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XFree86 4.3.0

• This document covers the installation from pre-compiled binaries and basic configuration of the XFree86 X11R6 server. More advanced configuration is covered in many books and online documents. A good place to start is the XFree86 website and The Linux Documentation Project website.
• If you install this software it is highly recommended that you keep up-to-date with security advisories published on the XFree86 website.
• I cannot be held responsible for the security of your X server. It is up to you to understand the software you are running. The setup detailed here is that of a basic graphical interface nothing more. There are many security options configurable via the XF86Config file. There are also many more settings regarding device configuration in XF86Config than are detailed here. A well commented example of a XF86Config file can be found in /usr/X11/lib/X11/XF86Config.eg after installation.
• If you spot any major errors on this page, please e-mail me using the link above.

• It is assumed that this installation takes place on a computer on which Core Linux has been successfully installed.
• No software other than the packages bundled with Core Linux have been installed.
• It is assumed that the Core Linux computer is attached to a network on which there shared internet access. It is also assumed that there is another computer on the network which has a CD burner. If is of course possible to use a text browser like lynx to download the files directly on to the Core Linux computer rather than burning them onto a CD on a separate computer, but this is not the method used in this document.
• You will need to know the technical specifications of your monitor(s). This basically means the maximum and minimum horizontal and vertical frequencies. These can usually be found in the monitor manual. Otherwise, try www.monitorworld.com.

Booting and Analysing

1. Boot your Core Linux PC.
2. Login as root. You will need to enter the password at the prompt.
3. Use wget to download the XFree86 Xinstall.sh script from the.earth.li/pub/XFree86/4.3.0.
4. Run the Xinstall.sh script using the command sh Xinstall.sh -check. Note which binaries are correct for your system.

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Preparation

1. Having determined the correct binaries for your system, download the following essential files from the XFree86 4.3.0 directory of a mirror of www.xfree86.org:

   Xinstall.sh	The installer script
   extract	The utility for extracting tarballs
   Xbin.tgz	X clients/utilities and run-time libraries
   Xlib.tgz	Some data files required at run-time
   Xman.tgz	Manual pages
   Xdoc.tgz	XFree86 documentation
   Xfnts.tgz	Base set of fonts
   Xfenc.tgz	Base set of font encoding data
   Xetc.tgz	Run-time configuration files
   Xvar.tgz	Run-time data
   Xxserv.tgz	XFree86 X server
   Xmod.tgz	XFree86 X server modules

   You should download the following optional module file, which provides headers against which window managers can later be compiled:

   Xprog.tgz

   X header files, config files and compile-time libs

   This example assumes that these other optional module files are downloaded, although they are not essential for operation:

   Xfsrv.tgz	Font server
   Xnest.tgz	Nested X server
   Xprt.tgz	X Print server
   Xvfb.tgz	Virtual framebuffer X server
   Xf100.tgz	100dpi fonts
   Xfcyr.tgz	Cyrillic fonts
   Xfscl.tgz	Scalable fonts (Speedo, Type1 and TrueType)
   Xhtml.tgz	HTML version of the documentation

   You may also wish to download some of the other optional module files:

   Xps.tgz	PostScript version of the documentation
   Xjdoc.tgz	Documentation in Japanese

2. Burn the downloaded files to a CD. This page assumes that the subdirectory XFree864.3.0 is used for the files. The CD-ROM can be a multi-session disk.

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Installing the XFree86 4.3.0 binaries

1. Place the CD-R in the CD-ROM drive on your Core Linux system. Mount the CD-ROM drive under /mnt/cdrom.
2. Change to the XFree864.3.0 directory on the CD-R.
3. Make a temporary directory for the install files.
4. Copy all the files from /mnt/cdrom/XFree864.3.0 to /tmp/XFree864.3.0
5. Change to the /tmp/XFree864.3.0 directory.
6. Run the Xinstall.sh script.

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Prepare your system to run XFree86

1. Change to the /etc directory.
2. Add the following lines to the ld.so.conf file:
   /lib
/usr/lib
3. Run the program ldconfig.
4. Add a link to the device file to which your mouse is connected called /dev/mouse.
5. Add a link to the directory /usr/X11R6/include/X11 called /usr/include/X11.
6. Add a link to the directory /usr/X11R6 called /usr/X11.
7. Add the directory /usr/X11/bin to the $PATH enviroment variable.
8. In order to activate the changes to the $PATH enviroment variable, you will have to logout and log back in again.

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Configuring your X server

1. Run the program XFree86 with the argument -configure.
2. Test the configuration with the command XFree86 -xf86config /root/XF86Config.new.
3. Once you have established basic X functionallity, you can set up you configuration file for your system. Copy the file /root/XF86Config.new to /root/XF86Config.
4. Edit the /root/XF86Config file to include details about your system configuration.
5. Save the file and exit the text editor.

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Further Testing

1. Start the X server using the command startx.

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