Subject: Announcing the Release of XFree86[TM] Beta Version 3.1.2B
To: None <port-i386@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Matthieu Herrb <matthieu@laas.fr>
List: port-i386
Date: 01/03/1996 13:40:24
[Note: NetBSD binaries are now available --matthieu]
Announcing the Release of
XFree86[TM] Beta Version 3.1.2B
31 December 1995
The XFree86 Project, Inc's beta version 3.1.2B of XFree86 is now
available. This is a binary-only release.
Binaries are currently available for FreeBSD (2.0.5, also OK for 2.1.0),
Linux ELF, ISC, and SVR4. Binaries for Linux a.out and NetBSD are
expected to be available soon. They can be found at
ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/3.1.2B/, and most of the usual
XFree86 mirror sites. These binaries are update sets relative to the
last full release version (3.1.2). This means that 3.1.2 (or 3.1.2A)
should be installed first.
The release notes for this release describe the changes in version 3.1.2B,
and how to install it. A copy of the release notes is included below.
It can also be found at http://WWW.XFree86.org/3.1.2B/RELNOTES.html.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Release Notes for XFree86[TM] 3.1.2B (beta version)
The XFree86 Project, Inc
28 December 1995
This document describes the rationale and conditions of this beta
release, what is new in the XFree86 beta versions 3.1.2B and 3.1.2A
compared with the current release version 3.1.2, and how to install
this beta release.
1. General Information about Beta Releases
This is a beta release of XFree86. XFree86 beta releases are
available to the public in binary form only. Source code is available
only to registered members of the XFree86 beta team. The main reason
for this is that XFree86 beta versions often contain source code from
other sources (such as the X Consortium) which is not yet available
for public release. If you want to test or work on these releases at
the source code level, you can apply for membership of the XFree86
beta team by sending email to XFree86@XFree86.org.
The X servers included in beta releases have a built-in expiry date.
The reason for this is to try to prevent them from persisting beyond
the date of the next release. The expiry date for 3.1.2B is 1 April
1996.
The XFree86 binary beta releases may be freely redistributed providing
that they are not modified in any way, and providing that an
unmodified version of this document and the BetaReport document is
included with the distribution.
The reasons for making this beta release publicly available are to
give it the widest possible testing, and also to make support for new
hardware available.
The XFree86 Project encourages people to test this beta release, and
to send us a report. We need both success and failure reports, and we
also need people using already supported hardware to test these beta
releases to make sure that we haven't broken anything while adding
support for new hardware. A template for the Beta test reports can be
found in the file ``BetaReport'' which should be available from the
same place you got this file. It is also installed in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/. Beta test reports should be sent to
report@XFree86.org. Please do not send these reports to our usual
support address.
2. New Features in 3.1.2B
2.1. General X server changes
o A new extension called XFree86-DGA is now provided. This allows
a client program to get direct access to the video card's
memory. This is currently only implemented for the S3 and
Mach64 servers and the Cirrus and Trident drivers of the SVGA
server. For details of the client-side API, see the file
README.DGA.
o An implementation of the XInput extension is now included. It
has support for the following devices:
+ Joystick (Linux and FreeBSD only at the moment)
+ Wacom tablet (Wacom IV protocol only)
+ Elographics touchscreen
Refer to the XF86Config(4/5) manual page for configuration
details.
o The default black and white pixel values are now black = 0 and
white = 1 for all servers. This may be swapped with the
`-flipPixels' command-line option.
o The RepeatMiddle keyword that was added in 3.1.2A has been
removed because it didn't work properly.
2.2. PC98 support
o Support has been added for PC98 machines. These are Intel based
machines which are common in Japan.
o Initial release of the PC98 NEC(S3) server. This server is based
on the PC-AT S3 server.
o Initial release of the PC98 SKB-PowerWindow(S3) server. This
server is based on the PC-AT S3 server.
o Initial release of the PC98 PowerWindowLB(S3) server. This
server is based on the PC-AT S3 server.
2.3. Number Nine Imagine 128 server
o A new server for the Number Nine Imagine 128 card is included.
This server is currently not accelerated.
2.4. Trident driver (SVGA server)
o TGUI9440 is now fully supported by the SVGA server.
o Major updates for most of the trident family of chips.
o Preliminary support for the 9660/9680 chipsets - please test!
o Hardware Cursor support has problems when mode switching. This
is only a positioning issue and shouldn't cause any problems.
o Check README.trident distributed with this release for full
details.
o Known problems:
+ There is a problem with interlaced modes with the SVGA
driver.
2.5. ARK driver (SVGA server)
o The ICS5342 clock support (required for the Diamond Stealth64
Graphics 2001 series) reportedly didn't work in the 3.1.2A
version. A problem with it has been found and fixed in 3.1.2B,
but it hasn't been tested.
2.6. S3 server
o Workaround for the hardware bug in some new Trio32 chips that
causes font corruption. To enable this workaround, add the
following line to the Device section of your XF86Config:
Option "trio32_fc_bug"
o Support for S3 and Bt485 HW cursor in doublescan modes.
o Fix positioning of IBM RGB Ramdac HW cursor in interlace and
doublescan modes (the cursor shape still isn't correct).
o Fixed detection of Trio64V+ cards.
o Improved linear fb detection for PCI cards. In particular this
should allow most Trio64V+ cards to use the linear fb, which
seems to prevent a lot of the lockups that have been reported.
o Support for the ELSA Elsa Winner2000PRO/X-2,4 Rev.G which uses
an ICS9161A clock chip as well as the Ti3026 RAMDAC (clock
doubling not supported yet).
o The AT&T20C409 RAMDAC now supported at clocks up to 135MHz in
8bpp mode.
2.7. Mach64 server
o The Mach64 CT (also known as the 264CT, or 215CT22200) chip is
now supported. This chip has a integrated RAMDAC and clockchip,
and is used on some Graphics Xpression and WinBoost cards.
o The Mach64 GX-F (GX rev 3) is now supported.
o The IBM RGB514 RAMDAC is now supported (as used on the ATI
Graphics Turbo Pro 1600).
o The "program_clocks" option added in the 3.1.2A version has been
removed, so if you have been using it in your XF86Config you
will need to remove it. The use of programmed clocks is now the
default when a programmable clock chip is present. This can be
disabled if necessary by adding the following line to the Device
section of the XF86Config:
Option "no_program_clocks"
o The memory base should now be correctly detected for VLB cards.
If you've needed to add a `MemBase' line to the XF86Config for
previous versions, please try removing it, and let us know if
there are any problems.
o Cursor colour problems at 16bpp/32bpp mode with some RAMDACs
have been fixed.
o Errors in detecting some RAMDACs (like the CH8398) should now be
fixed.
o 8 bit-per-RGB mode (when running at 8bpp) is now default for
RAMDACs that support it.
o Known problems with this version of the Mach64 server are:
+ The Background colour is not correctly set after exiting the
server when using a GPT1600 card.
+ VT switching does not work for cards with the CH8398 and
AT&T20C409 RAMDACs.
+ The background colour of the cursor in xterms for the CH8398
and T&T20C409 RAMDACs is blue instead of black in 16bpp and
32bpp modes.
+ When using the software cursor, after switching to the
console and back, it leaves ``droppings'' when entering and
exiting windows (this bug is also present in 3.1.2).
2.8. ET4000/W32 server
o Support for the STG1703 RAMDAC/clock has been added. Clocks up
to 135MHz should be OK. To use the programmable clock add the
following line to the Device section of the XF86Config:
ClockChip "stg1703"
o Options have been added to allow PCI burst mode and W32
interleaving to be turned on or off. The XF86Config Device
section entries for these are:
Option "pci_burst_on"
Option "pci_burst_off"
Option "w32_interleave_on"
Option "w32_interleave_off"
2.9. SiS 86C201 support
o Support is included in 3.1.2B for the SiS 86C201 PCI graphics
card. It is currently only supported by the VGA16 and Mono
servers. Support for 256 colour operation is being worked on.
2.10. Client/Library changes
o The following new clients have been added:
+ dga -- a test program for the XFree86-DGA extension.
+ xsetmode, xsetpointer -- programs for use with the XInput
extension.
3. New Features in 3.1.2A
3.1. General X server changes
o Underscore characters are now ignored in Options and keywords in
the XF86Config file.
o The built-in X server malloc is used by default.
o Fix a problem that can cause the X server to crash when running
xvidtune.
o A new pointer keyword RepeatMiddle has been added to support
dual-protocol 3-button mice which repeat the previous button
event when the middle button is pressed in Microsoft-compatible
mode. If you've had problems getting the middle button working
on your mouse, try this.
o Bitmap fontpath elements can have ":unscaled" appended to
prevent the fonts from being treated as scalable. This works
with the fontserver (xfs) too.
3.2. Trident driver (SVGA server)
o Preliminary support is included for the TGUI 9440.
3.3. Cirrus driver (SVGA server)
o Support has been added for the CL-GD7543.
o The programmable clock code has been improved to avoid unstable
settings.
3.4. ARK driver (SVGA server)
o Preliminary support has been added for the ICS5342
RAMDAC/programmable clock, which is used on the Stealth64
Graphics 2001 card. This has had very little testing so far.
To enable this, add the following lines to the Device section of
your XF86Config file:
Ramdac "ics5342"
ClockChip "ics5342"
Do not include any Clocks lines in your XF86Config file.
o Panning has been fixed for ARK2000PV cards with 2MB of video
memory.
3.5. WD90C24 driver (SVGA server)
o A problem with snow at high clocks has been fixed.
3.6. S3 server
o The default InvertVCLK settings have been changed for #9 Motion
771 cards and Hercules Terminator 64 Pro cards. If you have
needed to add Invert_VCLK lines to your XF86Config file to avoid
screen wrapping with version 3.1.2, please remove them when
testing this version. If there are problems with the new
defaults, please report them to us.
o Preliminary support has been added for the AT&T 20C409 and AT&T
20C499 RAMDACs with 868 cards. 8bpp pixel multiplexing
currently does not work.
o The IBM RGB526 RAMDAC used on the newer Diamond Stealth64 Video
3240/3400 cards isn't yet auto-detected, but it will work if the
following line is added to the Device section of your XF86Config
file:
Ramdac "ibm_rgb526"
3.7. Mach32 server
o Hardware cursor mask problem has been fixed.
3.8. Mach64 server
o Hardware cursor mask problem has been fixed.
o Support for the AT&T 20C408 RAMDAC/Clockchip has been added.
o Arbitrary clocks can be used on most boards with supported clock
chips. This is enabled with the "program_clocks" option.
3.9. ET4000/W32 server
o Support has been added for the ICS5341 programmable clock. To
enable this, add the following lines to the Device section of
your XF86Config file:
Ramdac "ics5341"
ClockChip "ics5341"
o Problems that could cause the W32 server to crash at startup or
get stuck in a loop at exit have been fixed.
3.10. AGX server
o Fix for clock probing with AGX-010 chips.
3.11. VGA16 server
o A problem preventing the StaticGray visual from working has been
fixed.
3.12. xf86config utility
o Incorrect handling of IBM RGB Ramdacs has been fixed.
3.13. SuperProbe
o Added detection for C&T 65548, Cirrus CL-GD7543/1, AT&T 20C409,
AT&T20C499, and fixed an incorrect ET4000/W32 probe problem.
3.14. Client/Library changes
o The xdm security fix from the X Consortium's fix-13 is included.
o xconsole has been updated for Unixware 2.x.
o Colour support has been added to xterm.
o XNLS support has been added for KOI8-R.
o xrdb dynamically allocates string space to avoid overruns.
o A memory overrun problem in xterm has been fixed.
o An "AllowNullPasswd" resource has been added to xdm.
o libXt bug fix from the X Consortium's fix-13.
4. Installing an XFree86 Beta Release
The XFree86 3.1.2B binary beta release is distributed as a upgrade to
3.1.2. It consists of the following files:
BetaReport Beta test report template form
X312B8514.tgz 8514/A server
X312BAGX.tgz AGX server
X312BI128.tgz I128 server
X312BMa32.tgz Mach 32 server
X312BMa64.tgz Mach 64 server
X312BMa8.tgz Mach 8 server
X312BMono.tgz Mono server
X312BP9K.tgz P9000 server
X312BSVGA.tgz SVGA server
X312BVG16.tgz 16 colour VGA server
X312BW32.tgz ET4000/W32 server
X312B9NS3.tgz PC98 NEC(S3) server (*)
X312B9SPW.tgz PC98 PCSKB-PowerWindow(S3) server (*)
X312B9LPW.tgz PC98 PowerWindowLB(S3) server (*)
X312Bupd.tgz clients/libraries that have changed since 3.1.2
postinst.sh script to run after installing the 3.1.2B binaries
(*)Note: The PC98 servers are for use only on PC98 machines (if you
don't know what a PC98 machine is, you don't need these). Binaries
for these are available only for FreeBSD and NetBSD.
If you don't already have XFree86 3.1.2 installed, first install that.
If you have already installed 3.1.2A, that's fine. Then, you will
need to get at least one of the XFree86 3.1.2B X servers plus the
update set (X312Bupd.tgz), the post-install script (make sure you have
the correct version of this script -- check that the BETAVERSION
matches the version you are installing), and the BetaReport file. It
is recommended that this release be installed in the directory
/usr/XFree86-3.1.2B. You will need to be `root' to do the
installation. The following example is for installing the S3 and Mono
servers, and it assumes that the above files are located in /var/tmp:
mkdir /usr/XFree86-3.1.2B
cd /usr/XFree86-3.1.2B
gzip -d < /var/tmp/X312BS3.tgz | tar vxf -
gzip -d < /var/tmp/X312BMono.tgz | tar vxf -
gzip -d < /var/tmp/X312Bupd.tgz | tar vxf -
sh /var/tmp/postinst.sh
The postinst.sh script makes a backup copy of the 3.1.2 versions you
already had installed in /usr/X11R6. It puts the backups into the
/usr/XFree86-3.1.2 directory. It then links the 3.1.2B versions into
/usr/X11R6. If you had installed 3.1.2A previously according to the
instructions, the files for that version will still be in the
/usr/XFree86-3.1.2A directory.
--
David Dawes Email: dawes@XFree86.org
The XFree86 Project, Inc Phone: +61 2 351 2639
c/- School of Physics, Fax: +61 2 660 2903
University of Sydney 2006 AUSTRALIA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You came along for a weekend, but you only stayed for one night.
You took off your hair, you pulled out your teeth. I almost died of fright.
-- Deep Purple "Living Wreck"