mirror of https://github.com/tLDP/LDP
553 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
553 lines
24 KiB
Plaintext
|
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V3.1//EN">
|
||
|
|
||
|
<article>
|
||
|
<artheader>
|
||
|
<title>The Linux XFree86 HOWTO</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<author>
|
||
|
<firstname>Eric</firstname>
|
||
|
<othername>Steven</othername>
|
||
|
<surname>Raymond</surname>
|
||
|
<affiliation>
|
||
|
<orgname><ulink url="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">
|
||
|
Thyrsus Enterprises</ulink></orgname>
|
||
|
<address>
|
||
|
<email>esr@thyrsus.com</email>
|
||
|
</address>
|
||
|
</affiliation>
|
||
|
</author>
|
||
|
<pubdate role="cvs">$Date$</pubdate>
|
||
|
<releaseinfo>This is version 7.0</releaseinfo>
|
||
|
<copyright>
|
||
|
<year>2000</year>
|
||
|
<holder role="mailto:esr@thyrsus.com">Eric S. Raymond</holder>
|
||
|
</copyright>
|
||
|
<legalnotice>
|
||
|
<title>Copyright</title>
|
||
|
<para>Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify
|
||
|
this document under the terms of the Open Publication License,
|
||
|
version 2.0.</para>
|
||
|
</legalnotice>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<revhistory>
|
||
|
<revision>
|
||
|
<revnumber>7.0</revnumber>
|
||
|
<date>21 August 2000</date>
|
||
|
<authorinitials>esr</authorinitials>
|
||
|
<revremark>
|
||
|
First DocBook version.
|
||
|
</revremark>
|
||
|
</revision>
|
||
|
</revhistory>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<abstract>
|
||
|
<para>This document describes how to obtain, install, and configure
|
||
|
version 4.0 of the XFree86 version of the X Window System (X11R6)
|
||
|
for Linux systems. It is a step-by-step guide to configuring
|
||
|
XFree86 on your system.</para>
|
||
|
</abstract>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</artheader>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Introduction</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The X Window System is a large and powerful (some might say
|
||
|
excessively large and overly complex) graphics environment for UNIX
|
||
|
systems. The original X Window System code was developed at MIT; commercial
|
||
|
vendors have since made X the industry standard for UNIX
|
||
|
platforms. Virtually every UNIX workstation in the world runs some variant
|
||
|
of the X Window system.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>A freely redistributable port of the MIT X Window System version 11,
|
||
|
release 6 (X11R6) for 80386/80486/Pentium UNIX systems has been developed
|
||
|
by a team of programmers originally headed by David Wexelblat
|
||
|
<email>dwex@XFree86.org</email>. The release, known as XFree86, is
|
||
|
available for System V/386, 386BSD, and other x86 UNIX implementations,
|
||
|
including Linux. It includes all of the required binaries, support files,
|
||
|
libraries, and tools.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Complete information on XFree86 is available at the XFree86 web site,
|
||
|
<ulink url="http://www.XFree86.org">http://www.XFree86.org</ulink>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>In this document, we'll give a step-by-step description of how
|
||
|
to install and configure XFree86 for Linux, but you will have to
|
||
|
fill in some of the details yourself by reading the documentation
|
||
|
released with XFree86 itself. (This documentation is discussed below.)
|
||
|
However, using and customizing the X Window System is far beyond the
|
||
|
scope of this document---for this purpose you should obtain one of the
|
||
|
many good books on using the X Window System.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<sect2><title>Other sources of information</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you have never heard of Linux before, there are several sources of
|
||
|
basic information about the system. The best place to find these is at the
|
||
|
<ulink url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP">Linux Documentation Project home
|
||
|
page</ulink>. You can find the latest, up-to-date version of this document
|
||
|
there, as <ulink
|
||
|
url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html">http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html</ulink>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
<sect2><title>New versions of this document</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>New versions of the Linux XFree86 HOWTO will be periodically posted
|
||
|
to <ulink url="news:comp.os.linux.help">comp.os.linux.help</ulink> and
|
||
|
<ulink url="news:comp.os.linux.announce">comp.os.linux.announce</ulink> and
|
||
|
<ulink url="news:news.answers">news.answers</ulink>. They will also be
|
||
|
uploaded to various Linux WWW and FTP sites, including the LDP home
|
||
|
page.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You can always view the latest version of this on the World Wide Web via
|
||
|
the URL <ulink url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html">http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html</ulink>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>This document was originally written by Matt Welsh in the dim and
|
||
|
backward abysm of time. Thanks, Matt!</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
<sect2><title>Feedback and Corrections</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you have questions or comments about this document, please feel
|
||
|
free to mail Eric S. Raymond, at <email>esr@thyrsus.com</email>. I welcome
|
||
|
any suggestions or criticisms. If you find a mistake with this document,
|
||
|
please let me know so I can correct it in the next version. Thanks.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Please do <emphasis>not</emphasis> mail me questions about how to
|
||
|
make your video card and monitor work with X. This HOWTO is intended to be
|
||
|
a rapid, painless guide to <emphasis>normal</emphasis> installation using
|
||
|
the new interactive configurator. If you run into problems, browse the
|
||
|
<ulink
|
||
|
url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO.html">XFree86
|
||
|
Video Timings HOWTO</ulink>. (This is the up-to-date HTML version of
|
||
|
XFree86's `Videomodes.doc' file.) That document tells everything I know
|
||
|
about configuration troubleshooting. If it can't help you, I can't
|
||
|
either.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Hardware requirements</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You can find an up-to-date list of supported cards and chipset types
|
||
|
at <ulink url="http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/Status.html">
|
||
|
the 4.0 status page</ulink>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The documentation included with your video adaptor should specify the
|
||
|
chipset used. If you are in the market for a new video card, or are
|
||
|
buying a new machine that comes with a video card, have the vendor
|
||
|
find out exactly what the make, model, and chipset of the video card
|
||
|
is. This may require the vendor to call technical support on your
|
||
|
behalf; in general vendors will be happy to do this. Many PC hardware
|
||
|
vendors will state that the video card is a ``standard SVGA card''
|
||
|
which ``should work'' on your system. Explain that your software
|
||
|
(mention Linux and XFree86!) does not support all video chipsets and
|
||
|
that you must have detailed information.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You can also determine your videocard chipset by running the
|
||
|
<command>SuperProbe</command> program included with the XFree86 distribution.
|
||
|
This is covered in more detail below.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Supported video cards will work with all bus types, including ISA and
|
||
|
VLB and PCI.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>One problem faced by the XFree86 developers is that some video card
|
||
|
manufacturers use non-standard mechanisms for determining clock
|
||
|
frequencies used to drive the card. Some of these manufacturers either
|
||
|
don't release specifications describing how to program the card, or
|
||
|
they require developers to sign a non-disclosure statement to obtain
|
||
|
the information. This would obviously restrict the free distribution
|
||
|
of the XFree86 software, something that the XFree86 development team
|
||
|
is not willing to do. For a long time, this has been a problem with
|
||
|
certain video cards manufactured by Diamond, but as of release 3.1 of
|
||
|
XFree86, Diamond has started to work with the development team to
|
||
|
release free drivers for these cards.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The suggested setup for XFree86 under Linux is a 486 or better with at
|
||
|
least 8 megabytes of RAM, and a video card with a chipset listed
|
||
|
above. For optimal performance, we suggest using an accelerated card,
|
||
|
such as an S3-chipset card. You should check the documentation for
|
||
|
XFree86 and verify that your particular card is supported before
|
||
|
taking the plunge and purchasing expensive hardware.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>As a side note, the personal Linux system of Matt Welsh (this FAQ's
|
||
|
originator) was a 486DX2-66, 20 megabytes of RAM, equipped with a VLB
|
||
|
S3-864 chipset card with 2 megabytes of DRAM. He ran X benchmarks on
|
||
|
this machine as well as on Sun Sparc IPX workstations. The Linux
|
||
|
system was roughly 7 times faster than the Sparc IPX (for the curious,
|
||
|
XFree86-3.1 under Linux, with this video card, runs at around 171,000
|
||
|
xstones; the Sparc IPX at around 24,000). In general, XFree86 on a
|
||
|
Linux system with an accelerated SVGA card will give you much greater
|
||
|
performance than that found on commercial UNIX workstations (which
|
||
|
usually employ simple framebuffers for graphics).</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Your machine will need at least 4 megabytes of physical RAM, and 16
|
||
|
megabytes of virtual RAM (for example, 8 megs physical and 8 megs swap).
|
||
|
Remember that the more physical RAM that you have, the less that the system
|
||
|
will swap to and from disk when memory is low. Because swapping is
|
||
|
inherently slow (disks are very slow compared to memory), having 8
|
||
|
megabytes of RAM or more is necessary to run XFree86 comfortably. 16 is
|
||
|
better. A system with 4 megabytes of physical RAM could run
|
||
|
<emphasis>much</emphasis> (up to 10 times) more slowly than one with 8 megs
|
||
|
or more.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Installing XFree86</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>It's quite likely that you obtained XFree86 as part of a Linux
|
||
|
distribution, in which case downloading the software separately is not
|
||
|
necessary. Or you may be able to get RPM binary packages built for your
|
||
|
machine, in which case you can just install those using rpm(1). In either
|
||
|
case you can skip this the rest of this section.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The Linux binary distributions of XFree86 can be found on a number of
|
||
|
FTP sites. On the XFree86 site they are <ulink
|
||
|
url="ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/current/binaries/">here</ulink>.
|
||
|
You will want either the Linux-axp-glibc21, Linux-ix86-glibc20, or
|
||
|
Linux-ix86-glibc21 subdirectories, depending on your processor type
|
||
|
(axp=alpha, ix86=Intel 80x86) and Gnu C library version.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Before doing anything else, download and run the `Xinstall.sh' shell
|
||
|
script first. This may tell you about prerequisites you'll need to have in
|
||
|
place before continuing your installation. Complete instructions for
|
||
|
installing the XFree86 nbinary distribution are at <ulink
|
||
|
url="http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/Install2.html">http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/Install2.html</ulink>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The binary directory should contain release notes for the current
|
||
|
version in <filename>RELNOTES</filename>. Consult those for installation
|
||
|
details.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>All that is required to install XFree86 is to obtain the above files,
|
||
|
create the directory <filename>/usr/X11R6</filename> (as
|
||
|
<filename>root</filename>), and unpack the files from
|
||
|
<filename>/usr/X11R6</filename> with a command such as:</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
gzip -dc Xbin.tgz | tar xfB -
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Remember that these tar files are packed relative to
|
||
|
<filename>/usr/X11R6</filename>, so it's important to unpack the files
|
||
|
there.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You need to make sure that <filename>/usr/X11R6/bin</filename> is on
|
||
|
your path. This can be done by editing your system default
|
||
|
<filename>/etc/profile</filename> or <filename>/etc/csh.login</filename>
|
||
|
(based on the shell that you, or other users on your system, use). Or you
|
||
|
can simply add the directory to your personal path by modifying
|
||
|
<filename>.bashrc</filename> or <filename>.cshrc</filename>, based on your
|
||
|
shell.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You also need to make sure that <filename>/usr/X11R6/lib</filename>
|
||
|
can be located by <command>ld.so</command>, the runtime linker. To do this,
|
||
|
add the line:</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
/usr/X11R6/lib
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>to the file <filename>/etc/ld.so.conf</filename>, and run
|
||
|
<filename>/sbin/ldconfig</filename>, as <filename>root</filename>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Configuring XFree86</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<sect2><title>Normal Configuration</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Configuring XFree86 to use your mouse, keyboard, monitor, and video
|
||
|
card correctly used to be something of a black art, requiring
|
||
|
extensive hand-hacking of a complex configuration file. No more; recent
|
||
|
releases have made the process nearly trivial. It simplifies matters
|
||
|
a lot that there are no longer separate servers for different kinds
|
||
|
of cards, just modules loaded by a common server. All you do to
|
||
|
configure it is fire up the program <command>XF86Setup</command>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>This program depends on the fact that all new PC hardware these days
|
||
|
ships with EGA/VGA capable monitors. It invokes the VGA16 server
|
||
|
and uses it to bring up X in a lowest-common-denominator 640x480 mode.
|
||
|
Then it runs an interactive program that walks you through a
|
||
|
series of five configuration panels -- mouse, keyboard, (video) card,
|
||
|
monitor, and `other' (miscellaneous server options). The whole process
|
||
|
is quite painless.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>(If you're running Red Hat or Debian Linux, you may see a different
|
||
|
program called <command>xf86config</command>. This works fairly similarly
|
||
|
to <command>XF86Setup</command> but does not itself use an X interface and
|
||
|
the VGA16 server.)</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>One minor point to keep in mind is that, if you're like most people
|
||
|
using a current PC, your keyboard is actually what
|
||
|
<command>XF86Setup</command> calls `Generic 102-key PC (intl)' rather than
|
||
|
the default `Generic 101-key PC'. If you pick the default (101) the key
|
||
|
cluster on the extreme right of your keyboard (numeric keypad and friends)
|
||
|
may stop working.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you're not sure of your monitor type, you can try the listed ones
|
||
|
in succession. Work your way from top down (upper choices involve
|
||
|
lower dot-clock speeds and are less demanding on the hardware). Back
|
||
|
off if you get hash or a seriously distorted picture. Minor
|
||
|
distortions (picture slightly too large, slightly too small, or
|
||
|
slightly off-center) are no problem; you'll get a chance to correct
|
||
|
those immediately by fine-tuning the mode.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>And, when the program brings up <command>xvidtune</command> to allow
|
||
|
you to tweak your video mode, don't let the initial warning box make you
|
||
|
nervous. Modern multisync monitors (unlike their fixed-frequency
|
||
|
predecessors) are not easy to damage this way.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>XF86Config may assume that your mouse device is
|
||
|
<filename>/dev/mouse</filename>. If you find this doesn't work, you may
|
||
|
need to link <filename>/dev/mouse</filename> to whatever
|
||
|
<filename>/dev/ca[01]</filename> the mouse is on. If you find that XFree86
|
||
|
gives you a "mouse busy" error when <command>gpm</command> is running, you
|
||
|
may need to link to <filename>/dev/ttyS[01]</filename> instead.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The configuration process operates by selecting a server module
|
||
|
corresponding to to the general type of your video card and configuring an
|
||
|
<command>XF86Config</command> that the server will read on startup to get
|
||
|
specific parameters for your installation. The location of
|
||
|
<command>XF86Config</command> varies depending on your OS, but one place to
|
||
|
look for it is <filename>/etc/X11</filename>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>On older versions of XFree86, <command>XF86Setup</command> links the
|
||
|
`X' command directly to the chosen server. In recent versions, `X' is
|
||
|
instead linked to a set-user-id wrapper program called Xwrapper. The idea
|
||
|
is that all the setuid root stuff gets localized in Xwrapper so the server
|
||
|
doesn't have to run setuid root.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
<sect2><title>Troubleshooting</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Occasionally, something will not be quite right when you initially
|
||
|
fire up the X server. This is almost always caused by a problem in your
|
||
|
configuration file. Usually, the monitor timing values are off, or the
|
||
|
video card dot clocks set incorrectly. Minor problems can be fixed with
|
||
|
<command>xvidtune</command>; a really garbled screen usually means you need
|
||
|
to go back into XF86Setup and choose a less capable monitor type.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If your display seems to roll, or the edges are fuzzy, this is a
|
||
|
clear indication that the monitor timing values or dot clocks are
|
||
|
wrong. Also be sure that you are correctly specifying your video card
|
||
|
chipset, as well as other options for the Device section of
|
||
|
<command>XF86Config</command>. Be absolutely certain that you are using the
|
||
|
right X server and that <filename>/usr/X11R6/bin/X</filename> is a symbolic
|
||
|
link to this server.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If all else fails, try to start X ``bare''; that is, use a command
|
||
|
such as:</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
X >/tmp/x.out 2>&1
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You can then kill the X server (using the
|
||
|
<keysym>ctrl-alt-backspace</keysym> key combination) and examine the
|
||
|
contents of <filename>/tmp/x.out</filename>. The X server will report any
|
||
|
warnings or errors -- for example, if your video card doesn't have a dot
|
||
|
clock corresponding to a mode supported by your monitor.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Remember that you can use <keysym>ctrl-alt-numeric +</keysym> and
|
||
|
<keysym>ctrl-alt-numeric -</keysym> to switch between the video modes
|
||
|
listed on the Modes line of the Screen section of
|
||
|
<filename>XF86Config</filename>. If the highest resolution mode doesn't
|
||
|
look right, try switching to lower resolutions. This will let you know, at
|
||
|
least, that those parts of your X configuration are working
|
||
|
correctly.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Also, check the vertical and horizontal size/hold knobs on your monitor.
|
||
|
In many cases it is necessary to adjust these when starting up X. For
|
||
|
example, if the display seems to be shifted slightly to one side, you can
|
||
|
usually correct this using the monitor controls. </para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The USENET newsgroup comp.windows.x.i386unix is devoted to
|
||
|
discussions about XFree86, as is comp.os.linux.x. It might be a good idea
|
||
|
to watch that newsgroup for postings relating to your video
|
||
|
configuration---you might run across someone with the same problems as your
|
||
|
own. </para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
<sect2><title>Custom Configuration</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You will need to hand-hack your X configuration to get optimal
|
||
|
performance if your monitor can support 1600x1200 -- the highest
|
||
|
canned resolution XF86Setup supports is 1280x1024.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you want to hand-hack your video configuration for this or any
|
||
|
other reason, go see the LDP's <ulink
|
||
|
url="http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO.html">
|
||
|
XFree86 Video Timings HOWTO</ulink>. (This is the up-to-date HTML version
|
||
|
of XFree86's `Videomodes.doc' file.)</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
<sect2><title> Using 16-bit Color</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>By default, X uses 8-bit color depth giving 256 colors. To circumvent
|
||
|
this restriction, many applications allocate their own colormaps, resulting
|
||
|
in sudden color jumps when the cursor moves between two windows each having
|
||
|
a color map of its own. The Arena WWW browser does it this way.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you want to use advanced graphic applications 256 colors may be not
|
||
|
sufficient. You may need to go to 16-bit color depth (65,536 colors).
|
||
|
But beware, not all applications will work with 16bit colors.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>You can use 16bit color depth with 65K different colors simply by
|
||
|
starting X with</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
startx -- -bpp 16
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>or putting</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
exec X :0 -bpp 16
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>into your .xserverrc file. In order for this to work, however, you
|
||
|
need to have a <screen>screen</screen> section in your XF86Config with</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
DefaultColorDepth 16
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you're using xdm, you may need to change the
|
||
|
<filename>Xservers</filename> file, which is probably located in
|
||
|
<filename>/etc/X11/xdm/</filename>. A typical configuration has just one
|
||
|
uncommented line, looking something like </para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Add <screen>-bpp 16</screen> to the startup options:</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -bpp 16
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Also, you'll need to add to the `screen' section of your X configuration
|
||
|
a Display part with a Depth value of 16. Generally you can just
|
||
|
duplicate the 8-bit Display section and change the Depth field.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>More colors makes your video card transfer more data during the same
|
||
|
time. If your video card cannot cope, then either the resolution has
|
||
|
or the refresh rate has to be reduced. By default, XFree reduces the
|
||
|
resolution. If you want to keep the resolution and reduce the refresh
|
||
|
rate, you must insert a new appropriate Modeline into your XF86Config
|
||
|
file which defines that resolution with a lower refresh rate. For
|
||
|
instance replace the old value</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
Modeline "1024x768" 75 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>with</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
Modeline "1024x768" 65 1024 1032 1176 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync.
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The magic numbers 75 and 65 are the respective clock rates which you find
|
||
|
reported by X in your .X.err file. Consult the monitors file in the XF86
|
||
|
documentation for Modelines suitable to the maximum clock rate your
|
||
|
video card can deliver under 16bit color depth.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect2>
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Running XFree86</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>With your <filename>XF86Config</filename> file configured, you're
|
||
|
ready to fire up the X server and give it a spin. First, be sure that
|
||
|
<filename>/usr/X11R6/bin</filename> is on your path.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The command to start up XFree86 is</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
startx
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>This is a front-end to <command>xinit</command> (in case you're used
|
||
|
to using <command>xinit</command> on other UNIX systems).</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>This command will start the X server and run the commands found in
|
||
|
the file <filename>.xinitrc</filename> in your home
|
||
|
directory. <filename>.xinitrc</filename> is just a shell script containing
|
||
|
X clients to run. If this file does not exist, the system default
|
||
|
<filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc</filename> will be used.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>A standard <filename>.xinitrc</filename> file looks like this:</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<screen>
|
||
|
#!/bin/sh
|
||
|
|
||
|
xterm -fn 7x13bold -geometry 80x32+10+50 &
|
||
|
xterm -fn 9x15bold -geometry 80x34+30-10 &
|
||
|
oclock -geometry 70x70-7+7 &
|
||
|
xsetroot -solid midnightblue &
|
||
|
|
||
|
exec fvwm2
|
||
|
</screen>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>This script will start up two <command>xterm</command> clients, an
|
||
|
<command>oclock</command>, and set the root window (background) color to
|
||
|
<command>midnightblue</command>. It will then start up
|
||
|
<command>fvwm2</command>, the window manager. Note that
|
||
|
<command>fvwm2</command> is executed with the shell's
|
||
|
<command>exec</command> statement; this causes the <command>xinit</command>
|
||
|
process to be replaced with <command>fvwm2</command>. Once the
|
||
|
<command>fvwm2</command> process exits, the X server will shut down. You
|
||
|
can cause <command>fvwm2</command> to exit by using the root menus: depress
|
||
|
mouse button 1 on the desktop background -- this will display a pop up menu
|
||
|
which will allow you to <command>Exit Fvwm2</command>.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Be sure that the last command in <filename>.xinitrc</filename> is
|
||
|
started with <command>exec</command>, and that it is not placed into the
|
||
|
background (no ampersand on the end of the line). Otherwise the X server
|
||
|
will shut down as soon as it has started the clients in the
|
||
|
<filename>.xinitrc</filename> file.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>Alternately, you can exit X by pressing
|
||
|
<keysym>ctrl-alt-backspace</keysym> in combination. This will kill the X
|
||
|
server directly, exiting the window system.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>The above is a very, very simple desktop configuration. Many wonderful
|
||
|
programs and configurations are available with a bit of work
|
||
|
on your <filename>.xinitrc</filename> file.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<para>If you are new to the X Window System environment, we strongly suggest
|
||
|
picking up a book such as <emphasis>The Joy of X: An Overview of the X
|
||
|
Window System</emphasis> by Niall Mansfield (Addison-Wesley 1993, ISBN
|
||
|
0201-565129). Using and configuring X is far too in-depth to cover
|
||
|
here. See the man pages for <command>xterm</command>,
|
||
|
<command>oclock</command>, and <command>fvwm2</command> for clues on
|
||
|
getting started.</para>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
<sect1><title>Translations</title>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<itemizedlist>
|
||
|
<listitem><para><ulink
|
||
|
url="http://www.pluto.linux.it/ildp/HOWTO/XFree86-HOWTO.html">
|
||
|
Italian</ulink></para></listitem>
|
||
|
<listitem><para><ulink
|
||
|
url="http://www.lugos.si/delo/slo/HOWTO-sl/XFree86-HOWTO-sl.html">
|
||
|
Slovenian</ulink></para></listitem>
|
||
|
<listitem><para><ulink
|
||
|
url="http://meta.mioc.hr/XFree86-KAKO.html">
|
||
|
Croatian</ulink></para></listitem>
|
||
|
<listitem><para><ulink
|
||
|
url="http://www.nl.linux.org/doc/HOWTO/">
|
||
|
Dutch</ulink></para></listitem>
|
||
|
<listitem><para><ulink
|
||
|
url="http://www.ppk.ini.hu/texts/XFree86-HOGYAN/XFree86-HOGYAN.html">
|
||
|
Hungarian</ulink></para></listitem>
|
||
|
</itemizedlist>
|
||
|
|
||
|
</sect1>
|
||
|
</article>
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!--
|
||
|
The following sets edit modes for GNU EMACS
|
||
|
Local Variables:
|
||
|
fill-column:75
|
||
|
compile-command: "mail -s \"HOWTO update\" ldp-submit@lists.linuxdoc.org <XFree86-HOWTO.sgml"
|
||
|
End:
|
||
|
End:
|
||
|
-- >
|