What is the use of xfree86

[rahul.6sept]

dear all,

1). can u plz tell me as what is the use of xfree86? going by wiki of the same what i understood is that it is basically for graphical interfacing(correct me if i'm wrong).but modern days linux is no more black screen and available as gui based. so do we need to have xfree86 installed?

2). is it available in dvd of rhel6.0 or we need to download it from site?


regards,
rc

 

[srizbf]

dear all,
...but modern days linux is no more black screen and available as gui based. so do we need to have xfree86 installed?

rc

all modern gui in linux depends on xfree86 in x86 systems.
they are implementing xwindows in x86 systems.

the gui you see is called as window manager (Gnome , KdE...)
they call only xlibs for the gui tasks.

so no need to download separately. you are already using it.

 

[rahul.6sept]

Thanks sir, but some more queries arises from my side:

1).plz tell me the function of xwindows. i mean, what is the link between xfree86 and xwindows?

2). secondly would like to know regarding x86.Is it 8086up or something else?



sincerely,
rc

 

[srizbf]

xwindows is the windowing system , ie GUI specification by MIT. it is a client-server model .the xwindow spec can be implemented in any system.

xfree86 is the implementation on x86 processors, like linux xwindows gui in pentium.

x86 refers to any processor 80386 and above.
(486, pentium....)

 

[paddysmith]

XF86Config file defines hardware devices, and other critical components of the X server environment.