The XFree86/OS2 project

Last updated 6 Feb 1997.

These HTML pages can be downloaded from SET.GMD.DE (/pub/misc/XFree86OS2/html) by FTP.

NEW BETA VERSION XFree86/OS2-3.2A AVAILABLE

HINWEIS AN DEUTSCHE BENUTZER (Note to German users only, in German language)

If you have found bugs, immediately look at the BUG LIST directly, whether this problem is already known and if there is a fix or workaround. This list is possibly updated hourly.

The above XFree86/OS2 logo is also available in high quality Color Postscript, e.g. for printing on T-shirts, or posters. It may be freely used. Don't ask ME whether I sell T-shirts; get a printout from the file and ask in a reasonable copy shop.

What is it?

This project was my personal idea quite some time ago: to port XFree86, the free and optimized X11R6 implementation to OS/2. This is of course a quite ambitious enterprise, so this would be a long-term project for me.

For the unknowleged person: this is not just yet another program, it is an entire window management environment, that usually runs in Unix environments; we are talking about 100MB of source code, much of which highly hardware dependent, e.g. the X Servers which access the video hardware of the PC directly.

What is the status?

XFree86/OS2 is now available as a public version 3.2, which does not expire and for which full source code is available.

A new BETA version named 3.2A has now been released, which in short has the following features:

This beta version is time-limited and will expire on 15-June-97. Please give it a try and report results to XFree86@XFree86.org. Don't use this version for production systems.

List of archives

By default, the URL points to the version 3.2, unless otherwise stated.

North America:

Europe:

Asia/Australia:

Please send a mail to me with a complete URL if you have set up a ftp server or a mirror for XFree86/OS2. Please also report any changes or mistakes in the above URLs.

See the following links for more information. These files may be more up-to-date than the files in the distribution.

Currently, due to recently found bugs or other deficiencies, the distribution does not contain the following parts. They should be available in a later release (don't worry, you don't need them):

Changes from previous beta versions

Probably the most useful improvement is that the OS/2 version of XFree86-3.2 now finally supports XKB. From the standard XFree86 release, there is also now support for Matrox Millenium (through the SVGA server) and S3 ViRGE (through the special S3V server). Again, a large number of bugs have been fixed, mainly in the standard release. See the official XFree86 documentation for more details on what hardware is also supported.

For a detailed list of changes, see the Changelog file (very long!).

How can I help?

Test it, and report positive and negative experiences. Report bugs to the locations mentioned in the accompanying documentation. Please ensure first from the up-to-date buglist, all README files and available X documentation that you have infact found a bug.

Since this version comes with source, you might consider recompiling the code yourself (consult the file OS2.Notes in the docs) and fix bugs and improve certain parts. Before you start reinventing wheels or make in your opinion interesting improvements that might turn out making the system incompatible, please contact me before doing so. I'll still be available as the mediator between XFree86/OS2 and general XFree86.

You can help by porting X software, whatever kind (editors, tools, games, demos), to XFree86/OS2. Please read Q 4.16 of the FAQ and the porting list for guidelines. If you are the first to port certain software, you will be mentioned on the list!

Which are the available information channels?

There is a mailing list for XFree86/OS2. Check here.

I will be present in the following newsgroups (provided our news server is not down):

Please avoid cross-posting; we won't work faster if we see the same message multiple times. Note: the newsgroups comp.os.os2.networking.* or comp.windows.x.* are inappropriate; I won't react to postings there.

What are the resource requirements?