Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

> SW4.0 uses XFree86 3.3.31
> SW7.1 uses version 3.6 and provides source in /x:
> Three bz2 files of 13M, 11M and 12M plus some other stuff.
> This appears to include fonts.
>
> SW7.1 /contrib provides source for version 4.0:
> 16M regular source, 8M fonts, 20M static libs/debug

There were also other smaller files, but 4 source looks about 8MB larger.

> I have the CD.  I presume 3.3.6 would compile with libc5.
> Is there any major advantage to 4.0 if it did work with libc5?

XFree86 4 lets you add new drivers as modules instead of recompiling the 
whole package.  It is simpler to use old video cards instead.  ATI seems 
to be better supported in 4, but we can disable that chip onboard and add 
our own card.  Most of our other video cards work with Xvesa, as do some 
of the ATIs, or with the SVGA server (the laptop video chips).

Version 4.0.X did not yet support older S3 chips (the S3 driver, for 
Trio64 and the like).  Version 4.2.1 has an S3 driver but only for certain 
RAMDAC chips.  Version 4.4 is the first to autoconfigure, but only for 
linux and one other unix.  4.6 added some accelerated support for games 
and works with more other unixes.

There were instructions for how to fix the autoconfigure when it did not 
work quite right.  SW10.2 seems to autoconfigure properly and uses Xorg 
not XFree, and generated a ridiculously long .xinitrc (at least three 
pages).

4.4 might be the one to try, but I don't see any good reason to bother.
3.3.36 is the latest 3.x - maybe SW8.1 or 9.1 has the source code.

Sindi