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README for XFree86 3.1.2D on OS/2
Holger Veit
Last modified on: 20 Feb 1996
1. Introductory Note about the ALPHA release 3.1.2D
Before looking into this file, please check for any LATEST.OS2 files
that may come with the binary distribution. Some statements made here
refer to the official public version of XFree86/OS2, and may not be
fully functional in the alpha release.
This version of the code is called XFree86/OS2 3.1.2D. The letter
``D'', according to the naming rules of XFree86, usually denotes a
(public) beta version of the code. Since this is the first public
version of XFree86/OS2 at all, this code is considered having ALPHA
quality only.
The purpose of this release is to test it widely without restrictions
in a large number of configurations and find bugs that are still
existing in the distribution. It is also intended as a developer's
platform to port and write applications based on the X11 programming
interfaces provided here. This release is complete (with one
exception) regarding the X11R6.1 ``core'' distribution. The
``contrib'' distribution containing some of the more interesting tools
for the end user, will be issued together with a later release (no
need to start porting it independently).
This version is therefore intended for the experienced and knowledged
software engineer only, not for a casual end user.
This means - and this should be taken serious - that
o there is no explicit or implicit warranty that certain code
works correctly or works at all
o this code may damage your hardware; this includes improper
configuration or bugs still present in the software
o this code may destroy or damage your data on the storage media,
crash or lock up the operating system and even damage data on
different disk partitions
You are urged to make a backup of your complete system and keep it in
a safe place before you attempt to load any of this software on your
disk.
This even holds if you already have a working copy of XFree86-3.1.2D
running on another platform, such as Linux, and found it working
without problems. This is XFree86/OS2 which differs in a number of
critical aspects from any Unix implementation of XFree86.
If you are afraid to try out this code, simply don't use it and wait
for a future, hopefully more bug-free version.
2. What and Where is XFree86?
XFree86 is a port of X11R6 that supports several versions of Intel-
based Unix. It is derived from X386 1.2, which was the X server
distributed with X11R5. This release consists of many new features
and performance improvements as well as many bug fixes. The release
is available as source patches against the X Consortium X11R6 code, as
well as binary distributions for many architectures.
XFree86/OS2 is the tentative work title for the implementation of
XFree86 on OS/2 based systems.
See the Copyright Notice <COPYRIGHT.html>.
Binaries for OS/2 2.11 and OS/2 Warp are available from:
ftp.XFree86.org:/pub/XFree86/beta/binaries/OS2
<ftp://ftp.XFree86.org/pub/XFree86/beta/binaries/OS2>
more archives to be added ...
Other versions:
XFree86/OS2 will run on all dialects of Warp, including Warp "red
spine box", Warp "blue spine box", Warp Connect and Warp Server (beta
1 and 2). Fixpack level 5 is mandatory, a later fixpack level (10 or
17) is recommended. XFree86/OS2 appears to work under OS/2 2.11 with
fixpack 100, but this was not checked in all details, so hidden
problems may still exist. It is unlikely that it will run stable under
OS/2 2.0 and 2.1, and it will definitely not run with any OS/2 1.X.
It is possible to build XFree86/OS2 from the sources. Read about this
in some section below.
3. Bug Reports for This Document
Send email to Holger.Veit@gmd.de (Holger Veit) or XFree86@XFree86.org
if you have comments or suggestions about this file and we'll revise
it.
4. Hardware and Software Requirements
4.1. Supported, Required, and Recommended Hardware
o At least a 486DX33 with 16MB RAM is required. A Pentium or
Pentium Pro and more main memory is recommended. A 386 or a
system with 8MB or less memory is an insufficient configuration.
o There are no specific requirements concerning network cards,
disk types, or CD ROM equipment; of course the more powerful,
the better.
o Depending on the packages installed, a disk space of 20-55MB on
a HPFS formatted partition (or a NFS partition natively allowing
long filenames) is required. XFree86/OS2 will not run on FAT
partitions.
o You need a video card that is supported by XFree86. Refer to the
general README document for a list of supported cards. Note that
the sets of video cards supported by XFree86 on one hand and
OS/2 on the other hand overlap, but do not match exactly, i.e.
the fact that your card is supported by OS/2 does not mean it
works with XFree86 as well, and vice versa. XFree86 does not use
the video services of the OS/2 operating system.
4.2. Required Software
o OS/2 2.11 with fixpack 100 and all versions of Warp with at
least fixpack level 5 are required.
o In the version 3.1.2D, you need certain networking TCP/IP
software. In a future version, this restriction might be no
longer present.
1. For OS/2 2.11, IBM TCP/IP 2.0 or later is mandatory.
2. Warp comes with the Internet Access Kit (IAK), which is
sufficient. Warp Connect and Warp Server come with a full
version of TCP/IP (3.0). Use of this software is preferred
over IAK then.
Other versions of TCP/IP, such as FTP's, DEC's, or Hummingbird's
TCP/IP versions, as well as IBM TCP/IP 1.X are not supported.
Nor does any networking support from DOS (packet drivers,
winsock), Netware, or NetBIOS work, and I won't to provide sup-
port for that in the future.
o If you want to write or port applications for XFree86, you are
encouraged to do so. You will need a complete installation of
EMX/gcc 0.9B fix 1 or later for doing so. Neither the second
(obsolete) implementation of gcc, nor any commercial package,
including Cset/2, VAC++, Borland C++/OS2, Watcom C++, Metaware
C, and others, is suitable for porting, because various parts of
the X DLLs rely on certain features only present with EMX.
5. Installing the System
The binary distribution is composed of a number of zip archives which
are the executables, servers, fonts, libraries, include files, man
pages, and config files. The full distribution requires about 40-55MB
of disk space.
All archives of this alpha version are packed with the info-zip
utility, which is available under the name UNZ512X2.EXE from many OS/2
archives. Please obtain a native OS/2 version of this unpacker. DOS
PKUNZIP does not work, because it cannot unpack long file names and
extended attributes.
At this moment, the distribution covers only the ``core'' distribution
which somewhat reduces the usability. Some of the more interesting
clients from the ``contrib'' area will be made available in the
future.
The contents of the packages are:
REQUIRED:
312Dbase
A special device driver and the SuperProbe program
312Ddoc
READMEs and XFree86 specific man pages.
312Dbin
all of the executable X client applications and shared libs
312Dfnts
the misc and 75dpi fonts
312Dlib
data files needed at runtime
emxrt
Runtime libraries of EMX
Choose at least one of the following to match your hardware:
312D8514
the X server for IBM 8514/A and compatible boards
312DAGX
the X server for AGX boards
312DI128
the X server for #9 Imagination 128 boards
312DMa32
the X server for ATI Mach32 graphics boards
312DMa64
the X server for ATI Mach64 graphics boards
312DMa8
the X server for ATI Mach8 graphics boards
312DMono
the Monochrome X Server
312DP9K
the X server for P9000 based boards
312DS3
the X server for S3 based boards
312DSvga
the 8-bit pseudo-color X server for Super VGA cards
312Dvg16
the 4-bit pseudo-color X server for VGA & SVGA cards.
312Dw32
the X server for et4000w32 based boards
OPTIONAL:
312Dman
pre-formatted man pages for the X11 interface and clients
312Df100
100dpi fonts
312Dfscl
Speedo and Type1 fonts
312Dfnon
Japanese, Chinese and other fonts
312Dfcyr
Cyrillic fonts
312Dfsrv
the font server with man pages.
312Dprog
the X11 header files and programmer's utilities for compiling
other X applications
312Dpex
PEX fonts and libraries required for PEX applications
312Dnest
the Xnest X server
In order to save space on your disk and reduce net bandwidth, choose
the software to obtain carefully. Each X server is an archive of about
1.4MB and occupies 2.5MB on the disk. You won't normally need more
than the single Xserver tailored to your video card.
If it is your first time install, get the 312Dbase archive before any
of the other packages. This package contains a driver and a test
program, which analyzes your video hardware. If this program fails or
reports an incompatible hardware, it makes no sense to obtain the
other packages in the hope that they would magically work.
6. Checking Compatibility of Video Hardware
In the following, we assume that you want to install XFree86/OS2 on a
disk drive with the letter Y: (which you probably don't have). Change
the letter in all commands accordingly.
1. Obtain the package 312Dbase and install it from the root
directory of the Y: drive, by entering the following commands:
[C:\] Y:
[Y:\] cd \
[Y:\] unzip \path_of_package\312Dbase.zip
2. Edit your CONFIG.SYS file to contain the following line
somewhere:
DEVICE=Y:\XFree86\lib\xf86sup.sys
Of course replace ``Y:'' with the correct drive letter.
3. At this point, you may consider to add the variables required
for XFree86/OS2 as well, which will save you from one additional
reboot. Refer to section ``Adding Variables to CONFIG.SYS''
below.
4. After adding the device driver entry to the CONFIG.SYS file, you
must reboot to install the driver. XFree86/OS2 will not work
without this driver.
5. Start a full screen OS/2 CMD session and enter the following
command:
[C:\] Y:\XFree86\bin\SuperProbe
6. This command will (normally) report important information about
your video configuration, i.e. the type of chipset, the
available video memory and the RAMDAC circuit available. Please
write this down or redirect the output of ``SuperProbe'' into a
file by entering:
[C:\] Y:\XFree86\bin\SuperProbe >filename
7. SuperProbe can identify many more video cards than are supported
by XFree86. Therefore lookup the reported type in the
compatibility list, and also check the accompanying README.*
files for special conditions and requirements. If the card is
not mentioned or marked as unsupported, the game is over for you
now, unfortunately.
8. Otherwise chances are good, that you can run XFree86/OS2. Obtain
the rest of the software and proceed with the next section.
7. Installing the packages
XFree86/OS2 assumes a directory hierarchy starting from
drive:\XFree86. This can be changed, but is strictly discouraged.
1. Choose a HPFS partition with sufficient free space.
2. For each package to install, go to the root directory of this
drive, and type:
drive:> cd \
drive:> unzip \path_of_packages\312Dxxxx.zip
8. Adding Variables to CONFIG.SYS
XFree86/OS2 requires a number of settings in the CONFIG.SYS file to
work correctly. Please add the following settings:
TERM
Set the preferred terminal type for the xterm or editor to be
used. Some programs need this setting. I have my type set to
SET TERM=ansi
\XFree86\lib\X11\etc\termcap.x11 contains a suitable termcap which
can be used in place of termcap files that come with EMX, EMACS, or
other ported software.
TERMCAP
This variable must be set to the location where the termcap file
used for the above TERM variable is searched. My setting, for
instance, is:
SET TERMCAP=D:/EMX/ETC/TERMCAP.X11
Note that forward ``/'' is used as a directory separator.
ETC
Set to an ETC directory. Normally, this is already set to the
ETC directory of the TCP/IP code, such as
SET ETC=C:\TCPIP\ETC
TMP
Set to an TMP directory. Normally, this is already set to the
TMP directory of the TCP/IP code, such as
SET TMP=C:\TCPIP\TMP
HOSTNAME
Set to the internet hostname. Normally, this is already set by
the TCP/IP installation program, such as
SET HOSTNAME=myhost
With IAK, you would normally run a loopback configuration ``Network
configuration'' and would then set this to
SET HOSTNAME=localhost
USER
LOGNAME
Set both to a username. Currently, they are there just to make
some programs happy; in the future, this variable might be set
by a login shell of a multiuser configuration. My variable, for
instance, is set to
SET USER=holger
SET LOGNAME=holger
HOME
Set this to an existing directory that is supposed to be a home
directory of a user. Some utilities place temporary and init
files here. This is also future investment for a multiuser
configuration, but must still be there. For instance, this
variable might be set to
SET HOME=H:\user\holger
X11ROOT
This is one of the most important settings, it determines the
root of the XFree86 directory tree. Normally, you will set this
to the drive letter of the partition where the \XFree86 tree
resides, such as in
SET X11ROOT=Y:
You may try to move the tree to another subdirectory, e.g. to
K:\OS2\X11\XFree86... and would then have to change this to
SET X11ROOT=K:/OS2/X11
, but this is discouraged, since some utilities might not accept
this. Note the forward ``/'' as a directory separator here.
DISPLAY
This variable may be set to the display to be used for
displaying clients. Normally you will set this variable to the
same value as the HOSTNAME variable and simply add a :0.0 after
it, such as
SET DISPLAY=myhost:0.0
Read the X11 man page on the exact meaning of these postfixes and
other options.
XSERVER
Set this to the executable name of the X server to be used. This
must be a complete path. My setting is as follows:
SET XSERVER=D:/XFree86/bin/XF86_Mach64.exe
PATH
Add the binary directory for the X11 utilities to your search
PATH. This is normally the directory (adjust the letter)
Y:\XFree86\bin
It is possible to move the binaries to another directory in the
search path; for maintenance reasons and clarity of the structure,
this is not recommended, though.
LIBPATH
Add the DLL directory for the X11 utilities to the LIBPATH.
This is normally the directory (adjust the letter)
Y:\XFree86\lib
It is possible to move the DLLs to another directory in the library
path; for maintenance reasons and clarity of the structure, this is
not recommended, though. Note that Y:\XFree86\lib has several other
subdirectories; these may not be moved elsewhere, rather they must
stay there, because most utilities form a path to these directories
by using %X11ROOT%\XFree86\lib as a base.
9. Remarks on the Network Configuration
It is beyond the scope of this document to even give an introduction
about the correct installation of the TCP/IP networking system. You
must do this yourself or seek assistance elsewhere. It is only
possible to say here that a PC working well in a TCP/IP based LAN
network will also work with XFree86/OS2 (when all other prerequisites
are matched as well).
With IAK, there is a special configuration necessary, unless you want
to use XFree86/OS2 only during a hot link to your Internet provider,
the so called ``localhost'' or ``loopback'' configuration. This is a
local network interface which ``loops'' back to the same host. The
following settings are necessary for this:
1. Create a file \tcpip\etc\hosts with the following content:
127.0.0.1 localhost
2. Add the following line to your \tcpip\bin\tcpstart.cmd:
ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 up
3. Uncomment the inetd process in the same file.
4. Set the HOSTNAME environment variable to localhost as described
in the last section.
5. Add the following line to CONFIG.SYS:
SET USE_HOSTS_FIRST=1
6. After rebooting, verify that the following command works:
[C:\] ping localhost
If you have problems to get this or other basic networking things
running, seek assistance elsewhere.
10. Configuring X for Your Hardware
After you have added the required settings and setup a working
network, run the xf86config program to create a standard configuration
file in Y:\XFree86\lib\X11\XConfig from a windowed or full screen OS/2
text session:
[C:\] xf86config
This program will ask a number of questions. You will need the
information obtained from the SuperProbe program here. The program
should be self explanatory; if you have problems to understand
something though, seek assistance in the newsgroups.
Alternatively, but not recommended for the non-expert, you can edit
the XConfig file manually with a text editor. A sample file is in
Y:\XFree86\lib\X11\XConfig.eg, which can be used as a starting point.
For details about the XF86Config file format, refer to the
XF86Config(4/5) manual page.
If you know the configuration process from Linux or other XFree86
platform, you will encounter a few differences:
o There is no configuration for the mouse type or device. The
mouse device name is fixed to OSMOUSE, and this cannot be
changed. If you have a three-button-mouse, install the correct
OS/2 driver for it, such as
DEVICE=D:\OS2\BOOT\PCLOGIC.SYS SERIAL=COM1
DEVICE=D:\OS2\BOOT\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=PCLOGIC$
for a MouseSystems compatible mouse, for instance.
o Currently, the X server does not read the native OS/2 keyboard
map, so you need a xmodmap file for a non-us keyboard.
Fortunately, it is the same you use for Linux. The server is
compiled with the XKEYBOARD option, so this might be an
alternative. At the time of this documentation, unfortunately,
some subtle bug in the OS/2 implementation is still waiting for
a fix, so this might not yet work. Read the LATEST.OS2 file with
the binary distribution.
o There is no support for the Wacom and Elographics input devices
yet.
Other than that, an existing XF86Config file for the same XFree86
version from Linux or another platform may be used without changes.
Once you've set up a XF86Config file, you can fine tune the video
modes with the xvidtune utility.
11. Running X
16mb of memory is a recommended minimum for running the network
software, X and the presentation manager in parallel. The server,
window manager and an xterm take about 4-6 Mb of memory themselves. X
will start up on a system with 8MB or less, but the performance will
severely suffer from heavy disk swapping. Your mileage may vary,
though, so some people might consider this still tolerable.
The easiest way for new users to start X windows is to type:
[C:\] startx
To get out of X windows, type: ``exit'' in the console xterm. You can
customize your X by creating .xinitrc, .xserverrc, and .twmrc files in
the directory that the HOME environment variable points to. These
files are described in the xinit and startx man pages.
12. Rebuilding the XFree86 Distribution
Do you really want to rebuild XFree86/OS2 from source? If so, here are
a few hints:
1. You need about 250-300 MB of free HPFS space.
2. You must have the complete EMX environment installed.
3. You need most of the GNU utilities that are available from the
unix directory of hobbes.nmsu.edu.
4. You need a GNU make 3.71 or 3.72, others often have obscure
bugs. You cannot use dmake, nmake, wmake, or other toy software
as a replacement.
5. Install the X11R6.1 ``core'' distribution on some disk under a
directory like \X11, i.e. \X11\xc\....
6. Copy the cmd file buildos2.cmd from the directory
\X11\xc\config\util to the top directory \X11\xc.
7. Execute this script; this should recompile everything, thereby
producing a logfile \X11\xc\buildxc.log. The process requires
between 2 and 20 hours depending on your hardware.
Good luck!
13. Building New X Clients
The easiest way to build a new client (X application) is to use xmkmf
if an Imakefile is included in the sources. Type ``xmkmf -a'' to
create the Makefiles, check the configuration if necessary and type
``xmake''. ``xmake'' is a wrapper for the GNU make program which
defeats the improper SHELL setting typically found in a Makefile
generated from an Imakefile.
14. Acknowledgements
Many thanks to:
o Sebastien Marineau for his great work on getting the server code
debugged
o Eberhard Mattes for the wonderful base platform EMX which this
port heavily relies on
o ME - no, no, forget this: I won't praise myself :-)
Generated from XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/sgml/OS2.sgml,v 3.4 1996/03/10 12:05:04 dawes Exp $
$XConsortium$
$XFree86: xc/programs/Xserver/hw/xfree86/doc/README.OS2,v 3.7 1996/03/17 13:02:35 dawes Exp $