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There's actually at least some work being done on getting native anti-aliasing and translucency in X. Check out http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/

Antialiasing at small point sizes is unhelpful on most display technologies as all it does it makes the text blurry - try it, it looks crap. That's why they don't do it.

I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned you're so completely wrong its not even funny.Maybe its just a personal preference thing, but I'll happily sacrifice a little 'blurring' if it means I get more readable text plus the ability to actually read text rendered at very small point sizes.

Like Toby (above) {Hi Toby!} I've seen and used the Acorn font renderer and the difference it made to readability and perhaps more importantly useability was outstanding.

Keith Packers example page at http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/compare.html has some good textual examples. Note that yes, clearly a hand drawn bitmap font at a particular font size will be fine, but having true antialiased vector fonts gives you so much more flexibility and readability that you don't want to go back.

just my 2p :)

Yes! Go here and checkout how anti-aliased fonts are being implemented in the new X. From what I can see from the spec, we may end up with really nice fonts after all.

After using the apt repository on Branden's(the Debian X Maintainer) website to have XFree86 4.0.1 on two of my desktop machines, I have a few words of advice.

1. The 4.x X servers use a new style of configuration file. It's supposed to be automagically generated by running xf86cfg; however, this doesn't always work. Branden has written a tool to generate the config file, but it doesn't always work either. In lieu of this, it's probably a good idea to go to XFree86.org and brush up on the 4.0 series XF86Config file format before upgrading. Also, the new name for the config file is XF86Config-4 (I don't know if this is debian specific) instead of XF86Config.

2. If you're planning on using a 3d accelerated graphics card i.e. (Rage 128, 3dfx, etc), you must have DRI support compiled into your kernel with the appropriate kernel module for your card. There is a new Mesa for XFree86 4.0.1 that has builtin support for DRI; however, there is a problem with this package. It does not include the libGLU(a subset of the Mesa library) static library or header files. This means that you must manually extract libGLU from the existing Woody Mesa package and copy it into /usr/local/lib/whatever if you plan on running 3d apps that depend on libGLU(almost all!).

3. There are still serious issues with 3d acceleration on the Rage 128 cards and 3dfx cards. If I run tuxracer(or any GL app) with certain WindowMaker apps running(from inside of Blackbox), I get constant blinking inside of the 3d application. The solution(for now) is to shut down any WM applet that refreshes constantly. Don't even try to use 3d acceleration inside of enlightenment(horrible blinking).

4. Try to avoid emailing Branden at all costs. He's been less than friendly to me, and I know other people who have had similar experiences.

Other than that, the new X is really nice and noticably faster than the 3.3 series. Enjoy it.

Consider it granted that the existing code base will be very useful for reference, and possibly even code fragments, when writing the new drivers. That does not deny that the drivers need to be created afresh.

Drivers get written based on two things:

• Developers wanting to do so, and
• Developers being encouraged to want to do so .

It's not S3 that "sucks," and, it should be noted, by the way, under S3 driver support that it's only the S3V that is supported; my S3 968 board is not supported , with no plans for that to be upcoming.

To the contrary, it's closer to being you that suck. If you want S3V supported, then you should either be looking at the code, or doing something like sending a donation to XFree86 along with encouragement that they improve S3V support.

A 4MB S3V card is likely worth $10 these days; that is just not going to warrant a lot of work at this time when they're only available as surplus, and when efforts are concentrating more on supporting 3D hardware which an S3V "325" is just incapable of coping with well.

You should check out the XFree Render Extension that's being developed by Keith Packard (homepage here). This does antialiased text in X using your exisiting 3D accelerator (if possible). It also supports REAL alpha transparancy unlike the "let's make this Term psuedo transparent for this screenshot" crap you see all over the place. -adnans

I was really just wondering if the Qt free version for Unix could be compiled using the Cygwin tools. If so, you could run Qt based apps in Windows as long as you use an X server on the windows box.

Here's your shareware X11 server. However, there is no free X server on Win32...

...yet. Care to port XFree86 to Win32+Cygwin using DirectX as the frame buffer?

Sounds to me like OpenGL using the DRI stuff with XFRee86 4.0 should be pretty low-latency, since that makes your app talk directly to the hardware. Oh, and modern 3D hardware sure beats (S)VGA when it comes to doing stuff on screen. (And no, I'm not karma-whoring with those links) ;^)

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout 1"
Screen "MGA 1"
Screen "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse 1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse 2" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "BlankTime" "5"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout 1"
Screen "MGA 1"
Screen "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse 1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse 2" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "BlankTime" "5"
EndSection

• The memory devices and other componenets used on consoles are patented; only the console maker can authorize production of console software. For example, there wasn't an NES demoscene until the NES patents expired.
• Console makers are suing manufacturers of cartridge and disc dumping hardware (such as Bung) out of existence.

Symantec & Lotus: They already sold out, or have been crushed by Microsoft. Much more worrisome.

The following Symantec products serve to correct or work around design flaws of Windows/DOS or MacOS:

• Norton AntiVirus -- While viruses running under Linux have been created as experiments, the Linux platform does not suffer from the promiscuous vulnerability to machine-code viruses of unprotected platforms. Nor do Linux's popular applications suffer from unprotected scripting systems vulnerable to viruses.
• Norton CleanSweep -- Almost all Linux-based OSes use package-management systems such as dpkg and rpm, which permit the clean uninstallation of programs.
• Norton Speed Disk -- ext2fs, the current standard filesystem for Linux, does not suffer from the severe fragmentation problems of FAT, nor from the somewhat lesser but noticeable ones of FAT's successors and MacOS's HFS.

The following Symantec products serve purposes already filled by existing free software:

• Mail Gear -- The foremost mail daemons for Linux (such as sendmail, postfix, and qmail) already support the filtration of mail. Users can use procmail recipes or other tools to accomplish the task at their level.
• Norton Ghost -- Virtually every Linux-based OS ships with backup/recovery and disk-imaging tools such as dump, tar, and dd. There are even X-based versions such as guiTAR available.
• Norton Internet Security (firewall portion) -- Firewall capability is built into the Linux kernel. Several popular free packages exist to do rule-based intrusion detection, such as snort.
• Norton Utilities -- Though ext2fs is more robust than FAT or HFS, it can suffer from disk hosement in certain situations (such as loss of power); in these cases, Linux already has fsck. (Norton Utilities also contains tools that belong in the previous category, such as software to prevent program crashes from bringing down the whole OS.)
• pcAnywhere -- Linux has ssh and X for secure remote login and display.
• Procomm Plus -- The last thing Linux needs is another terminal emulator.
• Retriever -- Port-scanning software is hardly anything new to Unix; for network security mapping try SATAN or one of its derivatives such as SAINT.
• WinFax PRO -- The Hylafax system supports the sending and receiving of faxes under Linux (and other Unices) as well as network-based faxing.

The following Symantec products serve political purposes not in tune with many or most Linux users; specifically, they are parental or office censorware:

• I-Gear
• Norton Internet Security (censorware portion)

The following Symantec products are potentially useful under a Linux-based OS:

• Expert -- From the blurb, this sounds like an attempt at implementing Bruce Schneier's model of analyzing security as a business risk. (I am not convinced that Schneier is right, nor do I claim that Symantec Expert is a good implementation of his ideas ... but that's another story.)
• Mobile Essentials -- While one could well keep several versions of /etc in tarballs and untar the right one for each location, I imagine laptop users would like a clean way to switch from one set of settings to another.
• TalkWorks PRO -- The last time I looked into the matter, there didn't seem to be any reasonably advanced voice-mail or answering-machine packages for Linux.

(Mobile WinFax is not counted as it runs on the PalmOS, not a conventional OS. Norton SystemWorks is not counted because it is a bundle of several packages listed above.)

In short, it is not to be taken as a surprise that Symantec, and other "utility software" companies, see themselves as not having anything to offer the Linux community -- they don't.

My usual reaction to thoughts of buying Accelerated X is to suggest, as a thought, that the gentle reader consider:

• Spending the $200 on a card that is supported by XFree86 ;
• Spending $100 on a supported card, and donate $100 to XFree86.

The one situation where Xi's products really might commend themselves are where you want to use a really high end 3D graphics card in conjunction with a heavily tuned OpenGL implementation.

The other arguable situation where one might need Xi is when you get yourself into the unfortunate condition of having bought a laptop for which XFree86 does not support the video chipset.

Although I think I'd rather do business with MetroLink, personally...

PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, but Aladdin Enterprises (not the StuffIt maker) has produced a portable GPL'd PostScript interpreter and tools called the GhostScript package. It even includes the GhostView PDF viewer for those platforms that have X11 servers.
<O
( \
XGNOME vs. KDE: the game!

Free86 takes the code that the X Consortium has developed and changes it in such a way as to make it x86 native

Thats what they did originally. Lately, they've started applying useful patches to the clients and libraries from outside sources that may or may not every get into TOG's X(tm). For example, XFree includes the xterm patches from here, added the essential XPM library, and beefed up Xaw to make it almost usable. Check out the release notes for more details.

Even more recently, they've started to tackle the key features that hold X back, like font handling and transparency. Check the mailing list archive for the most recent developments.

Free86 takes the code that the X Consortium has developed and changes it in such a way as to make it x86 native

Thats what they did originally. Lately, they've started applying useful patches to the clients and libraries from outside sources that may or may not every get into TOG's X(tm). For example, XFree includes the xterm patches from here, added the essential XPM library, and beefed up Xaw to make it almost usable. Check out the release notes for more details.

Even more recently, they've started to tackle the key features that hold X back, like font handling and transparency. Check the mailing list archive for the most recent developments.

A lot of the things Linux users have been beefing about are starting to come together. Check out the new veriosn of FreeType, which includes 8-bit anti-aliasing and many nifty rendering features for many different types of fonts. See also the new experimental rendering engine for XFree86 here. Check out those translucent TWM windows. MMMM.

Sorry, dude, but X has already been created, and Z is a shell. Y, however, appears to be available ;)

Warning: this may or may not work.

Having said that, from http://www.xfree86.org/current/mouse.4. html:

Option "Buttons" "integer" Specifies the number of mouse buttons. In cases where the number of buttons cannot be auto-detected, the default value is 3.

Can't you just put the value of "4" in there?

the graphics issues are simply a matter of LinuxJava accessing the hardware directly.

No. A better design is to have a rendering extension in the X server that knows everything about the hardware, and a Java library that just calls this extension. Trust me, you don't want your JDK's libraries to know about the difference between a G200 and a G400.

Currently, X11 rendering is inadequate for Java, and e.g. Java2D does all its rasterisation client-side and blits it to the X server.

There is a lot of XFree86-related work aiming to develop rendering extensions:

• Keth Packard's rendering extension;
• GLX/OpenGL and DRI;
• a DPS extension (anyone notice how similar Java2D is to DPS?);
• XVideo;
• others?

• X with xterms (courtesy of XFree86): $0
• cscope (courtesy of SCO): $0
• vim (courtesy of Sven Guckes): $0

The best IDE that money can't buy: priceless

This post brought to you by the letters v and i.

IBM is running X11 (R6.3) on a wristwatch.
--

Well, yes, for the implementation side that is I guess the goal for Xfree5

But I meant the spec-side, API + wire protocol. There, you have to be backwards compatible and use extentions.

By the way, just read on the mailinglist that Keith already hacked in some font support, so all the key features seem to be there for a demo. Exciting to watch...

antialiased font?? I thought it was internal xlib problem and not solvable baring serious X modifications ( of course one can always resort to drawing and antialiasing letters on his own but that sucks)

I think there might be some component of GNOME (not GTK+) that does exactly that (rendering stuff on its own); I have the impression that FrameMaker for UNIX might do so as well.

However, Keith Packard's paper on a new rendering model for X speaks of anti-aliasing for text (see section 4.5, "Text", at the bottom of that section) as one feature to be added. I presume this - and other work described therein - would be done by adding protocol extensions (and requiring toolkits to fall back on doing the rendering themselves, or disabling the features in question, if the extensions aren't present; see section 3, "Reasons for a New Model").

Look here.

$ cat < /dev/mouse

• 3Dfx
  All hardware supported in 3.3.6 is also supported in 4.0.1.
• 3Dlabs
  All hardware supported in 3.3.6 is also supported in 4.0.1.
• Alliance
  The AP6422 is supported in 3.3.6 but not fully in 4.0.1. The AT25 is supported in 4.0.1 but not in 3.3.6.
• ARK Logic
  No ARK Logic chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• ATI
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are supported in 4.0.1 except for Mach8 and some old Mach32 chips. The support in 4.0.1 is, however, unaccelerated for all chips except the Mach64, Rage and Rage 128 variants.
• Avance Logic
  No Avance Logic chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Chips and Technologies
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• Cirrus Logic
  The following chips are supported in 3.3.6 but not in 4.0.1: 6410, 6412, 6420, 6440, 5420, 5422, 5424, 5426, 5428, 5429, 6205, 6215, 6225, 6235, 7541, 7542, 7543, 7548, 7555 and 7556.
• Compaq/Digital
  No Compaq AVGA support in 4.0.1. DEC TGA support is equivalent in both versions.
• Cyrix
  No Cyrix chips are well-supported in 4.0.1.
• Epson
  No Epson chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Genoa
  No Genoa chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• IBM
  The standard VGA core is supported in both versions, but there is no support for the 8514/A or XGA-2 in 4.0.1.
• IIT
  No IIT chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Intel
  The i740 and i810 are supported in both versions, but the i810 is only supported on Linux/x86 platforms at present.
• Matrox
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• MX (???)
  No MX (???) chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• NCR
  No NCR chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• NeoMagic
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• NVIDIA
  All chipsets supported in 3.3.6 except the NV1 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• Number Nine
  No Number Nine chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Oak Technologies Inc
  No Oak chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Paradise/Western Digital
  No Paradise/Western Digital chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• RealTek
  No RealTek chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Rendition/Micron
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• S3
  Only the ViRGE and Trio3D chipsets are supported in 4.0.1. All of the other chipsets are only supported in 3.3.6.
• Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS)
  Support for the 86C201, 86C202, 86C215, 86C225, 5597 and 5598 is currently only available in 3.3.6.
• Silicon Motion, Inc
  No SMI chips are supported in 4.0.1, but the fbdev driver is reported to work on Linux.
• Trident Microsystems
  The following (older) chipsets that are supported in 3.3.6 are not supported in 4.0.1: TVGA8200LX, TVGA8800CS, TVGA8900B, TVGA8900C, TVGA8900CL, TVGA9000, TVGA9000i, TVGA9100B, TVGA9200CXr, TGUI9400CXi, TGUI9420, TGUI9430DGi.
• Tseng Labs
  All cards supported by 3.3.6 are also supported by 4.0.1 except for the old ET3000.
• Video 7
  No Video 7 chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Weitek
  No Weitek chips are supported in 4.0.1.

• 3Dfx
  All hardware supported in 3.3.6 is also supported in 4.0.1.
• 3Dlabs
  All hardware supported in 3.3.6 is also supported in 4.0.1.
• Alliance
  The AP6422 is supported in 3.3.6 but not fully in 4.0.1. The AT25 is supported in 4.0.1 but not in 3.3.6.
• ARK Logic
  No ARK Logic chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• ATI
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are supported in 4.0.1 except for Mach8 and some old Mach32 chips. The support in 4.0.1 is, however, unaccelerated for all chips except the Mach64, Rage and Rage 128 variants.
• Avance Logic
  No Avance Logic chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Chips and Technologies
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• Cirrus Logic
  The following chips are supported in 3.3.6 but not in 4.0.1: 6410, 6412, 6420, 6440, 5420, 5422, 5424, 5426, 5428, 5429, 6205, 6215, 6225, 6235, 7541, 7542, 7543, 7548, 7555 and 7556.
• Compaq/Digital
  No Compaq AVGA support in 4.0.1. DEC TGA support is equivalent in both versions.
• Cyrix
  No Cyrix chips are well-supported in 4.0.1.
• Epson
  No Epson chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Genoa
  No Genoa chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• IBM
  The standard VGA core is supported in both versions, but there is no support for the 8514/A or XGA-2 in 4.0.1.
• IIT
  No IIT chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Intel
  The i740 and i810 are supported in both versions, but the i810 is only supported on Linux/x86 platforms at present.
• Matrox
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• MX (???)
  No MX (???) chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• NCR
  No NCR chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• NeoMagic
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• NVIDIA
  All chipsets supported in 3.3.6 except the NV1 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• Number Nine
  No Number Nine chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Oak Technologies Inc
  No Oak chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Paradise/Western Digital
  No Paradise/Western Digital chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• RealTek
  No RealTek chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Rendition/Micron
  All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.
• S3
  Only the ViRGE and Trio3D chipsets are supported in 4.0.1. All of the other chipsets are only supported in 3.3.6.
• Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS)
  Support for the 86C201, 86C202, 86C215, 86C225, 5597 and 5598 is currently only available in 3.3.6.
• Silicon Motion, Inc
  No SMI chips are supported in 4.0.1, but the fbdev driver is reported to work on Linux.
• Trident Microsystems
  The following (older) chipsets that are supported in 3.3.6 are not supported in 4.0.1: TVGA8200LX, TVGA8800CS, TVGA8900B, TVGA8900C, TVGA8900CL, TVGA9000, TVGA9000i, TVGA9100B, TVGA9200CXr, TGUI9400CXi, TGUI9420, TGUI9430DGi.
• Tseng Labs
  All cards supported by 3.3.6 are also supported by 4.0.1 except for the old ET3000.
• Video 7
  No Video 7 chips are supported in 4.0.1.
• Weitek
  No Weitek chips are supported in 4.0.1.

Binaries and complete source tar balls comming later.

Now when will it move into the 21st century and give us anti-aliasing?

Perhaps if and when the new rendering model discussed in this paper by Keith Packard, from USENIX 2000, is implemented; the paper suggests a number of enhancements to the X rendering model, including, but not limited to, anti-aliased fonts (alpha compositing; alpha-blending operations to improve, I infer, anti-aliasing of images; 32-bit coordinates with 8-bits of sub-pixel positioning; a fancier rendering primitive to draw objects out of trapezoids - see the article for a detailed explanation, I'm not a graphics expert; better text support, including access by the application to more information about the font such as pair kerning tables and raw outline data and metrics).

The paper doesn't say when this will happen, but I infer that this isn't just a wish list; Packard is, according to his page on the XFree86 Web site, working for SuSE on X.

Now when will it move into the 21st century and give us anti-aliasing?

Perhaps if and when the new rendering model discussed in this paper by Keith Packard, from USENIX 2000, is implemented; the paper suggests a number of enhancements to the X rendering model, including, but not limited to, anti-aliased fonts (alpha compositing; alpha-blending operations to improve, I infer, anti-aliasing of images; 32-bit coordinates with 8-bits of sub-pixel positioning; a fancier rendering primitive to draw objects out of trapezoids - see the article for a detailed explanation, I'm not a graphics expert; better text support, including access by the application to more information about the font such as pair kerning tables and raw outline data and metrics).

The paper doesn't say when this will happen, but I infer that this isn't just a wish list; Packard is, according to his page on the XFree86 Web site, working for SuSE on X.

Along with CVS access, XFree86 has created new public mailing lists for development and support. Existing private lists will remain for NDA'd topics, but there aren't many of those anymore.

1. "Experience the ultimate of video gaming action in your own home, with genuine interactive motion for IBM, and two of the most popular gaming platforms. Rock-N-Ride moves you and your monitor up to 55 degrees of rock and roll for the hottest gaming experience available today. Action flying and driving games will never be the same as you twist and turn through the game with unbelievable realism. Take a seat in a Rock-N-Ride simulator and fly into the future of home video gaming, the feeling is OUT OF THIS WORLD!!

(On a serious note, good comments in this AskSlashdot.)

How many of them have given you a condescending smile when you mentioned that you use X-Windows 3.x? In their mind, you're just another person who can't keep up with technology. So is the FSF just trying to one-up MS in their own game by releasing XFree86 4.0? Seems like it to me.

Nice troll! I'll bite. Lessee, where do I start.

• First of all, until XFree 4.0 came out, most people didn't give a rodent's sphinter what version number X server you were running. X was X. XFree 4.0 changes that a bit since it does provide a huge boatload of features. But still, I don't think I've ever bothered to talk about what version X server I run with almost anyone else. For most things it just doesn't matter. Which brings me to my next point...
• The version numbers for an X server do not compare to the version numbers for Microsoft Windows! It's a bit like comparing a JDK version number to Internet Exporer's version number -- it does Java, right? Wrong. "Microsoft Windows 3.x" vs "Microsoft Windows NT 4.0" is a huge difference, since it refers to the whole OS. The closest thing you could compare to is, perhaps, Linux distribution version numbers, which I do agree are inflated a little.
• The FSF doesn't produce XFree86. The XFree86 Project, Inc. does. XFree86 even comes under (and this is important) a non GPL license . The FSF would never do such a thing.

Why don't you do a little research occasionally?

How many of them have given you a condescending smile when you mentioned that you use X-Windows 3.x? In their mind, you're just another person who can't keep up with technology. So is the FSF just trying to one-up MS in their own game by releasing XFree86 4.0? Seems like it to me.

Nice troll! I'll bite. Lessee, where do I start.

• First of all, until XFree 4.0 came out, most people didn't give a rodent's sphinter what version number X server you were running. X was X. XFree 4.0 changes that a bit since it does provide a huge boatload of features. But still, I don't think I've ever bothered to talk about what version X server I run with almost anyone else. For most things it just doesn't matter. Which brings me to my next point...
• The version numbers for an X server do not compare to the version numbers for Microsoft Windows! It's a bit like comparing a JDK version number to Internet Exporer's version number -- it does Java, right? Wrong. "Microsoft Windows 3.x" vs "Microsoft Windows NT 4.0" is a huge difference, since it refers to the whole OS. The closest thing you could compare to is, perhaps, Linux distribution version numbers, which I do agree are inflated a little.
• The FSF doesn't produce XFree86. The XFree86 Project, Inc. does. XFree86 even comes under (and this is important) a non GPL license . The FSF would never do such a thing.

Why don't you do a little research occasionally?

You can also find information comparing driver support between XF86 3.3.x and XF86 4.0 here at the XFree86 website. You'll find that many popular graphics chipsets have yet to be ported to XF86 4.0.

About Linux
Linux is a free, Unix-like operating system (fundamental software) that has been developed by a loose-knit team of talented programmers working all over the world. Linux works on almost every kind of computer in existence, and provides a robust platform for a wide variety of applications.

Linux has blossomed to an estimated user base of 10-15 million since being created by Linus Torvalds in 1991.

IT analysts International Data Corporation (IDC) have predicted that Linux commercial shipments will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 25% until 2003 which is more than double the combined rate for all other server operating environments. For more information about Linux, please refer to: http://www.linux.com and http://www.xfree86.org

So how does this effect the dreams of those of us who dream of having an SGI flat panel display on our linux machines?

Well, the Graphics/Video Cards section of the SGI Flat Panel Q&A on SGI's Web site says:

SGI is committed to continue selling and supporting the digital graphics cards that are bundled with the Silicon Graphics 1600SW flat panel display. Production of the Number Nine cards for SGI continues uninterrupted, and the card will remain part of the 1600SW digital flat panel solution.

(production by whom? S3?) and also says:

Are there any other video adapters that support the 1600SW?
At this time there are not, but we hope to have something to announce by spring or summer of 2000.

and:

When will the 1600SW support DVI?
Keep watching our Web page for more news on this.

XFree86 4.0 doesn't support the Revolution IV-FP, according to the Number Nine page in the XFree86 4.0 driver status stuff:

22. Number Nine

3.3.6:

Support (accelerated) for the Imagine 128, Ticket 2 Ride, Revolution 3D and Revolution IV is provided by the XF86_I128 server.

4.0:

No native support for these chipsets, because the old driver has not been ported.

Summary:

No Number Nine chips are supported in 4.0.

I don't know if this means "has not yet been ported", i.e. that there is a port in progress, or not.

• This has nothing to do with the XFree86 code base.

  The restrictions that the XFree86 team have on releasing source code have nothing to do with the non-freeness of Motif, and everything to do with the fact that hardware vendors sometimes release documentation for hardware on the basis of Non Disclosure Agreements.

  Why would you think that the "partial freeing" of Motif would have anything at all to do with the activities of The XFree86 Project?

• As for anti-aliasing font handling, there are two methods to implement this:
  • As an extension to the X protocol.

    Perhaps in X11R6.5.

    As an extension, this would mean that only new applications that are aware of the new extension would use the new font handling scheme.

  • As an extension to some existing libraries.

    For instance, the GNOME "Canvas" appears to provide support for the use of anti-aliased fonts right now. Ditto for Display Postscript.

    Of course, in order to use the antialiased facilities, applications have to be specifically coded to use things like GNOME Canvas or DPS. Existing applications don't get benefit of it "for free."

  The only way that "legacy" applications would get any benefit from this extension is if they use libraries like GTK or Tk, and those libraries can be compatibly retrofitted to use anti-aliasing.

  Again, this is a matter that is almost entirely irrelevant to the "opening up" of Motif source code.

The definition of "emulator" has a slippery slope: NES virtual machines emulate the NES binary interface. Java virtual machines emulate the Java binary interface. Linux emulates the UNIX® source interface (most of POSIX® and much of the Single UNIX Spec). XFree86 "emulates" the X11 source interface. GTK+ emulates the GTK+ source interface. So you're saying an emulator is any program that exposes APIs, that all libraries are emulators?

Problem: Mac OS X has a server version that collides in namespace Product with the generic name of XFree86 Project Inc.'s product, an X server. That's why I always write "Mac OS 10" and "Mac OS 10 Server".

<offtopic>
XFree86 is making an X server for Windows. I just wonder what will happen if someone decides to make an open-source Mac OS X server.
</offtopic>
See where confusion can arise?

You can DL an X server that runs on MacOS X Server

/me looks for a version for Mac OS 10...
No such file or directory (ENOENT)

Where's the free X11 server for Mac OS 10?

Correct. Just as sales of Micro$oft Offie fund development of the Sindows OS, sales of Mac hardware subsidize Mac OS 10. I refuse to call it X because it doesn't come with an X server, only some Display PostS#t they call Quartz.

No, they won't have a problem with it -- XFree86 has been officially released (albeit with limited supported cards, which is presumably why SuSE 6.4 doesn't use it by default).

No, they won't have a problem with it -- XFree86 has been officially released (albeit with limited supported cards, which is presumably why SuSE 6.4 doesn't use it by default).

Well, it'll run under any OS that has drivers written for it ;)

But, I expect Matrox will provide drivers for Winxxx, and XFree86 4.0 has support for it, including multi-head and overlays (in 8-bit and 24-bit)

For information, it also includes support for GeForce and Voodoo3


http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/RELNOTES2.html#15 for info

--

I have been using the beta version for a while. Extremely nice. We actualy started ordering a linux render farm before we knew when it was going to be released for linux.
As with NT, the images will differ slightly due to floats and rounding and all that jazz. The images will be similar enough to mix shots but not individual frames.

Also, along the SGI and Linux front, I will post a tad of what I had tried to post as a story... no hard feelings here, just infot I thought you all would like to know.

This is from my review of SGI's Spring Linux University.

"Linux OpenGL
The presentation on Linux/OpenGL discussed the opening of OpenGL and the release of IRIS Performer for Linux. The current Mesa/OpenGL hardware
model was presented, with and without GLX (also opened by SGI). The statement was made that SGI was working with NVIDIA on video cards for 3D
graphics workstation level quality. It was also implied that the card would work with other Intel motherboards as well, but in an SGI Linux system one
would see an improvement.
SGI has been working on the direct interface for OpenGL to hardware for a while and has had to go through kernel modules to achieve the results that they
are looking for. No mention of DRI or XFree86 4.0.
"

and

"
Final Thoughts:

All in all, this was a good experience and I would suggest it to anybody. I learned about where SGI stood and where they were going with Linux. SGI is
not taking Linux lightly. We were assured that IRIX for MIPS was going to be continued to at least 2010, but that SGI was going to go into Linux without
looking back. Several mentions of open sourcing parts of IRIX for Linux were made.
I would say that SGI might become a Linux powerhouse in the near future and that what they have learned from previous business ventures has not been
wasted."

*Note: If anyone is working on migrating their render farm to support both SGI's and Linux boxes, I would love to get in contact with you. We use LSF on both platforms with a heavy perl backbone.

They finally updated their web site 15 minutes ago.

I'm for one is amazed at how fast the 4.0 release came. I'd expect many more 3.9 pre-releases. I fear it probably hasn't been tested as well, and it is a fact that it doesn't support all the hardware that 3.3 does.

I do hope that 4.0 is usable, and if so, perhaps new distributions may pick it up. Linux projects (with a few exceptions) have traditions of releasing software "when it's ready", no matter how much delay that means. This has given Linux it's reputation as a solid OS. I hope xfree86 4.0 will be no exception...

Has anyone used any of the pre-4.0 snapshots on an SGI 1600SW w/ the Number Nine TTR IV?

Unlikely, given that the Number Nine section of the driver status document says:

4.0:

No native support for these chipsets, because the old driver has not been ported.

Summary:

No Number Nine chips are supported in 4.0.

The release notes say:

This release isn't quite as complete as we would have liked. The main missing pieces are a nice configuration tool and support for some of the hardware that 3.3.x supports. The first point means that configuring the server might be more painful than usual. The second means that your hardware might not be supported by 4.0, or it might be supported at a lesser level (conversely, some hardware is better supported in 4.0). We've attempted to provide some information about the second point in our Driver Status document. Please check there first before trying 4.0. Unfortunately that document is still fairly basic, but it should at least give you an idea of whether you're likely to be able to use 4.0 at all or not.

which might (from the "as complete as we would have liked") indicate that support for the Number Nine cards, and other cards not supported in 4.0, may arrive in a later release.