Hello all,
I've finally gotten around to trying XFree86 4.0 and well.. I have an
NVIDIA card so I'm not enjoying any DRI rendering goodness. Since I
couldn't find any RPMs I downloaded the following files:
Xmod.tgz - 5.5MB
Xbin.tgz - 6MB (you only need this if you need xf86config)
Xxserv.tgz - 0.9MB
So you can get away with downloading just a bit over 6MB rather than the
whole caboodle. I got 'em from
ftp://ftp.valinux.com/pub/mirrors/xfree86/binaries/Linux-ix86-glibc21.
Note: my machine is a Redhat 6.0 distribution with the latest updates,
kernel 2.2.14, NVidia Vanta 16MB video card, Intel Celeron processor
(@570MHz), 256MB RAM.
I put the contents of Xmod.tgz in /opt (it actually goes into
/opt/lib/modules) and Xbin.tgz as well as Xxserv.tgz in /opt as well (they
go into /opt/bin).
After some minor pain, I was up and running. Some impressions:
1. the builtin VESA modes are good for newbies because there's no need
to f*ck around with modelines.
However.. I already had a painfully-tweaked modeline to get the maximum
screen space from my monitor while minimizing pincushioning and moire.
good thing 4.0 allows you to reuse your old modelines. Yay!
Useful note: go to www.displaymate.com and grab their sample test images.
I got the 1024x768 test image, its a godsend for tweaking your monitor
settings to get the best image.
2. builtin TrueType font support is always good.
3. It's supposed to be faster.. but I dont feel it.
4. The mouse REALLY slows down w.r.t. XFree86 3.3.x, I was able to fix
this by forcing the mouse to 400dpi resolution (simply tweaking the
mouse threshold and acceleration isnt enough)
5. There are problems with BackingStore which causes intermittent window
garbage
6. XFree86-MISC extension is not supported, this causes a LOT of the gnome
applets to complain
7. XFree86-SHAPE extension is not supported (WTF were they thinking?) I'm
looking for a module.. maybe someone else compiled it
8. It consumes significantly more memory (40MB vs 30MB including the 16MB
AGP aperture)
Conclusion: it's not worth the upgrade particularly if you have a faster
machine (the speed difference cant be felt). So unless you need Xvideo,
Xinerama, or youre a lucky bastard with a Voodoo3, 3.3.x is still OK.
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Orlando Andico <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> +63 (2) 937-2293
Mosaic Communications, Inc. +63 (917) 531-5893
Any sufficiently perverted technology is indistinguishable from Perl.
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