The Linux XFree86 HOWTO

Helmut Geyer, Helmut.Geyer@iwr.uni-heidelberg.de

v2.1 , 1. June 1994


This document describes how to obtain, install and configure XFree86[TM] for Linux systems. XFree86 version 2 is an enhanced version of the X Window System version 11 release 5 with support for many versions of UN*X running on Intel[TM] 386/486/Pentium[TM] platforms, including Linux. It supports a great amount of video hardware for these systems and includes many bugfixes beyond the MIT standard release of X. It is intended to help Linux users install and configure XFree86. It covers all versions of XFree86 starting from version 2.0. It is furthermore intended to answer some basic questions about X and programs using X. Please read this file and the referenced documentation files BEFORE installing and starting XFree86. IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL, YOU MIGHT DAMAGE YOUR HARDWARE. If you have access to a printer capable of printing DVI or PostScript[TM] documents, you should consider to get those versions of this HOWTO as these provide far more readability by better formatting. A WWW version of this file and many other HOWTOs can be found in the Linux Documentation Project homepage.

1. Introduction

2. What are X11 and XFree86?

3. Supported Hardware

4. Installing XFree86

5. Setting up your XFree86 system

6. tinyX - a XFree86 based package for low memory systems

7. X related packages

8. Compiling programs that use X

9. Finding Information on X and XFree86 on the net

10. Why should I upgrade my system and how do I do that?

Appendix

11. Bugs in XFree86

12. The Future of XFree86

13. Some Questions and Answers

14. Acknowledgements

15. Trademarks