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X11 on the PowerPC
This section of the site deals with the X Windowing System on PowerMacs. This page is divided into several sections, and references several different howtos and other pages, along with providing you with an introduction to X11.
Page Contents
What is X11 Windowing System?
X11 is a standardized method of drawing windows and graphics on a screen, that extracted from hardware, designed to be cross platform, and networkable.
In other words, it lets you run pretty graphical programs in Linux.
X11 is made up of several parts. The "server" draws the actual windows, the "clients" are the programs you run, and the "Window Manager" controls the movement, and decoration of the borders of windows.
What are the Differences?
PowerPC Linux supports several different X11 Servers, including Xpmac, XFree86 3.3 and XFree86 4.0. Depending on your video card and distro, you will need to choose one that will best suit you.
Xpmac
Xpmac is the oldest one, and is based on the orginal Sparc X Server. It does not require any special configuration file (all configuration is done automatically or by specfying special flags to the server when you start it up).
It achieves accelerated video, on machines with ATI Mach64, Rage and Rage128 cards, even without kernel framebuffer support.
If all else fails to give you reliable, fast video, then you should use Xpmac.
XFree86 3.3
XFree86 3.3 relies heavly on the framebuffer to provide acceleration. This means if you use novideo in your yaboot.conf or quik.conf, or have No Video Driver checked in BootX, you will have slow video.
It also requires a text configuration file called XF86Config to be setup correctly to properly function. Most distros include either xconfigurator or Xautoconfig, which will generate an XF86Config for you automatically.
If you are currently running XFree86 3.3, and are happy with the performance, you should stick with it for now. XFree86 4.0.2 is still beta on the PowerPC, while it may be faster on your video card, it may also not work at all.
XFree86 4.0
XFree86 4.0 is the newest version of X11 on the PowerPC. For many video cards, it is also the fastest (by far). It is quite a bit more difficult to get up and running, as tools to generate XFree86 4.0 configuration files are still fairly new.
If you are the adventurous type, feel free to install XFree86 4.0. Debian Woody, LinuxPPC 2000 Q4 and Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 users already have this.
Mach64 and Rage users may want to stay away from this X Server, as it has been known to cause complete system freezes.
What X Server am I Running?
There are several ways to tell what X Server you are running, the easiest is to type in startx, and after your X Server loads (or attempts to load) , go back to the console it was started from (by typing in command-control-f1). On the screen, you will see the X Server name (such as Xpmac, XFree86 3.3 or XFree86 4.0 [plus lots of debugging information]).
XFree86 4.0
LinuxPPC 2000 Q4 and Debian GNU/Linux Woody and Pool include XFree86 4.0. LinuxPPC 2000 installs it by default, Debian requires you install it by hand.
XFree86 3.3
Yellow Dog Linux 1.2, LinuxPPC 2000 pre-Q4 and Debian Potato include XFree86 3.3.
Xpmac
Yellow Dog Linux 1.2 and LinuxPPC 2000 include Xpmac as an optional package. If you use Debian, there isn't a package, you must install the binary by hand (following the instructions in our Xpmac G&H).
Getting X Running
iMacLinux has several guides and howtos to help you get X11 running, and tweaked. Besides these, we have several others on our Guides and Howtos page.
Setting up Xpmac - This Howto deals with installing and setting up the Xpmac X Server.
Setting up XFree86 4.02 from Source Code - This Guide deals with installing XFree86 4.02 from Source Code. It should only be used by advanced users who are familar with compiling complex pieces of software, and have a machine with lots of disk space and ram.
Setting up XFree86 on the iMac DV SE - This Howto explains how to setup X11 on the iMac DV.
Changing X11 Resolution and Colors
The screen section of the XF86Config file controls resolutions that your screen can display, and colors it can use. XF86Config is found in /etc/X11 usually.
Things to remeber is that the DefaultDepth sets the default depth, the first valid mode listed is the default one, and you can switch between them using command-control-+ or -.
Also, don't forget Depth is in bits per pixel, and it can be either 1, 4, 8, 16 or 24.
An example section.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "ati"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
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Author:
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Version: 2.0
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Last Update: 2001-11-23 17:14:00
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