Hi, I recently bought a MSI MS-6368 mainboard, and although Xfree 4.1 does support the Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1, it is somewhat flaky (see below). So, I wanted to try out Xfree 4.2.
I did not want to install XFree 4.2 the way XFree suggests (mv /usr/X11R6 backup; install new in /usr/X11R6), as I was afraid Debian wouldn't like it (Debian also installs it stuff in /usr/X11R6, so things may brake). So, I decided to try to install XFree 4.2 in a little chroot-ed environment, where the installation will not harm my (new!) debian system. I wanted to _only_ install the server part of XFree 4.2, all the client binaries I'll use from my Debian system (they work fine, anyway). So, I want the XFree 4.2 server to contact my Debian 4.1 XDM daemon. As there seem to be some people who want Debian to have 4.2, I decided to post to the list what I did (as at least one step wasn't fully obvious), I decided to post what I did to the list. Well, in words: 1 Get Xxserv.tgz, Xmod.tgz, Xlib.tgz (the latter only needed if you want anything other than a black/white system) from ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.2.0/binaries/Linux-ix86-glibc22/ (depending on your system etc) 2 create a directory, with copies of your /etc, /dev, /bin, /lib root-directories (simlinks won't do, I'm sure you can leave out most of the files in the dirs, but I didn't want to find out what). 3 create usr/X11R6, and unpack the X*.tgz files in here, downloaded in step 1 make a symlink usr/bin/X111 -> /usr/X11R6/bin 4 ** create tmp (mkdir tmp; chmod a+rwx tmp; chmod o+t tmp) and in your ROOT dir, do mv /tmp /tmp-old ln -s $YOUR_XFREE_CHROOT_DIR/tmp /tmp 5 On the main system, startup xfs (apt-get install xfs, remove the `no-listen = tcp' line in /etc/X11/fs/config), and install xdm and activate it (easiest way is to add a "*" line in /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess), and maybe remove those pesky `no tcp' lines from xdm too. 6 chroot $YOUR_XFREE_CHROOT_DIR X -query 127.0.0.1 Ready. Or, for those who understand sh better (step 5 above you still need to do) ------------------------------------------------------------ #!/bin/bash set -e set -x cd /home/joostje/rommel rm -rf Xtest mkdir Xtest cd Xtest mkdir -p usr/X11R6 mkdir usr/bin ln -s /usr/X11R6/bin usr/bin/X11 mkdir -p var/log for f in dev bin lib etc; do echo Copying $f cp -a /$f . || true done mkdir tmp chmod a+rwx tmp chmod o+t tmp for f in Xxserv.tgz Xmod.tgz Xlib.tgz; do echo unpacking $f #cp ../Xfree4.2.0/$f . wget ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.2.0/binaries/Linux-ix86-glibc22/$f zcat $f | (cd usr/X11R6; tar -xf -) done #Here, I copy a modified XF86Config file: #cp /home/joostje/rommel/Xfree4.2.0/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 etc/X11 mv /tmp /tmp-tmp ln -s `pwd`/tmp /tmp ------------------------------------------------------------ (and now, `chroot Xtest`, and `X -query 127.0.0.1`) ------------------------------------------------------------ Anyway, more on why I needed Xfree4.2 for my MSI MS-6368 Trident Microsystems CyberBlade/i1: - I couldn't go back to VC mode with 4.1. Whenever I pressed Alt_Cntr F1, the screen would go into power-save mode, and X wouldn't revive from it (well, I could go back to VC1, and restart X from there, but my old X session died). - Every now and then, the mouse pointer would be drawn about 50 pixels to the right of where the click-action would be. Very annoying, and even restarting X wouldn't work. I had to actually reboot the computer to get rid of it. - XFree 4.1 didn't like lines like Option "SWCursor" "true" Option "NoAccel" "true" in the "DEVICE" Secion in XF86Config-4. Whenever I met one of them, X wouldn't start, screen would go into power-save mode. XFree 4.2 did like those lines, and, using the "SWCursor" option, my mouse-action now is where the mouse pointer actually shows. Very convenient! Also, it seems XFree 4.2 likes higher video resolutions. I don't know why, but it automatically elected a much higer resolution, from an identical XF86Config-4 file. Hoping to be of some use to someone out there, and hoping not to start a flame-ware (it's about xfree 4.2 after all), joostje -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
