Configuring XFree86
XFree86 has historically been one of the most complex parts of Linux to configure. This is no longer the case for most common hardware. Still, there are two cases where installation can still be difficult.
First, cutting edge hardware may or may not be supported by XFree86 at all. When XFree86 does support it, you might have to use beta versions of XFree86 or even hacks on XFree86. These will not be supported by the new configuration tools.
Second, some vendors do not publish the specifications for their boards. In order for XFree86 to support these boards, developers must reverse engineer them, which takes a lot of time and effort. Unless the board is extremely popular (for example, the S3 ViRGE), there might not be XFree86 ...
Get Special Edition Using Linux®, Sixth Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.