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<H2>Linux System Administrator's Survival Guide lsg05.htm</H2>



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<A HREF="#E68E29" >Understanding XFree86</A>



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<A HREF="#E68E30" >Installing XFree86 Software</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E55" >Choosing an X Server</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E56" >Installing XFree86 Manually</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E57" >Installing XFree86 Using a Script</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E58" >Using the PATH Environment Variable</A></UL>



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<A HREF="#E68E31" >Configuring XFree86</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E59" >Deciding Where to Put Xconfig or XF86Config</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E60" >Using SuperProbe</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E61" >Using ConfigXF86 and XF86Config</A></UL>



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<A HREF="#E68E32" >Examining the Xconfig and XF86Config Files in Detail</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E62" >Pathnames</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E63" >Keyboard Settings</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E64" >Mouse Definition</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E65" >Monitor Model</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E66" >Video Cards</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E67" >The XFree86 Server</A>



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<A HREF="#E69E68" >Testing XFree86 configurations</A></UL>



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<A HREF="#E68E33" >Using the .xinitrc File</A>



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<A HREF="#E68E34" >Summary</A></UL></UL></UL>



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<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>



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<FONT SIZE=6 COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Chapter 5</B></FONT></CENTER></H1>



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<FONT SIZE=6 COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Installing and Configuring XFree86</B></FONT></CENTER></H2>



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<P>X is a graphical user interface (GUI). The version of X supplied with most Linux software packages is XFree86, which is an implementation of the X Window system developed at MIT. XFree86 is available for several different PC UNIX versions, including Linux, and has been expanded over the more traditional X system to include the wide variety of hardware that is used in PC machines.



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<NOTE>The official name of the GUI is X. It is often also called X Window System or X Windows, although these uses are greatly discouraged. (The latter version smacks of Microsoft's Windows product.) For the most part, you can use the terms X, X11 (from X version 11), XFree86, and X Window System interchangeably, but avoid X Windows! It's a sure method of annoying veteran UNIX users!</NOTE>



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<P>At least two major releases of XFree86 are available with Linux. Most distributions have version 2.X, although a few now offer the latest release (version 3.1.1 at the time of this writing). This chapter discusses installation and preliminary configuration of both XFree86 versions, although most of the examples use the more recent XFree86 3.x version.



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<NOTE>It is important to understand the complete XFree86 installation process before you install your software. In some cases, you can cause damage to hardware and the already installed Linux software if you select inappropriate drivers.</NOTE>



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<H3 ALIGN=CENTER>



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<FONT SIZE=5 COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Understanding XFree86</B></FONT></CENTER></H3>



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<P>XFree86 is a public domain version of the X11 windowing system developed by MIT and now copyrighted to the MIT Consortium. In keeping with the Linux developers' desire to have no copyright code that requires licensing as part of the operating system, XFree86 was developed specifically for the PC architecture. XFree86 works with many PC-based UNIX systems including Linux.



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<P>Several versions of XFree86 are available, and they are all based on different releases of X. The most commonly used Linux version of XFree86 is release 2.X, which is based on X11 Release 5 (abbreviated as X11R5). The latest versions of XFree86 are releases 3.X, which are based on X11 Release 6 (X11R6), the most current version of the X Window system. Bug fixes and minor changes in utilities are often available as incremental version numbers. You can load these incremental versions over a release of the same number. For example, if you have loaded XFree86 version 2.1 and obtain the fix release 2.1.1, you must load it over 2.1 and not by itself. The bug fix releases do not contain the complete system, only the updates.



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<NOTE>Do not use XFree86 version 2.0! It has several critical bugs. Instead, use at least version 2.1 or 2.1.1.</NOTE>



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<P>A few problems arose in the early days of the XFree86 development, primarily because of a lack of information from the official X Consortium (which controls the standards of X). To solve the problem, The XFree86 Project Inc. was founded and became a member of the X Consortium and was thereby granted access to information about new releases well before they were available to the general public. XFree86 is now a trademark of The XFree86 Project Inc.



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<P>Many Linux versions of XFree86 contain directories and references to a product called X386. X386 was an earlier version of X11R5 for the PC architecture, and XFree86 retained many of the X386 naming conventions for directories and files. However, X386 and XFree86 are different products and have no connection (other than naming conventions).



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<P>The latest versions of XFree86 require a practical minimum of at least 8M of RAM in your machine to run, and a virtual memory of at least 16M. In other words, you would need a swap space of at least 8M with an 8M RAM machine, although more is highly recommended. (XFree86 can run with 4MB, but it runs slowly enough to be annoying.) If you have 16M of RAM, you don't need the swap space although it should be used for safety's sake, especially if you plan on running memory-hogging applications. If you plan on using X a lot, set up your system to have 32M of virtual RAM for the best performance (preferably at least 16M RAM and the rest swap space).



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<NOTE>Tweaking version 2.X of XFree86 to run in 4M of RAM is possible, although it is a slow process (both tweaking and running) and is therefore not recommended. XFree86 version 3.X will not run properly in 4M (although it can, with a lot of effort, be shoehorned in but then runs so slow as to be useless). XFree86 v 3.x will run in 8M RAM, although 16M is preferable. Again, a total of at least 16M virtual memory is recommended with 32M preferable.</NOTE>



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<H3 ALIGN=CENTER>



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<FONT SIZE=5 COLOR="#FF0000"><B>Installing XFree86 Software</B></FONT></CENTER></H3>



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<P>Most XFree86 distributions are provided as part of the software on a Linux CD-ROM or floppy disk set. This chapter uses a CD-ROM distribution (from the CD-ROM included with this book) as the example because it is the most common form of distribution. The instructions, however, apply equally for floppy disk distributions and software packages obtained from an FTP or BBS site.



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<P>Typically, the XFree86 software is located in a set of directories called x1, x2, x3, and so on. The Slackware distribution has directories running up to x14. Other distributions may differ in the number of directories. XFree86 applications are also stored in a set of directories called xap1, xap2, and so on. The software is usually supplied in gzipped format. The contents of each directory are usually summarized in a text file, which gives the filenames and their purposes.



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<P>Before you install the XFree86 software, verify that it will work with your existing Linux software. XFree86 releases depend on certain versions of the Linux kernel, the C library (libc), and the ld.so file version. A file in the distribution directories should explain the lowest version number of each of these three items that is necessary to run XFree86. If you obtained the XFree86 software packaged with a Linux release, it is likely to be compatible, and you can skip the verification stage.



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<P>If your X software wasn't installed by a setup program, you can install the XFree86 software manually by unzipping each file and then extracting the files in the archive. You must then properly load the files into the final directories. This process can be tedious and lengthy and should be avoided unless you want to know exactly what is going on. Instead, use the installation routines that the Linux vendor supplies, such as setup.



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<P>XFree86 version 2.X uses directories that mirror those used by the X386 software product. For most Linux systems, the primary directory is /usr/X386. To maintain consistency with software packages and utilities that expect a more common X11R5, X11R6, or X11 directory, Linux generally uses links between the X386 directory and the other directories as necessary. The Linux installation routine often creates these links.



<BR>



<P>XFree86 version 3.X abandons the /usr/X386 directory convention in favor of the more common X location /usr/X11R6. When upgrading an installation of XFree86 version 2.x to version 3.x, bear in mind the change of directory names and either change links or remove the old /usr/X386 versions completely. Make sure your search path variable is changed, too.



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