I think this is a major step for Slackware. Licensing changes in XFree 4.4 make it difficult for the other distros, who typically patch XFree, to use 4.4. Since Slackware doesn't patch XFree they are able to include this version which adds 3 D accelerated graphics for Sis and Radeon cards and allows Nvidea 5700 cards to work.

I think we are getting close to another release. The only other hurdle is the jump to kernel 2.6 which may be further down the road. Pat waited until kernel 2.4.18 before jumping from 2.2.x

From the Slackware changelog March 23, 2004:

Tue Mar 23 13:07:20 PST 2004
a/aaa_elflibs-9.1.2-i486-2.tgz: Added /usr/lib/libusb-0.1.so.4.4.0.
a/pciutils-2.1.11-i486-5.tgz: Recompiled, updated pci.ids.
a/usbutils-0.11-i486-2.tgz: Added updates from CVS, new usb.ids,
removed bogus libusb and linked against libusb-0.1.8.
ap/alsa-utils-1.0.3-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to alsa-utils-1.0.3.
ap/hpijs-1.5-i486-2.tgz: Fixed docs location (thanks to Mark Post).
ap/lsof-4.71-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to lsof-4.71.
ap/sgml-tools-1.0.9-i486-9.tgz: Added SGMLS-1.03ii.
Moved EntityMap.pm under /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/Text/.
ap/vim-6.2.393-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to vim-6.2.393.
ap/zsh-4.2.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to zsh-4.2.0.
d/automake-1.8.3-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to automake-1.8.3.
d/binutils-2.15.90.0.1.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to binutils-2.15.90.0.1.1.
d/oprofile-0.7.1-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against libbfd-2.15.90.0.1.1.so
from binutils-2.15.90.0.1.1.
gnome/gdm-2.4.4.7-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against gtk+-2.4.0.
gnome/gnome-themes-2.4.1-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against gtk+-2.4.0.
gnome/gtk-engines-2.2.0-i486-4.tgz: Recompiled against gtk+-2.4.0.
gnome/gucharmap-1.2.0-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against gtk+-2.4.0.
gnome/librsvg-2.4.0-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against librsvg-2.4.0.
kde/kdeaccessibility-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeaccessibility-3.2.1.
kde/kdeaddons-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeaddons-3.2.1.
kde/kdeadmin-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeadmin-3.2.1.
kde/kdeartwork-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeartwork-3.2.1.
kde/kdebase-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdebase-3.2.1.
kde/kdebindings-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdebindings-3.2.1.
kde/kdeedu-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeedu-3.2.1.
kde/kdegames-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdegames-3.2.1.
kde/kdegraphics-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdegraphics-3.2.1.
kde/kdelibs-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdelibs-3.2.1.
kde/kdemultimedia-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdemultimedia-3.2.1.
kde/kdenetwork-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdenetwork-3.2.1.
kde/kdepim-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdepim-3.2.1.
kde/kdesdk-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdesdk-3.2.1.
kde/kdetoys-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdetoys-3.2.1.
kde/kdeutils-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdeutils-3.2.1.
kde/kdevelop-3.0.2-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to kdevelop-3.0.2.
kde/koffice-1.3-i486-3.tgz: Recompiled.
kde/qt-3.3.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to qt-3.3.1.
kde/quanta-3.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to quanta-3.2.1.
kdei/kde-i18n-*-3.2.1.tgz: Upgraded to kde-i18n-3.2.1 packages.
l/arts-1.2.1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to arts-1.2.1.
l/alsa-driver-1.0.3-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to alsa-driver-1.0.3.
l/alsa-lib-1.0.3-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to alsa-lib-1.0.3.
l/alsa-oss-1.0.3-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to alsa-oss-1.0.3.
l/expat-1.95.7-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to expat-1.95.7.
l/gtk+2-2.4.0-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled with --with-xinput=yes.
l/libusb-0.1.8-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to libusb-0.1.8.
l/libwmf-0.2.8.2-i486-2.tgz: Recompiled against gtk+-2.4.0.
l/libwmf-docs-0.2.8.2-noarch-2.tgz: Rebuilt.
n/nail-10.7-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to nail-10.7.
Restored /bin/mail and /bin/Mail symlinks.
x/xfree86-4.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-devel-4.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-docs-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-docs-html-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-fonts-100dpi-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-fonts-cyrillic-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-fonts-misc-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-fonts-scale-4.4.0-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-xnest-4.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-xprt-4.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
x/xfree86-xvfb-4.4.0-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to XFree86 4.4.0.
xap/gimp-2.0rc1-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to gimp-2.0rc1.
xap/xfce-4.0.4-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to xfce-4.0.4.
xap/xine-lib-1rc3b-i686-1.tgz: Upgraded to xine-lib-1-rc3b.
xap/xvim-6.2.393-i486-1.tgz: Upgraded to vim-6.2.393.
Removed bad symlinks (thanks to Mark Post).
extra/bittorrent/bittorrent-3.4.1a-noarch-1.tgz: Upgraded to bittorrent-3.4.1a.
(Thanks to Erik Jan Tromp for the "install --root=$PKG" hint! :-)

it's coming.

So how long is it until those packages are actually added to the -current ftp area?

since they don't patch it you can download it off xfrees site. try it, it works perfect with slackware. had problems with it on gentoo and fedora. haven't tried it on redhat 9 yet.

I downloaded the XFree4.4.0 patches from their site and installed it on my PC running Slackware 9.1. Use the install script that comes with the patches. It was pretty straightforward.

I actually had to install it to fix a problem (kept getting the 'no screens' )error. My PCs is a Dell Dimension 2400 and it was just refusing to run the GUI desktop (any flavour) until I had installed XFree4.4.0 on it. Once that was on, then I haven't had any problems with it. GUI launches fine. I can't remember what the fix in XFree4.4.0 was that solved my problem but was something specific to Dell and the Intel chipset that Dells use.

Um, really? I've got the same rig and I've got decent graphics support without XFree4.4.0. I'm running a 2.6.4 kernel and I've compiled in support for the Intel chipsets and in XFree I use the i810 driver. It works fine.

hope this isnt a highjack.. Id like to try 4.4, is it hard to get going on Slack?? Can I revert back easily if mess something up? are there nvidia drivers for 4.4??

It is very easy to get it going on any distro. It worked the best for me on slack as slack doesn't use any patches on stuff. In gentoo and the redhats they patch x and if you use 4.4 you get fontconfig errors. these errors don't do anything if you aren't compiling. Additionally once you install it on gentoo pango will refuse to compile unless you edit out the redhat hinting patch in the ebuild. But it is great on slackware.

I think pat also wait's until the new GNOME desktop is out (30 March).

It would be great to have a new release with kde 3.2 gnome 2.6 kernel 2.4.25 and 2.4.5 xfree 4.4 and glibc 3.3....

So who knows

mmm gnome 2.6 is great. I have it in redhat 9 with ximian desktop unstable.

Sweet Im going to give it a whirl then!

Hangdog42 wrote:
>>Um, really? I've got the same rig and I've got decent graphics support without XFree4.4.0. I'm running a 2.6.4 kernel and I've compiled in support for the Intel chipsets and in XFree I use the i810 driver. It works fine.<<

Yeah, major problems. I did a bit of googling until I found a piece recommending XFree4.4.0 so I installed that and ever since no problem.

I suspect that it could have been something in my configuration files as I am a total newbie to Linux but I couldn't figure out what. Oh yeah, I also actually ended up copying the XF86Config file from my SuSE installation which I have on the same machine to replace the Slackware one before it worked! Has to be something in the config file I think. I was getting loads of errors about i810_rng. Don't know if that is my driver for the video or not but I ended up blacklisting it.

I still only run the 2.4.22 kernel as well, as I am building up to my first compile of the kernel this weekend when I have a bit of time.

If you don't mind, I'd be interested to see your XF86Config file and your .config file for the compiling the kernel for 2.6.4 Be a useful yardstick to check my setup against. If you don't mind that is.

Perhaps you could e-mail them to me???

Thanks in advance

I'll post the relevant sections here and then email you the whole enchilada


From my XF86config

# Device configured by xf86config (version 4.3.0):

Section "Device"
Identifier "intel"
Driver "i810"
#VideoRam 128000
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection


From my kernel .config (2.6.4)
CONFIG_AGP=y
# CONFIG_AGP_ALI is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_ATI is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_AMD is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_AMD64 is not set
CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=y
# CONFIG_AGP_NVIDIA is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_SIS is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_SWORKS is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_VIA is not set
# CONFIG_AGP_EFFICEON is not set
CONFIG_DRM=y
# CONFIG_DRM_TDFX is not set
# CONFIG_DRM_GAMMA is not set
# CONFIG_DRM_R128 is not set
# CONFIG_DRM_RADEON is not set
# CONFIG_DRM_I810 is not set
CONFIG_DRM_I830=y
# CONFIG_DRM_MGA is not set
# CONFIG_DRM_SIS is not set
# CONFIG_MWAVE is not set
# CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER is not set
# CONFIG_HANGCHECK_TIMER is not set

Cheers Hangdog42.

I'm at work just now, so I'll check my e-mail when I get home tonight.

Thanks again

Hi,

Yesterday I've upgraded Slcakware to current. Of course I've upgraded
XFree86 up to 4.4.0. I was happy, but my beloved Slackware began to behave
very strangely. Among others I've noticed that font in my favorite Netscape
became "ragged". In preferences/aperance/font I didn't find any ttf font. I
was working a long while (few hours) on solution,

In unix.js file I found something like this:
// TrueType
pref("font.FreeType2.enable", false);
pref("font.freetype2.shared-library", "libfreetype.so.6");
// if libfreetype was built without hinting compiled in
// it is best to leave hinting off
pref("font.FreeType2.autohinted", false);
pref("font.FreeType2.unhinted", true);
// below a certian pixel size anti-aliased fonts produce poor results
pref("font.antialias.min", 10);
pref("font.embedded_bitmaps.max", 1000000);
pref("font.scale.tt_bitmap.dark_text.min", 64);
pref("font.scale.tt_bitmap.dark_text.gain", "0.8");
// sample prefs for TrueType font dirs
pref("font.directory.truetype.1", "/usr/local/share/fonts/ttf");
pref("font.directory.truetype.2", "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF");
//pref("font.directory.truetype.1", "/u/sam/tt_font1");
//pref("font.directory.truetype.2", "/u/sam/tt_font2");
//pref("font.directory.truetype.3", "/u/sam/tt_font3");
pref("font.FreeType2.printing", true);

I've changed pref("font.FreeType2.enable", false); to
pref("font.FreeType2.enable", true); Now Netscape still
doesn't show ttf fonts in preferences but it shows true type
fonts on webpages, but I,ve noticed that those fontes are blurred,
and it's quite annoying. After all I ran mozilla-firebird and it suprised
me, because it shows webpages correctly. And it shows ttf fonts in
preferences.

Thank you for any help.