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X386 1.2E is changing its name to XFree86

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david.e.wexelblat

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Sep 3, 1992, 12:01:21 PM9/3/92

Introducing XFree86

a.k.a

The Great X386 1.2E Renaming
----------------------------

There has been a great deal of confusion over the name X386 1.2E, resulting
in SGCS getting many inquiries about our software. So after some
discussions with SGCS, and a period of voting amongst our beta-testers,
we have decided to rename X386 1.2E to XFree86. While this will obviously
cause some short-term confusion, in the long run, it will make everyone's
lives simpler.

For now, the current version of the software remains X386 1.2E 1.0.2,
available in source and binary from the archives listed below. We are
hard at work on XFree86 1.1, which will be entering beta-test this
week (no, we don't need any more beta-testers right now, thanks). We
expect to have this available by the end of the month. Here's a synopsis
of what to expect in the upcoming release:

1) MIT fix-17, and any others that are released between now and
then.
2) Several other bug fixes
3) Source-level support for 386BSD 0.1 and Mach386 have been folded
into the main software base
4) The software base has been restructured to allow for addition
of new drivers to the server, including ones for non-SVGA
hardware.
5) Configuration of which drivers and font renderers are built
into the server. The server can be reconfigured without
requiring a rebuild.
6) The ability to build a binary distribution with the same server
linking capability (i.e. distribute libraries & objects, then the
end user configures his server and links it).
7) A monochrome server that works with generic VGA hardware, using
a 64k frame buffer (yielding a virtual screen in the 800x600 range).
On a 486/33 with an Orchid ProDesigner IIs, this server produced
30k xStones.
8) Changes to SpeedUp so that most of its functions are no longer
restricted to a 1024 virtual width (although an ET4000 is still
required for this speed boost)
9) Support for the ATI SVGA chipsets (NOT the 8514/A chipsets).

Things under development that will probably NOT make this release, but will
be in a future release:

1) Support for SVR3 shared libraries is being actively pursued.
2) Support for Trident TVGA8900C chipset.
3) Support for the XINPUT extension in the server.

Where to find the current versions
----------------------------------
The current sources for X386 1.2E 1.0.2 are available as a patch kit
against MIT X11R5 PL16. They are available from:

export.lcs.mit.edu (under /contrib/X386-1.2E)
ftp.physics.su.oz.au (under /X386)
ftp.win.tue.nl (under /pub/X386)

Refer to the README in that directory. Source patches are currently required
for the following operating systems (listed with their contacts):

Mach386 Joel Jacobson <ja...@convex.csd.uwm.edu>
BSD/386 Jon Block <bl...@gmf.eds.com>
386BSD Rich Murphey <ri...@rice.edu>
Linux Orest Zborowski <o...@raster.kodak.com>

Binary distributions are available from:

SVR4:
ftp.physics.su.oz.au (under /X386/SVR4)
ftp.win.tue.nl (under /pub/X386/SVR4)
f.ms.uky.edu (under /pub2/Xwindows/X386)
stasi.bradley.edu (under /pub/X386)

SVR3 (ISC 2.2):
blancmange.ma.utexas.edu (under /pub/ISC)

386BSD 0.1:
agate.berkeley.edu (under ???)

For other OS's contact the people listed above for sources

Contact Information
-------------------

XFree86 (formerly X386 1.2E) is brought to you by

David Dawes <da...@physics.su.oz.au>
Glenn Lai <gl...@cs.utexas.edu>
Jim Tsillas <jts...@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu>
David Wexelblat <dw...@mtgzfs3.att.com>

Email sent to <xfr...@physics.su.oz.au> will reach the four of us.

Continuing thanks go to our almost 50 beta testers around the world.

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