other versions are easier to read than the ASCII version, so if
  you have the resources to read or print these other versions, do it.

  2.  What are X11 and XFree86?

  X11 is a windowing system for UN*X  like  operating  systems.	The  X
  Windowing  System  was  issued  by  the  MIT Consortium (look at the X
  manpage for  more  information)  and	is  put	under	a  very	liberal
  copyright,  that  allows  any	use  of  source  code provided that the
  original copyright notices are  included.  The  release  of  X11  that
  XFree86  2.*	is  based  upon	is  X11  Release 5. The work of the MIT
  Consortium is continued by the X Consortium that just released  a  new
  release  of X, X11R6.	The next official XFree86 release will be based
  on X11R6 [cf Appendix B].  As X is the standard windowing system  for
  UN*X operating systems, there are a lot of applications using it (both
  free and commercial).

  XFree86 2.* is a port of  X11R5  that	supports  several  versions  of
  Intel-based Unix and Unix-like operating systems.  The XFree86 servers
  are partly derived from X386 1.2, which was the X  server  distributed
  with	X11R5,	but  many  of  them are newly developed. The accelerated
  servers that are the most  important	change	since  XFree86	1.3  are
  completely  new.  This  release  consists  of	many  new  features and
  performance improvements as well as many bug fixes.	The  release  is
  available  as	source	patches  against the MIT X11R5 code, as well as
  binary distributions for many architectures.

  Note that while the source and  installation	trees  retain  the  name
  'X386'  name (for simplicity of maintenance of the source tree), there
  is no connection between XFree86 and the commercial X386 product  sold
  by  SGCS.   The  XFree86  Project  maintains	technical contacts in an
  effort to keep user-affecting changes to the workings of the	products
  from	diverging  too	radically.   There  is	no direct involvement of
  either group in the workings of the other.

  2.1.	The XFree86 Project, Inc.

  The XFree86 team had several problems in the past due to the fact that
  it  was  no  legal  organisation.  So	it was not possible to become a
  member of the X Consortium, Inc. This was sometimes  annoying	as  the
  new releases are only provided for members before the official release
  date. This and several other thoughts led to	the  foundation	of  The
  XFree86 Project, Inc.

  XFree86  is  now  a  trademark  of The XFree86 Project, Inc.	For more
  information read the section	on  The	XFree86  Project  in  the  file
  /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc/README from the documentation tarfile.

  3.  Supported Hardware

  As  this  is	the  most  often  asked question, this will be the first
  section.   Currently	XFree86	(Version  2.0	-  2.1.1)  supports  the
  following  chipsets  in  the XF86_SVGA server (note that it depends on
  the chipset whether a card is working and  not  on  the  vendor,  with
  Diamond   notably  excluded,	cf.  the  remark  at  the  end	of  this
  paragraph):

  o  nonaccelerated chipsets:

  o  Tseng ET3000, ET4000AX, ET4000/W32

  o  Western Digital/Paradise PVGA1

  o  Western Digital WD90C00, WD90C10, WD90C11, WD90C24, WD90C30

  o  Genoa GVGA

  o  Trident TVGA8800CS,  TVGA8900B,  TVGA8900C,  TVGA8900CL,  TVGA9000,
     TVGA9000i, TVGA9100B, TVGA9200CX, TVGA9320, TVGA9400CX, TVGA9420

  o  ATI 28800-4, 28800-5, 28800-6, 28800-a

  o  NCR 77C22, 77C22E, 77C22E+

  o  Cirrus Logic CLGD6205, CLGD6215, CLGD6225, CLGD6235

  o  Compaq AVGA

  o  OAK OTI067, OTI077

  o  accelerated chipsets:

  o  Cirrus GLGD5420, CLGD5422, CLGD5424, CLGD5426, CLGD5428

  o  Western Digital WD90C31

     Note that the WD90C33 is currently not supported by any of the non-
     generic servers. There are additional  problems  with  the	generic
     servers of XFree86 2.0, too. Please look at the section on bugs and
     fixes.

  These chipsets are all supported  in	256  color  (XF86_SVGA)	and  in
  monochrome mode (XF86_Mono) with the exception of the Cirrus chipsets,
  which are only supported in 256 color mode (-- Note that if you have a
  grey	scale  display	you  need to run the colour server as grey scale
  behaves just like colour, not like monochrome mode--) . Note that  the
  ET4000/W32  is  only	supported  as  a  ET4000  clone	and none of the
  accelerated functions are used.

  The monochrome server also supports generic VGA cards	(using	64k  of
  the  video memory as a single bank), the Hercules card and the Hyundai
  HGC-1280. Note that these drivers are not part of the XF86_Mono server
  by  default.	If  you	want to use these, you have to reconfigure your
  XF86_Mono  server  using  the	LinkKit  (or,	of  course,  the  source
  distribution	-  but	the  LinkKit  will need less disk space and less
  compile time). See the Appendix for further  information  on	using  a
  Hercules mono card.

  There is an (experimental) additional server that works on generic VGA
  hardware: XF86_VGA16, a 16 color server.

  XFree86 supports the	following  accelerated	chipsets  with	separate
  servers:

  o  S3	86C911,  86C924,  86C801,  86C805,  86C928  supported  by the
     XF86_S3 server

  o  ATI  mach8 supported by the XF86_Mach8 server

  o  ATI  mach32 supported by the XF86_Mach32 server

  o  IBM  8514/a and true clones supported by the XF86_8514 server

     Currently the S3 Vision864 and Vision964 are not yet working.

  No other chipsets are supported; not Weitek P9000, not TIGA,	not  IIT
  AGX,	not  Microfield,  not  the  new	MGA  chipsets (as in the Matrox
  cards), etc.	Support for some of these will perhaps	be  provided  in
  future XFree86 releases.  TIGA will never be supported, as it requires
  licensing materials from TI (and may disallow	source	distributions);
  Microfield boards will never be supported, as they use proprietary and
  undocumented custom microcode interfaces.  Note further: The following
  is  a	statement  of	the  XFree86 Project concerning graphic cards by
  Diamond:

       All Diamond cards are NOT supported by XFree86 even if they
       have a supported chipset (with  the exception of the Cirrus
       chipsets that have an internal clock generator). The reason
       for this is that Diamond has changed  the mechanism used to
       select  pixel   clock  frequencies, and	will only  release
       programming information under  non-disclosure.	We are not
       willing to do this (as it would mean  that source cannot be
       provided).  We have had discussions with Diamond over this,
       and they do not	intend to  change  this policy.	Hence	we
       will do nothing	to support Diamond products  going forward
       (i.e.  don't  send us a program	to run	set their clocks).
       XFree86 DOES NOT SUPPORT	DIAMOND HARDWARE.  It is possible
       to make some  of it work, but  we will not assist  in doing
       this.

  The author of this HOWTO does support this  statement	completely.  If
  you  have  read  this and bought nevertheless a card from Diamond, you
  will damage the idea of free software as Diamond does not support  the
  efforts  of  a  free	X11  server. There is enough good and affordable
  graphics hardware available from companies that support XFree86.

  However, if you are stuck  with  a  card  from  Diamond,  there  is  a
  compilation  of  the	needed	things to get XFree86 running on some of
  these cards. It is called the Diamond-FAQ and	can  be  obtained  from
  tsx-11 or sunsite in the docs directories.

  Do  not  ask the XFree86 team about Diamond hardware.	You will simply
  annoy them, and get no information.

  For some of these chipsets there are	specific  README  files	(to  be
  found	in  /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc). If there is one for the chipset you
  use, read it!	In these READMEs the specific options that can be  used
  to  configure	the  server  are explained. Currently there are special
  READMEs for ATI, Trident, Tsengm Western Digital, and Cirrus chipsets.

  More information on the servers can be found in their manpages.

  Later more on configuring the servers [cf. 5.1].

  4.  Installing XFree86

  4.1.	Where do I get XFree86 and what do I need to run it?

  This section is dedicated to the Linux binary distribution so all file
  names and site names are for Linux only. If you read this file and are
  not  using Linux, you should get your hands on the announcement of the
  according version of XFree86 for you OS.  In	it  you	will  find  all
  necessary information on obtaining it.

  You  can  get	the  binary  distributions  of	XFree86  for  Linux via
  anonymous FTP from

	 tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/packages/X11/XFree86-ver
		 or
	 sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/X11/XFree86-ver

  where ver is the version number of the XFree86  release  you	want  to
  obtain  (e.g.	2.1 for XFree86 2.1).	The files have names of the form
  XF86-ver-name.tar.gz (versions 2.1 and 2.1.1) or  xf86-name-2.0.tar.gz
  where	ver is the XFree86 version and name is the name of the package.
  If you already know, which server you need to run, you should not  get
  the  *-svr*  file but the file XF86_servername.tar.gz where servername
  is the name of the server to run.

  To get Version 2.1.1, which is only a bugfix release, you have to  get
  the  complete	2.1  distribution but the server files. In addition you
  have to get the 2.1.1 files (you will probably need  only  one  server
  file,	but  you should get all the rest).  Install the 2.1 files first
  and install the 2.1.1 files only after that.

  Of course you can find it on all mirrors of those two, too. So  please
  look	for  a	ftp site near to you mirroring sunsite or tsx-11 to save
  bandwidth.

  You can find an incomplete list of sites mirroring these  two	in  the
  bbs-list  to	be  found  in the docs directories of both sites. If you
  have access to archie, try using it to find a site carrying  Linux  in
  your neighbourhood.
  The distribution consists of several gzipped tarfiles. As some of them
  are too large to fit on a single floppy, so you might	have  to  split
  those).  For	a concise description on what the tarfiles contain, look
  at the README file in this directory.

  You will need the following setup to run XFree86 (split by  versions).
  You  have  to	have at least these versions, later versions will work,
  too.

       XFree86 version:		2.0	 2.1		2.1.1

       kernel version:	0.99pl13	0.99pl15  0.99pl15h
       C library version       4.4.1	4.5.21     4.5.21
       ld.so version:		1.3	 1.4.3	1.4.3

  You can find the most recent versions on most linux  sites  [cf.  4.1].
  You  can  find  the C library (libc) and the dynamic loader (ld.so) in
  the GCC directory on these sites.

  You will need a main memory of at least 8 MB and a virtual  memory  of
  at least 16 MB (i.e. main memory + swap). It is possible to run X on a
  4 MB machine if  you	take  some  precautions	on  memory  usage  [cf.
  6].Note that you should nevertheless have 16 MB of virtual memory (so
  if you have 4 megs of physical RAM, you should have 12 megs of  swap).
  It  is  recommended  that you have at least 8 megs of physical RAM, as
  swaping is very slow.	With only 4 megs of physical  RAM,  performance
  will suffer greatly. To run X11 comfortably, 8 MB are needed.

  If you want to run memory-hog programs from within X (as e.g. gcc) you
  should at least have 16 MB of main memory and another 16MB of swap.

  You will need about 17 MB of disk space for the complete  installation
  without  LinkKit,  21	MB with LinkKit. By deleting those servers that
  you don't need and removing the LinkKit after linking your own server,
  you can save several MB of diskspace.

  Before  installing XFree86, you should make a backup of all files that
  you changed. They may not be usable, but they	still	hold  a	lot  of
  information  you  might  want to preserve. (Your old XConfig file will
  not be deleted, but it's allways better to have a backup of this file)

  To  install  the  binary  distribution you have to do the following as
  root with all needed tarfiles from above. For installing  XFree86  2.0
  (which  is not recommended) you have to do it from /, for 2.1 or 2.1.1
  you have to run first mkdir /usr/X386 ; cd /usr/X386 [cf 10].	To  get
  all permissions right you should run umask 022 before installing it.

       gzip -dc tarfilename | tar xvvof -

  WARNING:  This will overwrite all files from an older XFree86 version,
  of course not the Xconfig file (if  you  did	not  link  it  to  Xcon-
  fig.sample,  which  you  should not do). In other words, only if Xcon-
  fig.sample is linked to your Xconfig, it  will  be  overwritten.  Many
  other	files	will  be overwritten, though (e.g. the xdm configuration
  files, the system wide twm configuration file,  ...).	So  you  should
  backup every file you changed before installing XFree86.

  After	installing  it,  you  have to set it up correctly to match your
  system [cf. 5].

  4.2.	How do I compile it myself and where can I get the sources?

  You do not want to do this. Only if you really want to make changes to
  the sources because something is not working you should consider this.
  You  will need a lot of disk space and CPU time to do a complete build
  of the XFree86 system. Anything you need to know for compiling XFree86
  you	can   find   in	the	following   files   (to	be   found  in
  /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc): INSTALL, README, and README.Linux.

  Note that you should not compile XFree86 to get rid of some  hardcoded
  restrictions	(e.g.  on  the	maximal	pixel	clock)	as without these
  restrictions your hardware will probably break down.

  To build a server that only  includes	those	drivers	you  need,  you
  should  use the LinkKit instead of compiling the complete system. This
  is much easier. Read /usr/X386/lib/Server/README for a description how
  to do this. This file is not included in the standard XFree86 tarfiles
  but is part of the file that includes the LinkKit. This file is called
  *-kit* or *-lkit*.

  For adding drivers to the SVGA servers you will only need the LinkKit.
  The  documentation  how   to	do   this   can   be	found	in   the
  /usr/X386/lib/Server/VGADriverDoc   directory	after	installing  the
  LinkKit package.

  5.  Setting up your XFree86 system

  This section gives a short introduction on how to  set  up  a	XFree86
  system  on your computer. The most important (and most difficult) part
  is setting up a Xconfig file. If  you	have  XFree86	2.1.1  and  your
  graphic  card	is  in	the  data base, you should use ConfigXF86 to do
  this. It is comfortable and safe that way. You can use ConfigXF86  for
  many	things	even  if  your	card  and  monitor  are not known to the
  program. Please use it if you have XFree86 2.1.1.

  5.1.	The Xconfig file

  To be able to set up a Xconfig file, you need to  read  the  following
  files	that  reside  in  /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc: README, README.Config,
  VideoModes.doc, and README.Linux.

  Furthermore you need to read the following manpages: Xconfig, XFree86,
  XFree86kbd,  and that of the server you are going to use. This section
  will try to give you an approach to these files as well as making some
  of  the  statements in those more understandable for the unexperienced
  user.

  The Xconfig file can be located in several places:

  o  /usr/X386/lib/X11. This is the standard  location	for  the  sample
     Xconfig  file,  but  is  in  some cases not possible to use (e.g. a
     read-only /usr partition).

  o  /etc.

  o  In the user's home directory.

  o  As Xconfig.hostname in /usr/X386/lib/X11.

     The Linux	file  system  standard	places	the  Xconfig  file  into
     /etc/X11.	This  has several causes, but you should never edit that
     file. The XFree86 servers will not expect a Xconfig  file	at  this
     location, so there has to be a link from one of the above places to
     this location.  Find this link first and access the file using  the
     link. This way you can be sure your changes will take effect.

  To  give you some hints, here is a list of what you need to set up the
  Xconfig file correctly:

  o  The server that is suitable for you system. To get a hint which  is
     the  correct  one,	run  the  SuperProbe  program	that  comes with
     XFree86. It will identify your chipset and	you  can  look	at  the
     table  above [cf. 3],which server supports this chipset. Note that
     SuperProbe can detect far more hardware than XFree86 supports.

  o  The specifications of your monitor. Most important are the	maximal
     horizontal	and vertical scan frequency ranges and the bandwidth of
     the  monitor.  This  information  should  be  obtained  from   your
     monitor's	datasheet.  See	the  video  mode section 5.1.4 for further
     information.

  o  The name of the chipset for your card. See 5.1.3 for more information.

  o  The  available  dot clocks for your card or (if supported) the name
     of the programmable dot clock generator. How  to  obtain  these  is
     explained	concisely  in /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc/README.Config.  This
     will be done automagically by ConfigXF86. Note that if you	have  a
     programmable  clock  generator,  you  have	to  look in the Xconfig
     manpage, whether it is supported. A programmable  clock  cannot  be
     detected properly.

  o  Mouse  type (this refers to the protocol the mouse is using, not to
     the manufacturer, e.g. a serial microsoft mouse  connected	to  the
     ps/2  port uses the ps/2 protocol, not the Microsoft protocol). See
     5.1.2 for more information.

  o  The device name of the device your mouse is connected  to.	See 5.1.2 
     for more information.

  o  If you want to use a national keyboard map for the kernel (i.e. you
     are not running the generic US keytable), you should read 5.1.5 to set
     up XFree86 correctly.

     You    should    read    README.Config    that    is   located   in
     /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc and follow  the  instructions  there	to  the
     point.  Especially the caveats that can be found int this file must
     be obeyed, otherwise you might damage your hardware.

  WARNING: Do not ever share Xconfig files with people	who do not  have
  exactly  the	same  Configuration  (i.e. graphic card and monitor). By
  doing	this you could	toast your  monitor.  It  isn't   so  hard   to
  figure  out  modes  (that  is, for  multisync monitors) and you surely
  shouldn't ever use a mode that you  didn't check  by	yourself  to  be
  within  your	monitor's  specs.   Even if  you have	exactly the same
  setup	you should check all modes yourself before trying  them.  There
  are	many  people  who  run their hardware out of specs which may not
  damage their hardware but could yours.

  5.1.1.  Running ConfigXF86

  From XFree86 2.1.1 on there is a great  tool	available  for	XFree86,
  called  ConfigXF86. It was written by Stephen Zwaska, comments and new
  database entries should be sent to him ([email-masked]). This	utility
  will	give  you  an  easy  interface to the database of tested graphic
  cards and monitors and it gives  you	some  tools  to	configure  your
  Xconfig file correctly. The documentation for ConfigXF86 is located in
  /usr/X386/lib/X11/ConfigXF86. Please read this first, it will help you
  to  run  this	program.  This	documentation	is  provided  in several
  formats. A  text  version  (ConfigXF86.txt)  can  be	read  online,  a
  PostScript  version  (ConfigXF86.PS)	can  be	printed if a PostScript
  printer is available. ConfigXF86 can be obtained from sunsite	in  the
  directory /pub/linux/packages/X11/ConfigXF86.

  After	having	read  the documentation, start ConfigXF86 as root.  The
  program cannot be run while a X server is running on	the  system,  so
  run  ConfigXF86 (and if needed MakeCard) from the console.  You should
  be able to answer all questions. The program will  probe  your  system
  and  will  (at least partly) recognize the setup. If both your graphic
  card and monitor are supported, you should not have any problems.  The
  only	thing you should do is test the video modes and (perhaps) try to
  make minor changes to the video modes to suit your monitor better [cf.
  5.1.4].

  This	utility is very new, so there might be bugs (very probably there
  are). If you encounter any problems, please report them.

  If your card is not supported, try to make a card database file  using
  the	MakeCard	program	that     can     be	found     in
  /usr/X386/lib/X11/ConfigXF86. Please read the next two sections before
  running  it  as it may help you with some questions.	Having done that
  you can run ConfigXF86 and choose the	datafile  you	just  generated.
  Don't	forget to send the card data file and the monitor data files to
  [email-masked]  so  that  other   people   may   benefit   from   your
  achievements.

  5.1.2.  The easy sections

  5.1.2.1.  Remark:

  The  XFree86	servers parse the Xconfig file in case-insensitive mode,
  so you need not woory about Capitalization.

  5.1.2.2.  Paths:

  There is no reason to fiddle with the standard paths	as  provided  in
  the  sample  Xconfig	file (any distribution that provides a different
  path structure should have edited this section of  the  Xconfig.sample
  or  the  template  Xconfig  file for ConfigXF86).  The only thing that
  could be interesting is the use of a fontserver.  Look at the	Xconfig
  manpage if you want use one, anything you need to know is shown there.
  ConfigXF86 will prompt you whether you want to use a fontserver.

  5.1.2.3.  The keyboard section:

  This is fairly easy. You should  set	the  ServerNumlock  option,  but
  otherwise  only  those  keyboard  modifications  that	are  needed for
  international keyboard support should be needed to set  [cf. 5.1.5].  So
  this section should look like:

       ______________________________________________________________________
       keyboard
	   servernumlock
	   RightAlt ModeShift
       ______________________________________________________________________

  5.1.2.4.  The mouse section:

  The  keyword	for  the  mouse section is the name for the protocol the
  mouse uses. The available protocol names are	listed	in  the	Xconfig
  manpage. Some remarks on the mouse keywords:

  The  Logitech[TM]  serial  mice use several keywords: The MouseMan[TM]
  uses the MouseMan keyword and more recent Logitech serial mice use the
  Microsoft  keyword.  Older  Logitech	serial	mice  use  the	Logitech
  keyword.

  Any mouse connected to the ps/2 port uses the ps/2 keyword (even if it
  is in fact a serial mouse).

  As  there  is some confusion on the Linux mouse devicenames, here is a
  list. The standard names confer to the names as of MAKEDEV 1.2. If you
  are  not  sure,  which  kind of busmouse you have, look at the startup
  messages of the kernel. It will identify the busmouse type. You should
  make sure that the kernel busmouse driver is using the same IRQ as the
  busmouse. If this is not the case, you have to change this (either  on
  the  mouse  board  or	in the kernel). The IRQ for busmouse devices is
  given in /usr/src/linux/include/linux/busmouse.h. The macro  MOUSE_IRQ
  contains this IRQ. It is set to 5 by default.

  o  /dev/atibm	for the ATI XL busmouse (Note: the ATI GU busmouse is a
     Logitech or Microsoft busmouse depending on the version you got).

  o  /dev/logibm for the Logitech busmouse (Note: this uses the Busmouse
     protocol, not the Logitech protocol).

  o  /dev/inportbm  for	the Microsoft[TM] busmouse (Note: this uses the
     Busmouse protocol, not the Microsoft protocol).

  o  /dev/psaux for a ps/2 or quickport mouse (uses the ps/2  protocol).

  o  The  other	supported  mice  are  serial mice, therefore the device
     names are that of the serial devices (/dev/ttyS? or /dev/ttyS?? for
     Linux).

     There  are	still	distributions  around  that use old or different
     device names than those of MAKEDEV. A list of the major  and  minor
     numbers  for  the	mouse  devices	can  be found in the/dev/MAKEDEV
     script. If it is  missing	you  can  find	it  on	sunsite	in  the
     /pub/Linux/system/Admin directory [cf 4.1].

  If  you  have	a two-button mouse, you might want to emulate the third
  button (emulated by pressing both buttons simultaneously)  by	setting
  Emulate3Buttons  in  the mouse section. There are quite a lot of other
  settings available that are usually not needed. Look	at  the	Xconfig
  manpage for a list of available settings.

  5.1.3.  The server section

  You  should  be  able	to  set up this section by using the ConfigXF86
  program. If your graphic  card  is  not  part	of  the  database,  run
  MakeCard to build a new data file for your card. Many important things
  are probed by MakeCard, but you may need or  want  to	set  additional
  options.  These options are described in the manpage of the server you
  want	to  use	(MakeCard  will  suggest  the	right	one)	and   in
  README.Config.  After	running  MakeCard, run ConfigXF86 to set up the
  Xconfig file.	If you do not have the ConfigXF86 package,  you  should
  follow the instructions in README.Config to get everything right.

  If  you  want	to  identify  the  chipset  your graphic card uses, run
  SuperProbe, a program that  comes  with  XFree86  and	is  capable  to
  identify a lot of graphic hardware. Note that SuperProbe can probe far
  more hardware than XFree86 supports.

  5.1.4.  Setting up video modes

  This is the hardest part.  Please  read  VideoModes.doc  before  doing
  anything  here.  If  you  are	using	ConfigXF86  (which  is	strongly
  recommended), and your monitor is not	in  the  database,  you  should
  choose  the  generic	modes and start making own modes from there.  If
  you do not have ConfigXF86, a tutorial on building modes can be  found
  in the README.Config and VideoModes.doc files.

  ConfigXF86  includes a very neat utility to tune video modes. As there
  is no check on the fitness of a mode, you have to check the mode  data
  against  your	monitor's  specifications  before testing the mode. The
  first line of the screen for tuning modes gives you information on the
  specifications of the mode. You have to check always that these values
  are within you monitor's capabilities before testing that mode.

  5.1.5.  International keyboard layout for XFree86

  From version 2.1 on the XFree86 servers are able to read the	keytable
  from	the Linux kernel. So you need to set up only one keyboard layout
  file (that for the kernel). There are some restrictions,  though  (the
  kernel can support more keyboard functions than X11). X11 can only use
  4 keytables (i.e. only one modifier  is  allowed,  called  ModeShift).
  This	can  be configured using the ModeShift line in the Xconfig file.
  Configurable keys for the ModeShift  modifier	are  LeftAlt,	RightAlt
  (=AltGr), RightCtl, and ScrollLock.  By default the ModeShift modifier
  is not used.

  Usually the AltGr key is used for national keyboard modifications.  To
  enable  the XFree86 server to read the AltGr keytable from the kernel,
  you should put

  RightAlt "ModeShift"

  Besides supporting only one additional keymap X11  cannot  use  'dead'
  keys. A key is called 'dead', if it will not print a character when it
  is typed but only after a second character is typed. Depending on  the
  following  character,	the  second character is modified by the 'dead'
  character or two characters will be printed.	A  typical  example  are
  accent  keys.	Such	keys  are  not	supported by X11. So you need to
  replace all dead keysymbols non-dead equivalents. Here is a list, what
  you have to change:

		dead	 non-dead

	      dead_tilde    asciitilde
	      dead_grave	 grave
	 dead_circumflex   asciicircum
	      dead_acute    apostrophe
	  dead_diaeresis     diaeresis

  Instead  of  supporting dead keys XFree86 supports a Compose key. This
  feature is described in the XFree86kbd manpage and can be modified  by
  assigning  the Compose function to one of the keys mentioned above. By
  default the ScrollLock key has the Compose function.
  If you still want to have the 'dead' keys on	the  console,  you  will
  have	to use a xmodmap file to map the keys to the right symbols under
  X. This is also the method that must be used with earlier versions  of
  XFree86.  On	sunsite	in  the  directory  /pub/Linux/X11/misc example
  xmodmap files for several languages can be found. Note that  you  have
  to  set  the ModeShift modifier nevertheless to get the right keytable
  working.

  Please read the kbd.FAQ that comes with the kbd package for Linux. You
  will find many hints on modifying your keyboard layout  on the console
  as well as for X.

  5.2.	The .xinitrc file

  To use X, you need a startup file that calls the local  modifications,
  the window manager and some application you want to have right after X
  has started. If you are using	startx	(or  runx)  to	start	X,  this
  startup  file	is  called 'xinitrc'. There is a standard xinitrc file,
  /usr/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc (-- This is the  traditional  location  for
  this	file.	The  Linux  filesystem	standard  places  this	file  to
  /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc in order to  allow  a	read-only  mounted  /usr
  partition. So you should look at that location first.--)

  .  If	you  are not content with what this file does (e.g. you want to
  use a different window-manager), you should copy this file to the file
  .xinitrc  in your home directory. After copying the file, you can edit
  it. Look at the manpages for startx and xinit for more information.

  Note that both the .xinitrc and the .Xresources file must be	readable
  and  executable, so run chmod u+rx .xinitrc and chmod u+rx .Xresources
  after editing them.

  5.3.	The personal X resource file

  Sometimes you won't be  content  with	default  settings  for	several
  applications	which  often  don't  have a configruration file of their
  own. You can change some of these defaults by setting X  resources  in
  the .Xresources file in your home directory. Note that you should know
  what effects the setting of the resources has to the programs you use.
  Read	the  manpages  for the program and for xrdb before fiddling with
  the Xresources file. This section is not needed to set  up  working  X
  environment, but to customize a working one.

  A  resource  file  looks  like  an  application default file (with the
  difference  that  in	the  resoucre	file   resources   for	several
  applications	are	set,	you   should	use   the   full   names
  (Progname.Resourcename) instead of abbreviating the program name by an
  asterisk.   Examples	of application default files can be found in the
  /usr/X386/lib/X11/app-defaults   directory.	Which	resources   are
  available  for a single application is usually shown in the manpage of
  the application.

  If you are running a colour server, you might want to put

       ______________________________________________________________________
       #ifdef COLOR
       *customization: -color
       #endif
       ______________________________________________________________________

  into your .Xresources file if some  programs	start  up  b&w	and  not
  colourful.  If the upper change is made (it definetly should be in the
  system Xresources file, so you might hint  that  to  the  distribution
  maintainer),	a  program  foo will read both the Foo and the Foo-color
  application default file from /usr/X386/lib/X11/app-defaults, not just
  the first which is the usual behaviour.

  Note	that  the  b&w outfit of a program may caused by the program not
  supporting colours.

  5.4.	Using xdm

  If you want to run X on your system all the time, you	could	run  xdm
  from	the system startup. xdm is preconfigured on most systems, so you
  should not have to edit any of the xdm configuration files.  Usually a
  runlevel  is attached to a X-only system (look into /etc/inittab), all
  you have to do to get it working is changing the default runlevel.  On
  systems  that	use  an  init	without	runlevels (run man init to see,
  whether or not), you should look into the  /etc/rc  and  /etc/rc.local
  files,  you usually only have to remove comment signs at the beginning
  of a line that calls xdm. If no such line  is	present,  you	probably
  have	a  system that has no preconfigured xdm. Look at the manpages to
  see what has to be done (and complain to the distribution  maintainer,
  if  the  distribution contains XFree86). If you install XFree86 on top
  of a distribution that is not providing  X  support,	you  should  get
  enough  information from the manpages. Help is also available from the
  X Faq, look at section 9 where to get this.

  xdm runs by default the .xinitrc [cf 5.2] and the  .Xresources [cf 5.3]
  files, so look at the sections above.

  5.5.	Configuration of the window manager

  Window  managers  are a very local issue. There are quite a lot window
  managers available [cf. 7]. Configuration  of  one  windowmanager  is
  quite different from that of another. You should look at your .xinitrc
  file or the system xinitrc [cf 5.2]  file, which window manager is used
  (hint: most window managers have a wm ending) and look at its manpage.
  Configuration is usually explained there.  The most common used window
  managers for Linux are:

  twm  (part  of  the  XFree86 distribution), fvwm (this seems to be the
  most popular), olwm or olvwm (from  the  Xview[TM]  package),	or  mwm
  (part of Motif[TM]).

  5.6.	Running X

  Once you have set up a Xconfig file, you probably want to run X.  This
  is not done by running X, but by running startx.  When running it  for
  the  first time run startx 2>1 > Xstartup.log	(--  For csh users this
  should read startx >&	Xstartup.log .--)

  to get a log file of the X startup. If problems are encountered,  this
  file will help you by providing information for you and for anyone you
  ask about your problems.

  If you encounter any problems, please look at the Appendix C	and  at
  the  XFree86 documentation files in /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc. These files
  provide a lot of information on what to do if problems occur.	If  you
  still	cannot	solve	the problems, procede as in Section 9. The FAQs
  that are mentioned there provide help on many problems you  have  with
  X, so you should get these and read them, too.

  You  should  make  sure that the PATH and MANPATH (or path and manpath
  for csh derivates) variables are set correctly.

  6.  tinyX - a XFree86 based package for low memory systems

  Note that while you can run X on 4 MB RAM systems using tinyX,  it  is
  not  useable	for more complex applications or several applications at
  the same time.

  If you have not enough memory to run the stock  XFree86  distribution,
  you  might  try  to  get  this package. It is based on XFree86, so the
  difficult parts of the configuration (setting up the Xconfig file) are
  identical. To run it you need at least 4 MB RAM and another 12 MB swap
  space.  There are now several tinyX versions,	one  for  each	of  the
  different   servers	supplied  by  XFree86.	Please	read  the  above
  description of the servers to get the right version  of  tinyX.  These
  packages are named like

  tinyX-YYY-ver.tar.gz,	where	YYY  denotes  the  server  name (without
  leading XF86_)

  You can find tinyX on sunsite in the /pub/Linux/X11 hierarchy.  Please
  look	in your neighbourhood for a Mirror of it [cf. 4.1].  You untar it
  as root from /. After this you have to setup a Xconfig file [cf.  5.2].
  The documentation and READMEs for tinyX as well as most of the XFree86
  documentation files  can  be	found  in  /readmes.  Read  the	XFree86
  documentation	files	before	setting	up  a	Xconfig file as they are
  required for this.

  The tinyX documentation includes a lot of useful information on memory
  saving   techniques.	You  should  follow  at  least	some  of  these
  suggestions, as running X while swapping constantly is no fun	at  all
  :-(.	If  you  are  running	out  of	memory your system will lock up
  completely (in many cases the only way out is to turn off power or  to
  make	a  hard	reset - both is very dangerous for your filesystem). So
  read these files before starting X so that this does not  happen.  You
  should  read the sections on configuring your X11 system, too [cf. 5.2,
  5.4, 5.5, and 5.6].

  As tinyX does not include all documentation  available  with	XFree86,
  you  might notice that you are pointed to a file that is not included.
  In this case you must get the rest of	the  documentation  files  (and
  perhaps the manpages, too) from any XFree86 site [cf. 4.1]. If you have
  enough disk space for that, this is highly recommended anyway.

  Note that XFree86 specific manpages (as the Server manpages,...)   are
  not in the *-man* but in the *-doc* files.

  7.  X related packages

  There	are  a lot of packages that are related to X. The first two are
  mentioned by name, as they have a great influence on the look-and-feel
  of X.

     Xview

	The  xview3L5.1.tar.gz	package	is a port of SUN[TM]'s xview3.2
	package by Kenneth Osterberg to Linux.	It  includes  the  xview
	toolkit,  a  set  of extensions to X. It will give you the look-
	and-feel of the Open Look[TM] extension to  X  (many  will  know
	that  from  Open  Windows[TM]  from  SUN). You can get it in the
	/pub/Linux/libs/X   directory	on    sunsite	or    in    the
	/pub/linux/binaries/usr.bin.X11 directory on tsx-11 [cf 4.1].

	To install it, untar the tarfile as root in some directory (e.g.
	/usr/src), read the  documentation  that  comes	with  it  (most
	important  the README) and run the INSTALL script. Note that you
	need about 25MB free disk space to install it  completely  (with
	examples). This is partly due to the fact that for some time all
	files are twice on the disk. After running  the	INSTALL  script
	and  removing the xview3L5.1 directory you will need about 11 MB
	(including all examples). If you do  not  want	to  install  the
	examples  , you will need about 9 MB. If you do not want to com-
	pile any program that uses xview, you can spare another	2.5  MB
	by  removing  the static (*.a) and stub (*.sa) libraries. Do not
	remove the shared (*.so) libraries, though!

	For running Xview you need at least 8 MB of RAM, better 16 MB.

     Motif

	This is commercial software, so you will have to pay for it. You
	can  find  an  advertisement from Metrolink (a company that pro-
	vides a	port  to  Linux)  on  tsx-11:/pub/linux/advertisements.
	There  are  more  companies  that sell Motif. Every now and then
	advertisements will appear in comp.os.linux.announce.

     Windowmanagers [cf. 5.5]

	Both aforementioned packages provide window  managers  different
	than  the  standard  twm that comes with XFree86. Many people do
	not like this window manager. There are several further	window-
	managers  available  that run on Linux. A selection of these can
	be found on  sunsite  in  the  directory  /pub/Linux/X11/Window-
	managers.

     Additional libraries

	Sometimes  you will need additional libraries to run binary dis-
	tributions of some application or to compile  it  yourself  [cf.
	8]. If the first is the case, you should find a pointer to that
	library in the Readme file of that package. If you do  not  have
	any pointer, you should look at the /pub/Linux/libs hierarchy at
	sunsite.  Most libraries that work on Linux can be found  there.
	If  you	cannot	find it there and you have Internet access, you
	should follow the instructions on getting information below [cf.
	9  ].

     X11 Applications

	There  are  many  programs and applications available for X, far
	too  many  to  give  even  examples  here.  Look   through   the
	/pub/Linux/X11	hierarchy  on sunsite for ports of many packages
	to Linux. Most programs need no changes at all to run on  Linux,
	so  you	should look at the generic X11 program archives as well
	as at the Linux specific sites. One of the largest X11 sites  is
	ftp.x.org. In the R5contrib directory you can find many programs
	for X11.

  8.  Compiling programs that use X

  Please read the GCC-FAQ, that can be found in the docs directories  of
  sunsite  and	tsx-11 before compiling any programs. Many questions (in
  fact, most) on compiling programs with Linux are answered there.  Many
  Linux	distributions	include	most  relevant	FAQs  in  the directory
  /usr/doc, so you might look there first.

  If you have the source code for a program that uses  X11,  usually  it
  will	be  shipped  with an Imakefile instead of a Makefile. What to do
  now?

  Run xmkmf in the directory that containes the Imakefile. If there is a
  hierarchy of directories with Imakefiles, you usually only have to run
  xmkmf in the root directory of that hierachy. You  can  configure  the
  rest	by  typing  make Makefiles. This will build the Makefiles in all
  directories in the hierachy. Then you should run make depend. Don't be
  afraid  if include files like stddef.h, varargs.h, ...  are not found,
  they are gcc	proprietary  header  files  and	therefore  not	in  the
  standard  include  directories  (XFree86  versions  prior to 2.1 use a
  makedepend not based on gcc -M). After that you can make  the	program
  by  running  make and you can install it (usually in /usr/X386/bin) by
  running make install, installing of the manpages is  done  by	running
  make	install.man.  Of  course,  before even running xmkmf, you should
  have read the documentation that comes usually with such packages.

  If libraries are missing, please read section 7 above.

  9.  Finding Information on X and XFree86 on the net

  For general X questions you should read the FAQ and  the  Xt-FAQ  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:

  o  which Operating System and which release of it are you running

  o  which  hardware  do  you  have  (at  least bus type (ISA/EISA/VLB),
     graphic card (including chipset, video RAM type (D/VRAM), size  and
     speed))

  o  a concise decription of the problem

  o  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)

  o  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 C).

  Bug	reports	or  questions	on  XFree86  can  be  sent  directly  to
  [email-masked]. This is the contact address of  The	XFree86
  Project.

  There are some other newsgroups that cover X related topics:

  o  comp.windows.x.apps - for X applications

  o  comp.windows.x.intrinsics - for X intrinsic

  o  comp.windows.x.motif - for the Motif extension to X

  o  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.

  10.  Why should I upgrade my system and how do I do that?

  Upgrading  will  always  refer  to  the  latest  XFree86  distribution
  (currently 2.1.1).  First of all, take a look at the bugs section [cf.
  A]. If you are caught by one of those bugs, you should  upgrade.  You
  should  upgrade,  if	you  want to use one of the newer features.  You
  should upgrade in any case if you are not running at least XFree86 2.0
  as  the shared libraries of XFree86 version 2 and those of the earlier
  versions are partly incompatible. Some bugs have been fixed since then
  and  most binary packages that use X11 are linked with the XFree86 2.?
  libraries.

  Every subsection has a  list	of  new	features  (if	there  are  any)
  angainst the next newer version.

  Furthermore  you should upgrade if you have problems with your Xconfig
  file and want to use the new ConfigXF86 utility.

  10.1.	Upgrading from XFree86 versions before 2.0

  You should get the complete distribution but the fonts files	(*-fnt*)
  which have not changed.

  10.2.	Upgrading from XFree86 2.0

  You  should get the complete libraries and programs file, as there are
  some bugfixes (most important several security holes in  xterm).   New
  features in 2.1 are:

  o  kernel keytable support.

  o  8bit  colour  lookup  table  support  for	some RAMDACs (S3 &Mach32
     servers).

  o  Support for SPEA Mercury, TI RAMDACs, additional line lengths,  and
     (preliminary) Bt485 (S3 server).

  o  Better DRAM card support (S3 server).

  o  Pixmux code for some RAMDACs (Mach32 server).

  10.3.	Upgrading from XFree86 2.1

  You  only need to upgrade if you have problems due to one of the bugs.
  If you start using XFree86 you should get 2.1.1,  as	many  bugs  have
  been	fixed  and  there  is a new configuration utility that will make
  installation much easier.  New features in 2.1.1:

  o  ConfigXF86

  o  full Bt485 support (S3 server).

  Appendix

  A.  Bugs in XFree86

  A.1.	XFree86 2.0

  The know bugs in XFree86 2.0 are:

  o  No Bt485 pixmux support (S3 server) - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  Font restauration	and  text  mode	restauration  are  not	working
     correctly on some S3 cards (S3 server) - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  No line length of 1152 supported (S3 server) - fixed in 2.1.

  o  Linear Frame buffer code buggy (S3 server) - fixed in 2.1.

  o  LinkKit bug (S3 & VGA16 server) - fixed in 2.1.

  o  The Compaq AVGA driver is not working correctly - fixed in 2.1.

  o  The  clock probing code is not working for WD90C3? cards - fixed in
     2.1.

  o  The ATI SVGA server is not working correctly - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  The Mach32 server has problems to detect some more recent revisions
     of the mach32 chip.

  o  There are some bugs in the accelerated Cirrus server.

  o  There is a problem with xset fp rehash due to the memory management
     - supposedly fixed in 2.1.1.

  A.2.	XFree86 2.1

  The know bugs in XFree86 2.1 are:

  o  The Bt485 pixmux support (S3 server) is only working for some cards
     (SPEA  Mercury).  It  is  not  working on most other cards (#9, STB
     Pegasus,...)  - fixed in 2.1.1 for most cards.

  o  Font restauration and text	mode  restauration  still  not	working
     correctly on some S3 cards - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  The ATI SVGA server does not work correctly - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  The Mach32 server has problems to detect some more recent revisions
     of the mach32 chip.

  o  Less bugs in the Cirrus drivers, but there still are some.

  o  Still problem with the Compaq driver - fixed in 2.1.1.

  o  still xset fp rehash problems - fixed in 2.1.1.

  A.3.	XFree86 2.1.1

  o  Some not yet resolved problems with the Mach servers.

  B.  The Future of XFree86

  At the moment the XFree86 team is working on X11 release 6.  The  next
  version,  XFree86  3.0  is  based  on X11R6 and is incorporated in the
  official X11 distribution. This release is not yet  useable  on  Linux
  (at  least  parts  of	it).  Please wait until XFree86 3.1 is released
  which will provide all features of both X11R6 and the current	XFree86
  version (2.1.1).

  To  get  version  3.1	working is first priority for the XFree86 team.
  After this is done, new features and new hardware will be worked upon.

  C.  Some Questions and Answers

  Q:  I	noticed  that X11 Release 6 has been announced. Can I use it on
  Linux?  

  A: Please look at appendix B above. You should not use it  at
  the  moment.	
  
  Q:  I	started	X  by	running	'X'. I get the stippled
  background, but no window at all. What am I doing wrong?

  A: Running  X	starts	only  the  server,  no	window-manager	and  no
  applications. The usual way to start X is running 'startx'.

  Q: Is there support for 16-bit or 24-bit colour modes?

  A:  No, there is only support for 1-bit, 4-bit and 8-bit colour in the
  moment.  The 4-bit server (XF86_VGA16) is in an experimental stage, so
  there	are  bugs and problems using it. Most of the known problems are
  mentioned in the manpage.

  Q: I have a Logitech serial mouse  but  it  does  not	work  with  the
  Logitech keyword.

  A: The Logitech keyword is for older Logitech serial mice, more recent
  Logitech serial mice use the MouseMan or Microsoft  keyword.	Logitech
  serial mice plugged into a ps/2 port use the ps/2 keyword.

  Q:  My  server  is  unable  to find some of the fonts (e.g. font fixed
  cannot be loaded at startup).

  A: First check that the directories in the font path	in  the	Xconfig
  file	are  named  correctly  and  contain  fonts. If that is the case,
  running mkfontdir in all of those directories may help you.

  Q: I have the problem that the fonts are not restored correctly  after
  leaving X. My screen looks totally garbled.

  A:  This  is	not  yet completely resolved. There are utilities called
  runx , restoretext,... coming with  svgalib  (sunsite:/pub/Linux/libs)
  that	help in most cases. In the S3 server from XFree86 2.1.1 this bug
  is fixed.

  Q: I have a s3 card and it does not work  properly.  The  screen  gets
  distorted when dragging windows and it frequently locks up.

  A:  First try to use options nomemaccess or nolinear. If both does not
  help and you have a s3 928, try specifying chipset s3_generic in  your
  Xconfig.  If	nothing	helps,	it  might  be a incompatibility problem
  between your graphic card and your motherboard. Try to see if the card
  works in a different system, if you can get your hands on one.

  Q:  I had a normal SVGA card up to now with 1 MB of video RAM. With it
  I could do a virtual resolution of 1152x900 or 1024x1024. Why does  it
  not work on my new s3 card?

  A: All but the most recent revisions of the s3 chips cannot use a line
  length of 1152, so a length of 1280 is used  for  this  resolution  in
  XFree86  2.0.	The  later versions can use the line length of 1152 for
  the more recent revisions. If you have a new	revision,  grade  up  to
  2.1.1	and it should work.  Furthermore the s3 server needs 1k for the
  cursor, so a virtual resolution using 1MB will not  work.   Note  that
  you  will  need  some	memory on the graphics card for font and pixmap
  caching if you want to get maximum performance from your graphic card.
  So  the  memory  is  not  wasted, but will get you a great performance
  boost. Try running some font or pixmap specific mode of  x11perf  with
  maximal allowed virtual resolution (e.g.  1024x1023) and with 1024x768
  and compare the results!  Recommended	resolutions  are  1024x768  and
  1152x800  for	1MB  cards.   With  the older chip revisions the latter
  resolution leaves not too much memory to the font cache, so  you  will
  have	a  performance loss using large fonts. For normal use with fonts
  up to 18 points it should be OK, though.

  Q: I have a s3 Localbus card and the server cannot find a high  memory
  area. Then it disables direct memory access. What should i do?

  A:  There  are  some strange problems with Localbus cards. It is being
  worked upon. If you are using XFree86 2.0, put option	"nolinear"  and
  option "memaccess" into your Xconfig file. This will enable the server
  to use the 64k aperture that is supported even for  ISA  cards.   This
  will	furthermore  prevent  the following problem (this bug is only in
  XFree86 2.0): Due to a bug in the linear frame  buffer  code,	the  s3
  processor  is	not  reset  correctly, once a large (e.g. 1024k) linear
  frame buffer is found. Thus the server will not work after that if  it
  fails	to  find the high memory area until a hard reset is sent to the
  chip (i.e.  even a normal reboot will not reset the system).

  Q: I have a WD90C3x based graphic card. XFree86 2.0 seems not to probe
  the clocks correctly. What can I do?

  A: Yup, there is a bug in the clock probing code in XFree86-2.0. It is
  fixed in 2.1. Grade up!

  Q: I have a Diamond Viper card. Why does it not work?

  A: In addition to being a Diamond product, this card is based	on  the
  P9000	chip  by  Weitek. This chip is not yet supported by XFree86, so
  you have only a chance to get it  working  with  one	of  the	generic
  servers  (i.e.  Mono	or  VGA16). You will have nevertheless the clock
  setting problem that prevents the other diamond cards from working.

  Q: I have a card with the Compaq AVGA chip. It does not work.

  A: The AVGA support seems to be completely  broken  in  2.0.	This  is
  fixed in 2.1.

  Q: I have a busmouse and am running selection. The server has problems
  with recognizing the mouse.

  A: Selection has some problems with busmice. XFree86 cannot  open  the
  mouse	device	if selection is running on it. So kill selection before
  starting XFree86.
  Q: The server dies with the message "Cannot find a free VT".

  A: XFree86 needs a free VT to run on. So  if	you  have  put	a  getty
  process on every virtual console in you /etc/inittab, XFree86 will not
  be able to start. I suggest to let /dev/tty8 (for kernel messages) and
  /dev/tty7 (for XFree86) free of a getty process.

  Q:  Why  is  the XF86_Mono server not working with my hercules card, I
  thought this card was supported?

  A: The hercules driver (as well as the BDM2 driver)  is  not	part  of
  XF86_Mono  by	default.  Get	the LinkKit and you can include it.  You
  will need about 4 MB free disk space and about 5 minutes for	building
  the server (on a 486/30).

  Q: I have problems with the backspace and delete keys.

  A:  You can solve this using either loadkeys or xmodmap. In your shell
  initialization file (.bashrc, .zshrc, ...) you have to set  the  right
  behaviour  of the shell using stty. Please read the manpages how to do
  that.

  There are a lot strange phenomena reported  that  cannot  be	handeled
  here.	If your card has a switch for bus waitstates, it helps in many
  cases to put this to the 1WS setting. You  should  also  look	at  the
  remarks above on setting some BIOS values. As many reports (especially
  on BIOS setting) are contradicting, you should try several settings.

  N.  Acknowledgements

  Dirk Hohndel ([email-masked]) and David E.  Wexelblat  ([email-masked])
  helped writing this HOWTO.

  O.  Trademarks

  XFree86 is a trademark of The XFree86 Project, Inc.

  Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation.

  SUN, Xview, and Open Windows are trademarks of SUN Microsystems.

  Open Look is a trademark of AT&T.

  Microsoft  is a trademark of Microsoft.

  Logitech and MouseMan are trademarks of Logitech.

  Intel and Pentium are trademarks of Intel.

  PostScript is a trademark of Adobe.