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New, Modularized X Window Release Now Available for Download
X11R6.9 is comprised of many distinct components bonded in a single tree, based on imake. X11R7.0 splits that set of components into logically distinct modules, separately developed, built, and maintained by the community of X.Org developers. This simultaneous release gives a transition point for developers, builders, and vendors to adapt their practices to the new X.Org modular process.
X11R7.0 supports Linux and Solaris at this time, with other support pending. X11R7.1, the first modular roll-up release, is scheduled mid-2006. While the monolithic tree will continue to be fully supported and released, new feature development is expected to concentrate on the modular code base.
The X11R7.0 and X11R6.9 releases are the work of more than fifty volunteer contributors worldwide, working under the release management team of Kevin Martin (Head), Alan Coopersmith, and Adam Jackson, with the support of Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and the unsupported, generous contribution of effort by Adam Jackson.
All X Window System Releases are available from ftp.X.Org and mirror sites worldwide (see http://wiki.x.org/Mirrors). They are distributed under the MIT ("X") License by the X.Org Foundation LLC. Information concerning organization, activities, and mailing lists can be found at www.X.Org. Membership is free and open to contributors. Sponsorship is encouraged to support the global activities of the X.Org Foundation. Current X.Org Sponsors include Sun Microsystems, HP, IBM, StarNet Communications, AttachmateWRQ, Hummingbird, and Integrated Computer Solutions Incorporated [ICS].
In continuous use for over 20 years, the X Window System provides the only standard platform-independent networked graphical window system bridging the heterogeneous platforms in today's enterprise: from network servers to desktops, thin clients, laptops, and hand-helds, independent of operating system and hardware.
* LINUX is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. "Solaris" is a trademark of Sun Microsystems. All company names are trademarks of their registered owners.
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Xfree86 continues their self-imposed slide into obscurity.
This guy is way out there
I have to admit that it's something I'm welcoming. The autotools are hard enough to learn, having to figure out imake on top of that was a bit of a hassle. Add to this the fact that it's now modular -we can work on different bits much more easily- and it's a winner...
What does this mean for me as an end user?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Am I right in saying this will not make any difference to the end users? Making X module-based seems to greatly simplify coding for developers, but does it have any effect for the end user at all?
[sig]
Major Realease only means that there was major code changes to get there...
Not that there were major new features added
"I reject your reality, and substitute my own" - Adam Savage
more autotool hell, woohoo.
http://wiki.x.org/wiki/Mirrors
On the other hand, I'd guess that for the 1% who do hack X, this will make thier lives easier. Heck, it might even mean more people decide to work on X, which OSS dogma tells us is a Good Thing(TM), and it probably is.
philcrissman.com.
... there are a few new features to expect. I'm most curious about the new drivers for ATI's R300-Chips (and newer), called "r300", which will provide GLX-Support (hardware-accelerated OpenGL) in a Free Software-only manner.
:)
Oh, and there are some minor features to be added, like 30Bit visuals for improved greyscale graphics for medical purposes, for example.
Apart from the new drivers, there's nothing to be OVERLY excited about this release - unless you're going to build yourself, I'm really looking forward to playing around with portions of the code without having to recompile the whole bloody source again.
:%s/Open Source/Free Software/g
YTARY!
I've been using Windows for years. First they started with numbers after the name, then they put "Me!" instead, then something about experience points. Now that's not enough, and they want prefixes as well.
Screw the bastards. I'm going with Linux.
So how long will it take us to get nVidia to support this with their evil, closed source drivers?
For that matter, even if there is R300 support, isn't it now 2 generations back?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Gnu is a trademark of CS Lewis.
I would think that if you were used to getting a cheeseburger by driving to McDonalds, waiting in line, then ordering one, but then one day you were sitting in your office and decided that you wanted a cheeseburger and 50 ninja kangaroos showed up, sliced apart the McDonalds building with their jedi lightsabers and then delivered the parts to your office, inside of which they re-assembled the entire McDonalds and the re-assembled cook prepared a quarter-pounder just for you, that you might consider this a major change in the way you get your cheeseburger.
Even if the cheeseburger tasted exactly the same as it would have otherwise.
And I am a huge proponent of Free software. But I sure would like to know when X will support today's new technologies and trends. rotating your screen is very difficult. and you can't have accelleration when you do. even resolution changes are difficult (xrandr helps, but you still can only move between the resolutions provided at the X server start, which doesn't help if you've plugged in a different monitor.) Switching between dual displays is hard.
can't think of anything else at the moment.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
Spelling tip: Grammar isn't spelled the way you think it is.
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
X.org builds and runs on more than just Linux/UNIX; it works on MacOS X's display server as well as on Windows and (at least at one point) OS/2.
So no, we won't drop the 'X is cross-platform' claim anytime soon. Thanks though.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
I'm for one looking foreward to modular X.
I know that the changes don't mean much at the moment, not to the end user anyway. I'm curious how will this affect the developement process, if more developers will jump on the X.org wagon as the article suggests. Will we see releases more often? I'm also curious how will this affect video card menufactores, and ultimetly their curtomers. I don't know what about the rest of you. I see that there's a bit of mixed feelings about all this but, I'm excited about this. I can't wait to see what kind of an affect it fill have say... 2 year from now
X.org could learn a lot from NetBSD. The NetBSD makefiles are small and contain typically just the names of the source files and targets.
the xorg as it is now is about 110MB (binary for i686) in size. it comes out about 2 times a year. means that you have to download every year around 230MB of data to keep your X up-to-date.
BUT (!) actually, you are only 2 weeks of the whole time really up to date, because most of the libraries and drivers are outdated, just a week after the release came out. this means, that you download 230MB and are waiting the whole time for new releases hating the whole system it is organised.
new, the modularised organisation gives the developers and package maintainers the ability to update just one library at a time - to release it immediately it is known to work fine with the rest and the user has the binary of this small library (e.g. 2MB) ready for download in about a week after its release. this means you still download over the year about 200MB of updates, but you are not waiting for relases to fix your problem, because every week or month, a new release of the PARTS of xorg come out and fix problems and add features. this way, the user profits faster from the whole lot of features that come out and fixes that solve problems. (of course, in the old system, you were always able to get the whole sources (hundreds of MB) and compile them yourself (hours to days of compiling, can fail if you use wrong compiler or wrong checkout-time when getting sources))
in the modular organisaiton, also a newbie can then recompile only one part of X, because of the less time it takes and a more transperent process
==> end user gets updates more frequently, has to wait less and has much less pain updating only parts of X
X11 clients and servers run on Linux, UNIX, Windows, OS X, and dozens of other operating systems.
but I like to suggest that either the people who are developing the X Window System work on this part of their software or drop the claim that they produce platform-independent software.
You don't understand. X11 is a protocol; there are dozens of different client implementations and dozens of different server implementations. X.org and XFree86 happen to be UNIX-centric, but other implementations are not.
Hopefully this will mean that soon X will be able to probe more and use the config file less.
Anyway, it is great that X.org is finally bringing some more work on X. XFree was content to sit around and twiddle their thumbs for the most part.
So what are the main stream using these days? Fresco? Qt/Embedded? The Y Window System? rio?
and even there, I know many Debian users, for example, who are eager to switch to X.org.
Debian IS using xorg (only stable and maybe testing still uses Xfree86)
Since you are obviously confused, let me clarify. "X", "X11", and "The X Window System" all refers to the same thing. It is a specification for a way of displaying and interacting with graphics in windows on a computer and/or through a network.
X.org used to be the organization that coordinated that specification between various vendors of X11. It also maintained a "reference implementation" that nobody used. Then X11-innovation stagnated among the major unix vendors. X.org slowly died, and XFree86 (a "vendor", and a free implementation) became the defacto standard. Then XFree86 (the organization, not the implementation) did something stupid with their license, and the code was forked by mostly the same people that used to work on XFree86, and they decided to call themselves X.org (and their implementation xorg), since the name now was available).
Today, most everybody uses xorg, not XFree86. This is an update to xorg. To end-users it means zilch, apart from the fact that it's better for developers, and they can expect to see some innovation finally happen in the X11-world (well, in the long-term at least!)
My Systems
I mean, in terms of being able to remote-log-on to a computer and get the GUI? Windows Remote Desktop runs quite well.
X11's network transparency is a lot more than just remote desktop display; neither Windows nor OS X have anything like it.
But that's only a small part of it. Window management, damage, rendering, automation, and a lot of other facilities are far better designed and more powerful in X11 than on other platforms.
This new x.org version is not just about autotooling the server
/dev/audio keyboard bell option
From http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/ChangesSince68
* New EXA acceleration architecture, with experimental support in sis(4), radeon(4), i128(4) (more to come)
* Individual extensions may be enabled or disabled on the command line using the -extension flag
* Improved chipset probing for IA64
* SecureRPC enabled on Linux by default
* Updated savage(4), including dualhead and DRI support
* Updated XRX support
* Fixes to rootless mode for Cygwin and Darwin ports
* Numerous K&R-to-ANSI C conversions
* Many Darwin fixes
* Updated XvMC support, enabling generic loading of hardware-specific drivers
* Added wsfb(4) video driver for OpenBSD and NetBSD framebuffer consoles
* Numerous ATI driver updates from the GATOS project, including TV input support
* More support for enhanced visuals like 12-bit PseudoColor and 30-bit TrueColor
* Improved ProPolice support
* Updates to nv(4) driver from XFree86 and nVIDIA
* via(4) updates from the Unichrome project, including DRI support
* i810(4) updates, including i915GM/E7721/i945G support and shadowfb support
* Improved module loader support for Alpha chips
* Added mingw port for native Win32 builds
* Updated PCI scanning
* Added DMA support to radeon(4) for Render and Xv operations
* Experimental DRI support for Radeon 9500 and above
* Updated xterm to #204 from [WWW]upstream
* Added evdev(4) input driver for generic input handling on Linux
* Switched to libdl-based module loader
* Improved acceleration for sunffb(4)
* MMX blending routines for the Render extension
* sis(4) updates
* New sisusb(4) driver for USB-attached video
* Tiled framebuffer support for radeon(4)
* Initial support for running the Xorg server without root privileges
* Improved acceleration for newport(4)
* Add DragonFly BSD support
* Update bundled Freetype to 2.1.9
* r128(4) dualhead support
* mach64(4) TV-OUT support
* ATI Theater 200 video decoder support
* SGI Altix support
* Disabled antique [WWW]DPS extension
* Support for FreeBSD/powerpc
* Enhanced software Render core
* Support for more than 12 buttons in the generic mouse(4) driver
* Better support for DRI on 64-bit platforms
* Solaris support updates: enhanced mouse driver, agpgart support, experimental AMD64 support, kbd(4) support,
* Output-only windows
* Non-rectangular mergedfb desktops
* Update bundled fontconfig to 2.3.2
I used to X with a passion when I first started using linux back in 98.
Oh, man, those were the days... when you could not only X but X with a passion. [sighs wistfully]
X is not bad but perhaps Xorg sucks?
What I want to know is if they are planning on [...] adding features like sound support,Nope. Next question.
Sound support is handled by a sound server, which fortunately runs independently of X.
transparent objects,
You mean like compositing?
anti-aligned fonts (I think support is added now),
Keep your magnet away from my monitor!
resolution changes that dont require a reboot,
Resolution changes don't require a reboot, just a restart of X.
ajax/caml/dashboard or some xml and javascript support
Huh?! AJAX is for the Web, CAML is a proprietary language, so of course X.org isn't written therein, and I'm not sure in what way you mean "support for XML or Javascript" other than to say that extensions/plugins/modules (whatever the X people call them) would be significantly slower if written in these languages. Since it seems that you're "concerned" with X's bloat, I'm sure you understand why that'd be a bad idea.
I actually hope this was helpful, but if I was just the unwitting victim of flamebait, I can roll with it.
Since many of the posts are talking about if the latest and greatest card from ATI or nVidia will work with their respective binary-only driver; I feel compelled to mention that there is a project with the intention of getting open spec'd, hardware accellerated video cards out: OpenGraphics. The specs may not be the bleeding edge of current tech, but I personally will appreciate having hardware that can be fully utilized by the OS of my choosing.
I guess you forgot that XFree has an unacceptable license that means few Linux distro maintainers could include it.
And, pray, build time is a metric for exactly what?
Build time is only an issue for developers (and people with lots of time and a passion for watching gcc command lines pass by...), most importantly, usually no one needs to rebuild the whole thing: 99% of the time, you rebuild only the little part you are working on (and, notice, that little part migth have become littler with modularisation). Build time is essentially a non-issue.
It is quite boring to watch this "autotools suck" meme live on. Sure, they can be a pain, but that is usually solved by RTFM; sure they sometimes feel like you need to perform demonic invocations in order to do something, but they sure work, and do so well enough that the very people who maintain a huge beast like X.org are willing to cope with it. Come up with an alternative, good enough that people are willing to commit themselves to using it in real life projects, and then I'll listen with pleasure to your ramblings about how much autotools suck.
With Xorg 7 comes the chance for the first stable composite extension! So Xcompmgr will stop crashing (as much)! Also, by using my own guide I can get an accerated desktop with a ATI 9250 card that uses EXA (which is more stable than Nvidia's renderaccel)! So maybe...just maybe...I can get a Windows 98 level stable accerated desktop before 2005 ends, thereby beating Vista out the gate by a year. And since the KDE compositor is near stable, I can enjoy menu transparancies now when I log into Kubuntu without fear of crashing!
Also the new driver interface will bring improvements to the closed Nvidia driver once they get their head around it, and my 6600 GT will hopefully give me decent performance with Skippy-xd by the time Dapper comes.
Of course, this won't help most users because composite won't be turned on by a major distro for at least a year or two but for those of us on the Linux Eye Candy edge there is a whole new world open today.
By far Xorg is the most primitave part of the Linux desktop compared to the alternatives (especially with Openoffice.org2 out there) and this release is the first step towards the wonderful desktop that OSX people have now and Vista people will have next year. I can't wait soon enough for drop shadows, real transparancies, and minimize effects that do not suck!
Open Source Sushi
NetBSD could learn a lot from the rest of the world.. where you don't have to recompile an entire project just because you made a small change to a header file.
Autotools do more than just make sure you have all the libraries needed to compile the app, they also set up a dependency tree so only the files affected need to be recompiled when a change is made.
Grandparent: "resolution changes that dont require a reboot"
Parent: "Resolution changes don't require a reboot, just a restart of X"
Actually, for some time now resolution changes have been possible on the fly using the xrandr utility and associated X extension. On some platforms, xrandr also permits rotating and reflecting the screen on the fly also.
Resolution changes don't require a reboot, just a restart of X.
Actually they don't require a restart of X either. The only thing that require a restart of X is a depth change (though I'm not even sure that it actually requires restart of X), like from 32 bpp to 16 bpp.
It was never a problem to me, and I think very few people will need to switch to less than 32 bpp (or rather 24 bpp).
99%? Are you sure? Try using generic vesa driver and see how "fast" it is. It isn't all about drivers. It's also about general architecture improvement, meaning with new driver core (currently only experimental) you will be able to use fast hardware accelerated composite extension. There are also other numerous "under th hood" improvements (brand new MESA for example)and most importantly modularisation of the whole project. Personally I feel that parallel relase of monolithic/modular version wasn't necessary. Much work implemented into something that won't be relevant in 6 months with modular-only 7.1.
Things that happen when you say 'X Windows':
I was digging through some old papers, and ran across a 15 year old "XNextEvent" newsletter, "The Official Newsletter of XUG, the X User's Group", Volume 1 Number 2, from June 1988. Here's an article that illustrates how far the usage of the term "X Windows" has evolved over the past 15 years. (Too bad The Window System Improperly Known as X Windows itself hasn't evolved.)
The following definitive guide to the consequences of saying "X Windows" is from the June 1988 "XNextEvent" newsletter, "The Official Newsletter of XUG, the X User's Group", Volume 1 Number 2:
Things That Happen When You Say 'X Windows'
THE OFFICAL NAMES
The official names of the software described herein are:
X
X Window System
X Version 11
X Window System, Version 11
X11
Note that the phrases X.11, X-11, X Windows or any permutation thereof, are explicitly excluded from this list and should not be used to describe the X Window System (window system should be thought of as one word).
The above should be enough to scare anyone into using the proper terminology, but sadly enough, it's not. Recently, certain people, lacking sufficient motivation to change their speech patterns, have fallen victim to various 'accidents', or 'misfortune'. I've compiled a short list of happenings, some of which I have witnessed, others which remain heresay. I'm not claiming any direct connection between their speech habits and the reported incidents, but you be the judge... And woe betide any who set the cursed phrase into print!
You are forced to explain toolkit programming to X neophytes.
Bob Schiefler says, "You should know better than that!"
The Power Supply (and unknown boards) on your workstation mysteriously give up the ghost.
Ditto for the controller board for the disk on your new Sun.
Your hair falls out.
xmh refuses to come up in a useful size, no matter what you fiddle.
You inexplicitly lose both of your complete Ultrix Doc sets.
R2 won't build.
Bob Schiefler says "Type 'man X'".
Your nifty new X screen saver just won't go away.
The window you're working in loses input focus. Permanently.
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com