[ Thanks to Patrick
Mullen for this link. ]
On June 2, 2001, the XFree86 Organization very quietly released
XFree86 4.1.0, its first major update since 4.0, which was released
over a year ago. While 4.1.0 wasn’t met with as much fanfare as the
first release in the 4.x series, it does include some enhancements,
which have been in the works for quite some time now. Things like
framebuffer support for many new chipsets, support for NVIDIA’s new
GeForce3 (through the “nv” driver), support for Trident’s
value-oriented CyberBladeXP, and the much awaited support for DRI
on Linux/PPC machines make XFree86 4.1.0 quite an update to the
already cutting-edge XFree86 4.x series.
Still, XFree86 4.1.0 is more than just new features. There also
are quite a few other updates to drivers, and the XFree86
organization is also addressing the lack of support for some cards,
which is nice to see. We may even see 4.x’s support mature to the
level of 3.3.6 before too long. With support for cards like the new
GeForce3, XFree86 4.1.0 also brings some support for cards 3.3.x
will probably never will.
Sure, XFree86 4.0 brought many new enhancements to the table —
but can 4.1.0 replicate that same level of breakthroughs? Is it
worth the upgrade? Is it finally linked against a newer version of
DRI? Will the NVIDIA drivers break yet again? I’m here to answer
all these questions and more with my look at XFree86 4.1.0.
Complete
Story – 5 Pages
Complete Story – 1 Page (Printable Version)