Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the let-the-games-begin dept.
sammy!! writes "Debian unstable now has XFree86 4.0, so use apt-get or dselect and start downloading the new packages!"
There are still a ton of issues with it, but I've been using the XF86 debs for several months on my desktop, with no significant problems.
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.
-- A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
XFree86 Debs from additional apt source lines
by
Yebyen
·
· Score: 5
I have been using the unofficial (phase2) debs of XFree86 4.0.1 for a while, and they are impressive. They actually work a lot better than compiling from source for me. In case it matters to anybody, the nv.o module even supports GeForce2GTS and other cards only supported in CVS as of now.
These debs seem fairly stable to me and are worth the download for most cards. Enjoy!
--
-- Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
So who among us held out?
by
John+Whitley
·
· Score: 4
We need a/. poll:
Did you "hold out" knolwedge of the XFree86 4 debs until you'd downloaded yours?
( ) Yes, bwahaha.
( ) No
( ) First post!
( ) What's a deb?
Re:Xfree 4.x can be a little flaky
by
Fross
·
· Score: 5
but I have noticed recently that the X server will SIG 11 at odd times.
You mean it'll start flaming CmdrTaco then throw all its toys out of the pram and storm off?:)
The problem is that the driver scheme is completely revised in XFree86 4, thus meaning that drivers effectively need to be rewritten.
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.
-- If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Re:XFree 4.0 Moves into Woody
by
FiDooDa
·
· Score: 4
Taco doesn't use Red Hat or the others, that's why
Read This Before Upgrading!
by
Hornsby
·
· Score: 5
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.
-- A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
Experience with a Voodoo3 and X4.01 Woody
by
Outlyer
·
· Score: 4
Well, I upgraded to X4 yesterday via apt, and the packager did an amazing job. First of all, there is a nice dialog-style configuration tool called Dexter which builds a config file easily. However, there are a couple of caveats:
(1) If you're using DRI with a Voodoo3, you need to modify your XF86Config-4 to use a default depth of 16... maybe it's obvious to some people, I didn't make the conclusion instantly. (Voodoo3's only support 3D in 16-bit color)
(2) You need to find ttmkfdir if you want to use Truetype fonts, mkfontdir doesn't do it. I don't know if there is a Debian package either.
(3) Voodoo3 support is buggy, I don't know if it's the Glide, the DRI modules, or X itself, but some things (like a few xmms plugins) crashed my box HARD, as in, I needed a hard reboot.
Anyway, those issues aside, this is a remarkably well-packaged version of X4, and most people will have little or no trouble with a smooth upgrade via apt. Much props to Branden for packaging them so well.
If you do upgrade, believe me, there is a noticeable speed increase, and Tuxracer is playable:) Don't forget to build that 2.4-test10 kernel too.
-- -----------------
"I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused
-------------------
Slashdot Mirror
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.
A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
These debs seem fairly stable to me and are worth the download for most cards. Enjoy!
--
Restating the obvious since nineteen aught five.
We need a /. poll:
Did you "hold out" knolwedge of the XFree86 4 debs until you'd downloaded yours?
( ) Yes, bwahaha.
( ) No
( ) First post!
( ) What's a deb?
You mean it'll start flaming CmdrTaco then throw all its toys out of the pram and storm off? :)
Fross
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:
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.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Taco doesn't use Red Hat or the others, that's why
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.
/usr/local/lib/whatever if you plan on running 3d apps that depend on libGLU(almost all!).
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
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.
A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
Well, I upgraded to X4 yesterday via apt, and the packager did an amazing job. First of all, there is a nice dialog-style configuration tool called Dexter which builds a config file easily. However, there are a couple of caveats: :) Don't forget to build that 2.4-test10 kernel too.
(1) If you're using DRI with a Voodoo3, you need to modify your XF86Config-4 to use a default depth of 16... maybe it's obvious to some people, I didn't make the conclusion instantly.
(Voodoo3's only support 3D in 16-bit color)
(2) You need to find ttmkfdir if you want to use Truetype fonts, mkfontdir doesn't do it. I don't know if there is a Debian package either.
(3) Voodoo3 support is buggy, I don't know if it's the Glide, the DRI modules, or X itself, but some things (like a few xmms plugins) crashed my box HARD, as in, I needed a hard reboot.
Anyway, those issues aside, this is a remarkably well-packaged version of X4, and most people will have little or no trouble with a smooth upgrade via apt. Much props to Branden for packaging them so well.
If you do upgrade, believe me, there is a noticeable speed increase, and Tuxracer is playable
----------------- "I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused -------------------