ch21.htm

linux-unix130.linux.and.unix.ebooks130 linux and unix ebookslinuxLearning Linux - Collection of 12 E

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW">
<SCRIPT>
<!--
function displayWindow(url, width, height) {
        var Win = window.open(url,"displayWindow",'width=' + width +
',height=' + height + ',resizable=1,scrollbars=yes');
}
//-->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>

 -->



 





 








<H1></H1>



<UL>

	<LI><A HREF="#Heading1">- 21 -</A>

	<UL>

		<LI><A HREF="#Heading2">Installing XFree86</A>

		<UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading3">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading4">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading5">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading6">X11 and the XFree86 Project, Inc.</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading7">Where to Get XFree86</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading8">Assessing Requirements</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading9">Installing XFree86</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading10">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading11">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading12">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading13">Setting Up Your XFree86 System</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading14">Running XFree86</A>

			<UL>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading15">Stopping X</A>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading16">X Applications Packages</A>

			</UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading17">TIP</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading18">Finding Information on XFree86 on the Net</A>

			<UL>

				<LI><A HREF="#Heading19">Newsgroups</A>

			</UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading20">Some Common Problems and Solutions</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading21">Issues with Compiling Programs That Use X</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading22">CAUTION</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading23">Summary</A>

		</UL>

	</UL>

</UL>



<P>

<HR SIZE="4">



<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading1<FONT COLOR="#000077">- 21 -</FONT></H2>

<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading2<FONT COLOR="#000077">Installing XFree86</FONT></H2>

<P><I>by Kamran Husain</I></P>



<P>IN THIS CHAPTER</P>



<UL>

	<LI>X11 and the XFree86 Project, Inc. 

	<P>

	<LI>Where to Get XFree86 

	<P>

	<LI>Assessing Requirements 

	<P>

	<LI>Installing XFree86 

	<P>

	<LI>Setting Up Your XFree86 System 

	<P>

	<LI>Running XFree86 

	<P>

	<LI>Finding Information on XFree86 on the Net 

	<P>

	<LI>Some Common Problems and Solutions 

	<P>

	<LI>Issues with Compiling Programs That Use X  

</UL>



<P><BR>

This chapter details the way to install XFree86 for Linux. This version of X Window

for Linux, called XFree86 Version 3.1.2, is an enhanced version of the X Window System

Version 11 Release 6 with support for many versions of UNIX, including Linux. XFree86

supports considerably more hardware than the video hardware supported by the MIT

standard release of X Window.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading3<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>CAUTION: </B></FONT>Be sure to read

	this entire chapter before starting XFree86. If you are not careful, you could damage

	your hardware. Most important: XFree86 comes without a warranty of any kind. If you

	damage anything, even after reading these instructions, you are on your own.

<HR>



</DL>



<P>Note that even though I try to cover all the bases for installing X11 on your

Linux system, I cannot cover all the hardware out there for PCs. In other words,

this whole chapter is moot if you happen to have the one video card that this version

of XFree86 on Linux will smoke! So read all the items here carefully, and see how

they apply to your hardware. You can also check Chapter 2, &quot;Types of Linux,&quot;

for the listing of the hardware supported by this version of Linux. Check the HOWTO

files for Hardware and XFree86 for more up-to-date information.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading4<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>You can use the

	terms X, XFree86, X11, and X Window interchangeably, if you do not want to be picky.

	Actually, XFree86 refers to the product of the XFree86 Project, Inc.

<HR>



</DL>





<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading5<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>You can also look

	at the installation documentation files and other manuals that come with XFree86

	in your <TT>/usr/X386/lib/X11/etc</TT> directory. The main directory path is <TT>/usr/X11R6</TT>

	for access to this tree so that we are compatible with UNIX installations of X11R6.

	To read these documents, you need a working man program, as well as the groff package

	for formatting them. Note that groff is often required to read man pages, so you

	should install the groff package, even though some distributions regard it as optional.

<HR>



</DL>



<P>This chapter covers the following topics:



<UL>

	<LI>How to install X Window on Linux

	<P>

	<LI>A brief introduction to XFree86

	<P>

	<LI>Installation requirements

	<P>

	<LI>Possible hardware issues

	<P>

	<LI>Running and stopping X Window

	<P>

	<LI>Introduction to X applications packages

</UL>



<P>I also cover ways of finding information on X and XFree86 on the Internet and

the ways to upgrade in the future. I discuss some of the problems you might have

during installation. The list of supported hardware is found in the <TT>docs</TT>

directory in the CD-ROM attached to the back of this book.

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading6<FONT COLOR="#000077">X11 and the XFree86

Project, Inc.</FONT></H3>

<P>The X Windowing System refers to a windowing system for use on various operating

systems such as UNIX and its clones. The X Windowing System with source code was

issued by the MIT Consortium along with a set of original copyright notices. The

X11 release on which XFree86 (version 3.1.1 or greater) is based is X11 Release 6

(X11R6). The MIT Consortium's work is now done by the X Consortium. The XFree86 project

is a team of developers. In an effort to avoid legal problems and be a member of

the X Consortium, the XFree86 devel-opment team had to become a bona fide corporation.

New releases are provided only for members by the X Consortium. Incorporating paved

the path to access to new releases before any official release dates. Read the <TT>XFree86-HOWTO</TT>

in the <TT>docs</TT> directory for more detailed information.

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading7<FONT COLOR="#000077">Where to Get XFree86</FONT></H3>

<P>You have a release of XFree86 on the CD-ROM at the back of this book. The release

is located in the <TT>/slakware</TT> directory in several subdirectories: <TT>x1</TT>

through <TT>x21</TT> (base system), <TT>xap1</TT> through <TT>xap4</TT> (applications),

and <TT>xd1</TT> through <TT>xd4</TT> (documentation).</P>

<P>The primary source of information for obtaining and installing XFree86 on Linux

is the <TT>XFree86-HOWTO</TT> document, written by Matt Welsh, in the <TT>docs</TT>

directory in the CD-ROM at the back of this book. If you work with XFree86, you cannot

do without this document. I have found a wealth of information and answers to a lot

of questions about XFree86 in the <TT>XFree86-HOWTO</TT> document.</P>

<P>The XFree86 distribution consists of several gzipped tar files, some of which

are too big to fit on one floppy disk, so you might have to split them with other

Linux tools into smaller chunks that do fit on floppies. Not too long ago, everything

for Linux was on floppies. I would advise installing from a hard drive or your CD-ROM

as the first and easiest choice. Use floppies only if you must.</P>

<P>The main files for the XFree86 distribution you should know about are listed in

Table 21.1. <BR>



<CENTER>

<P><FONT SIZE="4"><B>Table 21.1. Some distribution files for XFree86 on the CD-ROM.

</B></FONT>

<TABLE BORDER="0" WIDTH="282">

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><I>Filename </I></TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT"><I>Description </I></TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x3270.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">x3270: IBM host access tool </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_8514.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">An accelerated server for cards using IBM8514 chips </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_mach32.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">An accelerated server for cards using Mach32 chips </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_mach8.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">An accelerated server for cards using Mach8 chips </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_mono.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">A monochrome server </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_s3.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">An accelerated server for cards using S3 chips </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>x_svga.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">A SuperVGA server </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>_vga16.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">A server for 16-color EGA/VGA graphics modes </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>xconfig.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">A collection of 24 sample XF86Config files </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>xf_bin.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">Basic client binaries </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>xf_cfg.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">XDM configuration, chooser, and the fvwm executable </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>xf_doc.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">Documentation and release notes for XFree86 </TD>

	</TR>

	<TR ALIGN="LEFT" rowspan="1">

		<TD WIDTH="109" ALIGN="LEFT"><TT>xf_kit.tgz</TT> </TD>

		<TD ALIGN="LEFT">XFree86 Linkkit part 1 </TD>

	</TR>