From: dwex@aib.com (David E. Wexelblat)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.announce
Subject: Annoucing the release of XFree86 2.0
Date: 31 Oct 1993 18:38:41 +0200
Approved: linux-announce@tc.cornell.edu (Lars Wirzenius)
Message-ID: <2b0pmh$kg2@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
Announcing the Release of
XFree86 2.0
October 31, 1993
--------------------------
Contents
--------
1) What is XFree86?
2) What's new in XFree86 2.0?
3) XFree86 features
4) Systems XFree86 has been tested on
5) Supported video-card chip-sets
6) Where to get more information
7) Bugs known fixed in XFree86 vs stock X11R5
8) Known bugs in XFree86
9) Credits
10) Contact information
11) Source and binary archive sites
1 - What is XFree86?
--------------------
XFree86 is a port of X11R5 that supports several versions of Intel-based
Unix and Unix-like operating systems. The XFree86 servers are derived
from X386 1.2, which was the X server distributed with X11R5. 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.
XFree86 2.0 is a major step forward in capability compared to previous
XFree86 releases. There is a massive amount of new code, including
several completely new servers, and many other enhancements. The vast
majority of this code was developed by a handful of developers, listed
in the credits section, below. All XFree86 users owe a large debt of
gratitude to these individuals. The performance of the XFree86 2.0
accelerated servers is on a par with commercial servers for most of
the supported hardware; a $200 graphics accelerator now gives
workstation-class performance. This has been a difficult release to
complete, and not everything we hoped to get done for it is done. But
we expect that there is enough here to satisfy the hungriest freeware
user.
Note that while the source and installation trees retain the '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 Core Team maintains technical contacts with SGCS 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.
Code statistics for XFree86 2.0:
Lines of code relative to MIT X11R5 PL25:
Added = 163748
Deleted = 2786
Changed = 2819
Lines of code relative to XFree86 1.3:
Added = 100280
Deleted = 7144
Changed = 2699
2 - What's new in XFree86 2.0?
------------------------------
The following items have been added since XFree86 1.3 was released in
June 1993:
1) Support for the following accelerated chipsets has been added:
IBM 8514/A and true compatibles
ATI Mach8, Mach32
S3 86C911, 86C924, 86C801, 86C805, 86C928
Cirrus 5426, 5428
WD 90C31
(see the file AccelCards for information on which specific cards
have been tested).
2) Support for the following SVGA chipsets has been added:
Cirrus 62x5
OAK OTI067, OTI077
3) A 16 colour generic VGA server (this server is still experimental
but quite usable at this stage).
4) Support for "banked dumb monochrome" boards. Currently the
Hyundai HGC1280 is supported.
5) Support for the following operating systems has been added:
OSF/1
BSD/386 1.0
NetBSD 0.9
FreeBSD 1.0
In addition, an OS porting layer has been defined inside the
device-dependent layer of the server to make further OS ports
simpler and to ensure that all future servers are supported
on all OS platforms.
6) Support for the syscons driver (with VT switching) for 386BSD,
FreeBSD and NetBSD.
7) Support for the Hitachi Puma Plus tablet as an input device.
8) The SuperProbe program introduced with XFree86 1.3 has been updated
to detect many more chipsets and to be more reliable overall.
9) A new README.Config file is included with step-by-step instructions
for setting up the Xconfig file. This file includes a list of
generic video mode settings which should provide working modes
for most video displays.
10) Several dozen bug fixes for problems detected and reported for
XFree86 1.3.
11) Hard limits for the maximum dot-clock frequency used are introduced.
These provide a rudimentary means of protecting the graphic boards
from overclocking. (See the Known Bugs section for some more details).
Plus a number of other small things. Refer to the CHANGELOG file in the
source distribution for full details.
3 - XFree86 Features
--------------------
Here is a list of the other significant features that XFree86 adds over
stock X386 1.2 (X11R5):
1) New servers to support S3, ATI and 8514 accelerated hardware, and
support for Cirrus and Western Digital accelerated hardware in
the SVGA server.
2) The SpeedUp package from Glenn Lai is an integral part of the
SVGA server, selectable at run-time via the Xconfig file. Some
SpeedUps require an ET4000 based SVGA, and others require a
virtual screen width of 1024. The SpeedUps suitable to the
configuration are selected by default. With a high-quality
ET4000 board, this can yield up to 40% improvement of the Xstones
benchmark over X386 1.2.
3) The fX386 packages from Jim Tsillas are included as the default
operating mode of the SVGA server if SpeedUp is not selected.
This mode is now equivalent in performance to X386 1.1b (X11R4),
and approximately 20% faster than X386 1.2.
4) A monochrome server that supports bank-switching of available SVGA
memory to allow virtual screens up to 1600x1200.
5) Support for the Hercules mono card in the monochrome server, and
with it the ability to support a "two headed" server - one mono
VGA, and one Hercules.
6) Support for Hyundai HGC1280 monochrome graphics card in the
monochrome server.
7) An (experimental) 16-color VGA server is included, which supports
generic VGA hardware.
8) SVR3 shared libraries, tested under ISC SVR3 2.0.2, 2.2, 3.0.1 and
4.0; SCO 3.2.2, 3.2.4.
9) Support for Linux, 386BSD, NetBSD, FreeBSD, BSD/386, Mach, OSF/1,
SVR4.2, SCO, Amoeba, and Minix-386. Including Linux shared libraries.
10) Support for LOCALCONN. This support is for both SVR3.2 and SVR4.
For SVR4.0.4 with the 'Advanced Compatibility Package' and on
SVR4.2, local connections from SCO XSight/ODT clients are supported.
11) Drivers for ATI, Trident, NCR, Compaq, Cirrus, and OAK SVGA chipsets.
Refer to chipset-specific README files for details about these
drivers.
12) Support for compressed bitmap fonts has been added (Thomas
Eberhardt's code from the contrib directory on ftp.x.org).
13) Type1 Font code from MIT contrib tape has been included, and is
compile-time selectable. There are contributed Type1 fonts in the
contrib directory on ftp.x.org.
14) New configuration method which allows the server's drivers and font
renderers to be reconfigured from both source and binary
distributions.
15) Greatly improved documentation and configuration databases are
included.
16) A new tutorial on how to develop correct video card and monitor
timing data, written by Eric Raymond (derived from previous
documentation and a lot of experimentation).
17) Greatly improved support for international keyboards, including
implementation of the Compose key functionality found on many
vendor servers.
18) Many enhancements in error handling and parsing of the Xconfig
configuration file. Error messages are much more informative and
intuitive, and more validation is done. There are many new options
that can be enabled in the Xconfig file.
4 - Systems XFree86 has been tested on
--------------------------------------
SVR4.0:
Esix: 4.0.3A, 4.0.4
Microport: 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2
Dell: 2.1, 2.2
UHC: 2.0, 3.6
Consensys: 1.2
MST: 4.0.3 (Load 2.07 and Load 3.02)
ISC: 4.0.3
AT&T: 2.1, 4.0
NCR: MP-RAS
SVR4.2:
Consensys
Univel UnixWare
SVR3:
Interactive: 2.0.2, 2.2, 3.0, 4.0
SCO: 3.2.2, 3.2.4
AT&T: 3.2.2
Others:
386BSD 0.1, NetBSD 0.9, FreeBSD 1.0
BSD/386 1.0
Mach 386
OSF/1
Linux 0.99pl13
Amoeba
Minix-386
5 - Supported video-card chipsets
---------------------------------
At this time, XFree86 2.0 supports the following accelerated chipsets:
8514/A (and true clones)
ATI Mach8, Mach32
Cirrus CLGD5426, CLGD5428
S3 86C911, 86C924, 86C801, 86C805, 86C928
Western Digital WD90C31
The Cirrus and Western Digital accelerators are supported in the SVGA
server; the other chipsets each have their own server. A list of cards
on which the accelerated servers have been tested is included in the file
AccelCards. They may well work on other cards, but we cannot guarantee it.
Linux and BSD users of the XS3 server are referred to the README.XS3
file for information on the differences between XS3 and the XFree86 S3
server. Xconfig files must be changed when using XF86_S3 instead of XS3.
In addition, the following SVGA chipsets are supported:
Tseng ET3000, ET4000AX, ET4000/W32
Western Digital/Paradise PVGA1
Western Digital WD90C00, WD90C10, WD90C11, WD90C30, WD90C31
Genoa GVGA
Trident TVGA8800CS, TVGA8900B, TVGA8900C, TVGA8900CL, TVGA9000
ATI 28800-4, 28800-5, 28800-a
NCR 77C22, 77C22E
Cirrus Logic CLGD5420, CLGD5422, CLGD5424, CLGD5426, CLGD5428,
CLGD6205, CLGD6215, CLGD6225, CLGD6235
Compaq AVGA
OAK OTI067, OTI077
All of the above are supported in both 256 color and monochrome modes,
with the exception of the ATI and Cirrus chipsets, which are only
supported in 256 color mode.
Refer to the chipset-specific README files (currently for Tseng, Western
Digital, ATI, and Trident) for more information about using those chipsets.
The monochrome server also supports generic VGA cards, using 64k of video
memory in a single bank, the Hercules card, and the Hynudai HGC1280 card.
On the Compaq AVGA, only 64k of video memory is supported for the monochrome
server, and the GVGA has not been tested with more than 64k.
XFree86 2.0 includes an experimental 16-color generic VGA server. This
server has not been as extensively tested and debugged as the others, but
it should work rather well (but slowly) on most hardware. At this time,
it does not support banking, hence display is currently limited to 64k
of memory (approximately 800x600).
Note
----
It appears that some of the SVGA card manufacturers are going to
non-traditional mechanisms for selecting pixel-clock frequencies. To
avoid having to modify the server to accommodate these schemes XFree86 1.2
added support for using an external program to select the pixel clock.
This allows programs to be written as new mechanisms are discovered.
Refer to the README.clkprog file for information on how these programs
work, if you need to write one. If you do develop such a program, we
would be interested in including it with future XFree86 releases.
NOTE: The Diamond SpeedStar 24 (and possibly recent SpeedStar+) boards are
NOT supported, even though they use the ET4000. The same is valid
for all of Diamond's S3 boards. 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 to 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.
6 - Where to get more information
---------------------------------
Additional documentation is available in the XFree86(1), Xconfig(4/5),
XF86_SVGA(1), XF86_Mono(1), XF86_VGA16(1), XF86_Accel(1) and XF86keybd(1)
manual pages. In addition, several README files and tutorial documents are
provided. These are available in /usr/X386/lib/X11/etc in the binary
distributions, and in mit/server/ddx/x386 and ddx/x386/etc in the source
distribution.
The files README.Config and VideoModes.doc should be consulted for
information on how to set up the XFree86 servers. All supplied documents
and manual pages should be read before contacting the XFree86 team for
assistance.
Documentation on SVGA driver development can be found in the directory
/usr/X386/lib/Server/VGADriverDoc in the binary distribution, and in the
directory mit/server/ddx/x386/VGADriverDoc in the source distribution.
If you are totally at a loss, you can contact the XFree86 Core Team at
the electronic mail address below.
There exists a Usenet news group comp.windows.x.i386unix that contains
mostly discussions about XFree86 and related topics. Many questions can
be answered there. The answers to common questions are found in the
corresponding FAQ.
7 - Bugs known fixed in XFree86 vs stock X11R5
----------------------------------------------
1) Server now traps and exits cleanly if unexpected signals are
received (a core is still generated for debugging). There is an
Xconfig option to disable this trapping.
2) VT switching (on OS's that support the feature) is more robust.
The server will no longer crash nor will the screen get corrupted
as a result of starting or exiting clients while switched away.
Also, the screen saver is turned off when switching back so you
don't return to a blank screen. These changes also ensure that xdm
shuts down cleanly, and allow multiple servers to be active
simultaneously
3) Many bugs in the frame buffer code have been fixed.
4) The use of xdm with xqueue under SVR4 has been fixed.
5) The maximum number of server connections is now correctly
determined for SVR4 by making use of getrlimit().
6) The default pointer button mapping has been fixed.
7) xterm no longer tries to open /dev/tty[psr]?? for SVR4. This
speeds up the startup time for xterm, as well as keeping it from
using the wrong pty's on SVR4.0.4.
8) xconsole fixed to use /dev/osm (SVR4 and some SVR3.2) for OS messages.
9) A bug with XDM-AUTHORIZATION-1 which caused strange problems with
some hardware has been fixed.
10) The xman scroll bug has been fixed.
11) Improved the accuracy of the server's probe for pixel clock
frequencies
12) Redefined the handling of the numeric keypad, so that it works
correctly with Xt-based applications (translation problems
resolved).
13) Plugged security risk related to suid-root execution of the server.
8 - Known bugs in XFree86
-------------------------
1) There are some problems with some of the 'xset fp' operations (in
particular 'xset fp rehash'). These seem to be caused by memory
allocation/deallocation problems in the server's font code. We
believe that we have worked around this problem, but have not yet
solved the root cause.
2) While not strictly a bug, there is currently a limitation on the
dot-clock frequencies allowed in the S3 and Mach32 servers. For
S3 cards with the Bt485 RAMDAC (e.g. #9 GXe), the limit is 85Mhz.
For Mach32 boards, the limit is 80Mhz. There is some special
programming required to use these RAMDACs at higher dot-clocks,
and we were not able to get it fully developed in time. We intend
to release a patch with these updates in the near future.
We welcome reports of bugs sent to the electronic mail address listed
below.
9 - Credits
-----------
XFree86 was originally put together by:
David Dawes < dawes@physics.su.oz.au>
Glenn Lai < glenn@cs.utexas.edu>
Jim Tsillas < jtsilla@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu>
David Wexelblat < dwex@goblin.org>, < dwex@aib.com>
386BSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD support by:
Rich Murphey < Rich@Rice.edu>
Original 386BSD port by:
Pace Willison
Amancio Hasty Jr < hasty@netcom.com>
Mach 386 support by:
Robert Baron < Robert.Baron@ernst.mach.cs.cmu.edu>
Linux support by:
Orest Zborowski < orestz@microsoft.com>
SCO Unix support by:
David McCullough < davidm@stallion.oz.au>
Amoeba support by:
Kees Verstoep < versto@cs.vu.nl>
Minix-386 support by:
Philip Homburg < philip@cs.vu.nl>
OSF/1 support by:
Marc Evans < Marc@Synergytics.Com>
BSD/386 support by:
Hans Nasten < nasten@everyware.se>
Paul Vixie < paul@vix.com>
SVR3 shared libraries by:
Thomas Wolfram < wolf@prz.tu-berlin.de>
Linux shared libraries by:
Dirk Hohndel < hohndel@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de>
Original accelerated code by:
Kevin Martin < martin@cs.unc.edu>
Rik Faith < faith@cs.unc.edu>
Jon Tombs < jon@gtex02.us.es>
S3 accelerated code by:
Jon Tombs < jon@gtex02.us.es>
David Wexelblat < dwex@goblin.org>
David Dawes < dawes@physics.su.oz.au>
Amancio Hasty < hasty@netcom.com>
Mach32 accelerated code by:
Kevin Martin < martin@cs.unc.edu>
Rik Faith < faith@cs.unc.edu>
Mike Bernson < mike@mbsun.mlb.org>
Mark Weaver < Mark_Weaver@brown.edu>
Mach8, 8514 accelerated code by:
Kevin Martin < martin@cs.unc.edu>
Rik Faith < faith@cs.unc.edu>
Tiago Gons < tiago@comosjn.hobby.nl>
Hans Nasten < nasten@everyware.se>
Scott Laird < lair@midway.uchicago.edu>
Cirrus accelerated code by:
Simon Cooper < scooper@vizlab.rutgers.edu>
Bill Reynolds < bill@goshawk.lanl.gov>
Western Digital accelerated code by:
Mike Tierney < floyd@pepsi.eng.umd.edu>
16 color VGA server by:
Gertjan Akkerman < akkerman@dutiba.twi.tudelft.nl>
ATI SVGA driver by:
Rik Faith < faith@cs.unc.edu>
Trident SVGA driver by:
Alan Hourihane < alanh@metro.co.uk>
NCR SVGA driver by:
Stuart Anderson < Stuart.Anderson@ColumbiaSC.NCR.COM>
with the permission of NCR Corporation
Cirrus SVGA driver by:
Bill Reynolds < bill@goshawk.lanl.gov>
Hank Dietz < hankd@ecn.purdue.edu>
Compaq SVGA driver by:
Hans Oey < hans@mo.hobby.nl>
Oak SVGA driver by:
Steve Goldman < sgoldman@encore.com>
Configurable MFB and Hercules driver by:
Davor Matic < dmatic@Athena.MIT.EDU>
Banked Dumb Monochrome and Hyundai drivers by:
Pascal Haible < haible@izfm.uni-stuttgart.de>
X386 1.2, and moral support from:
Thomas Roell < roell@informatik.tu-muenchen.de>
Mark Snitily < mark@sgcs.com>
Other contributors:
Joerg Wunsch < joerg_wunsch@tcd-dresden.de> (ET3000 banked mono)
Bob Crosson < crosson@cam.nist.gov> (video mode documentation)
Thomas Eberhardt < thomas@mathematik.uni-Bremen.de> (compressed fonts)
Eric Raymond < esr@snark.thyrsus.com> (new video mode documentation)
and an entire horde of beta-testers around the world!
10 - Contact information
------------------------
Ongoing development planning and support is coordinated by the XFree86
Core Team. At this time the Core Team consists of (in alphabetical order):
Robert Baron < Robert.Baron@ernst.mach.cs.cmu.edu>
David Dawes < dawes@physics.su.oz.au>
Dirk Hohndel < hohndel@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de>
Glenn Lai < glenn@cs.utexas.edu>
Rich Murphey < Rich@Rice.edu>
Jon Tombs < jon@gtex02.us.es>
David Wexelblat < dwex@goblin.org>,
Thomas Wolfram < wolf@prz.tu-berlin.de>
Orest Zborowski < orestz@microsoft.com>
E-mail sent to < xfree86@physics.su.oz.au> will reach the Core Team.
11 - Source and binary archive sites
------------------------------------
Source patches based on X11R5 PL25, from MIT, and as an upgrade from
XFree86 1.3 are available via anonymous FTP from:
ftp.x.org (under /contrib/XFree86)
ftp.physics.su.oz.au (under /XFree86)
ftp.win.tue.nl (under /pub/XFree86)
ftp.prz.tu-berlin.de (under /pub/pc/src/XFree86)
Refer to the README file under the specified directory for information on
which files you need to get to build your distribution (which will depend
on whether this is a new installation or an upgrade from an earlier
version of XFree86).
Binaries are available via anonymous FTP from:
ftp.physics.su.oz.au - SVR4 binaries
under /XFree86/SVR4
ftp.win.tue.nl - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/XFree86/SVR4
ftp.tcp.com - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/SVR4/XFree86
stasi.bradley.edu - SVR4 binaries
under /pub/XFree86/SVR4
stasi.bradley.edu - SVR3 (SCO) binaries
under /pub/XFree86/sco
ftp.physics.su.oz.au - SVR3 (SCO) binaries
under /XFree86/SCO
blancmange.ma.utexas.edu - SVR3 (ISC) binaries
under /pub/ISC
ftp.prz.tu-berlin.de - SVR3 (ISC) binaries
under /pub/pc/isc/XFree86
tsx-11.mit.edu - Linux binaries
under /pub/linux/packages/X11
ftp.unipi.it - Linux binaries
under /pub/linux/XFree86_2.0
XFree86.cdrom.com - FreeBSD binaries
under /pub/XFree86/FreeBSD/XFree86-2.0
gil.physik.rwth-aachen.de - FreeBSD binaries
under /pub/XFree86
agate.berkeley.edu - NetBSD 0.9 binaries
under /pub/NetBSD/ports
sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu - NetBSD 0.9 binaries
under /pub/NetBSD/ports
ftp.cs.mcgill.ca - NetBSD 0.9 binaries
under /pub/NetBSD/XFree86
ftp.cs.uwm.edu - Mach386 binaries
under /i386
Ensure that you are getting XFree86 2.0 - some of these sites may archive
older releases as well. Each binary distribution will contain a README
file that describes what files you need to take from the archive, and
which compile-time option selections were made when building the
distribution.
--
David Wexelblat < dwex@aib.com> (703) 430-9247 Fax: (703) 450-4560
AIB Software, Inc., 46030 Manekin Plaza, Suite 160, Dulles, VA 20166
Formerly Virtual Technologies, Inc.
Mail regarding XFree86 should be sent to < xfree86@physics.su.oz.au>
"If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down."
-- Gin Blossoms, "Hey Jealousy"