Duke of URL: XFree86 4.0.2 Review | Linux Today

Duke of URL: XFree86 4.0.2 Review

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Dec 24, 2000

[ Thanks to Patrick
Mullen
for this link. ]

“After a lengthy wait from XFree86 4.0.1, XFree86 4.0.2 is here.
While the version number would indicate that it’s just a bug
release, after investigating the latest updates, it would appear
that 4.0.2 is much more
than just another mere bug fix. For
those of you not familiar with the 4.x series, it is the latest in
the line of many releases. The most notable advancements are that
in the support of DRI, or Direct Rendering, as well as a modular
architecture. No more throwing in X Servers and guessing.”

“While Radeon owners sat in their basements mumbling obscenities
about Linux’s (and UNIX in general) shoddy support, the XFree86
Project did something about it — something not even ATI could do
this quickly. That something? Write Radeon drivers. With the 3dfx
line of cards dying and the accompanying open source drivers most
likely going the way of the dodo, NVidia needed a competitor on
Linux — maybe one with open source drivers of their own.”

“While the Radeon support certainly sticks out in my mind, new
updates also include DGA Mouse 2.0 support (to provide much more
realistic movement on your favorite games amongst other things),
native Darwin support, the Render X Protocol (for anti-aliased
text), and much more.”

Complete
Story
[ Story in small parts spread across multiple pages
]

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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