10. Remarks on the Network Configuration

It is beyond the scope of this document to even give an introduction about the correct installation of the TCP/IP networking system. You must do this yourself or seek assistance elsewhere. It is only possible to say here that a PC working well in a TCP/IP based LAN network will also work with XFree86/OS2 (when all other prerequisites are matched as well).

With IAK, there is a special configuration necessary, unless you want to use XFree86/OS2 only during a hot link to your Internet provider, the so called ``localhost'' or ``loopback'' configuration. This is a local network interface which ``loops'' back to the same host. The following settings are necessary for this:

1. Create a file \tcpip\etc\hosts with the following content:

   127.0.0.1  localhost
   

2. Add the following line to your \tcpip\bin\tcpstart.cmd:

   ifconfig lo 127.0.0.1 up
   

   If you don't have such a tcpstart.cmd file (Warp 4 calls this file \MPTN\BIN\MPTSTART.CMD), create one, and add a line like the following to your config.sys file: CALL=C:\OS2\CMD.EXE /Q /C C:\tcpip\bin\tcpstart.cmd >NUL: (implying that your bootdrive is C:).
3. Set the HOSTNAME environment variable to localhost as described in the last section.
4. Add the following line to CONFIG.SYS:

   SET USE_HOSTS_FIRST=1
   

5. After rebooting, verify that the following command works:

   [C:\] ping localhost
   

You don't need this ``loopback'' interface if your PC is connected to a LAN (either directly or through SLIP/PPP).

In case of a SLIP/PPP line, you have to establish this connection BEFORE you start XFree86. See the next section for more details.

Note that the ability to use host names, for instance in the DISPLAY variable, correlates with the existance of a name resolver. If you don't have a LAN-based DNS server available, you have to add the relevant hostnames to your HOSTS file. The TCP/IP configuration dialogue in your system configuration folder allows you to edit this file. The checkinstall.cmd script coming with XFree86/OS2 gives some advice on the configuration as well. If you have problems to get this or other basic networking things running, seek assistance in the FAQ, the xf86os2 mailing list or the mailing list archive.

10.1. Dynamic IP Considerations

10.1.1. Configuring X for Your Hardware

After you have added the required settings and setup a working network, run the xf86config program to create a standard configuration file in Y:\XFree86\lib\X11\XF86Config from a windowed or full screen OS/2 text session:

[C:\] xf86config

The xf86config program will ask a number of questions. You will need the information obtained from the SuperProbe program here. The program should be self explanatory; if you have problems to understand something though, seek assistance in the newsgroups.

It is possible, but strongly discouraged for the non-expert, to edit the XF86Config file with a text editor. In a few situations as described in the FAQ, however, this might even be mandatory. This file is not a hacker's area, such as the Win95 registry, but it has in common with it that you can easily cause damage.

For details about the XF86Config file format, refer to the XF86Config(4/5) manual page.

If you know the configuration process from Linux or other XFree86 platform, you will encounter a few differences:

• There is no configuration for the mouse type or device. The mouse device name is fixed to OSMOUSE, and this cannot be changed. If you have a three-button-mouse, install the correct OS/2 driver for it, such as

  DEVICE=D:\OS2\BOOT\PCLOGIC.SYS SERIAL=COM1
  DEVICE=D:\OS2\BOOT\MOUSE.SYS TYPE=PCLOGIC$
  

  for a MouseSystems compatible mouse, for instance.
• The X server does not read the native OS/2 keyboard map, but the new XKB server extension might already give you a correct keyboard layout, provided your language was selectable in the xf86config program. If you encounter incorrect settings, please send a mail to XFree86@XFree86.org describing in detail what is wrong. Even with XKB, you have the option to replace some key settings with a xmodmap file. See the man page for xmodmap for details (or use some available xmodmap file from Linux - they are the same).
• There is no support for the Wacom and Elographics input devices yet.

In most cases, an existing XF86Config file for the same XFree86 version from Linux or another platform may be used without changes. There are two prominent exceptions: some S3 805 based VLB cards put their video memory in odd locations, and there seems to be an unresolvable PM driver inconsistency with Matrox cards.

For S3 VLB cards, the X server can search for this memory by experimentally mapping and unmapping possible memory regions. However, in XFree86/OS2, the OS may run out of memory tiles during this process. If this happens, you must find out the location of the memory yourself and add it as an option

	MemBase 0x12345678

For Matrox cards, the X server may fail to detect the PCI ID of the card correctly, as the PM driver and Matrox BIOS may have reprogrammed the card's PCI configuration in a non-standard way. The server will then fall into a VGA compatible mode at 320x200 resolution. To prevent this, add a

	PCIProbe2

Once you've set up a XF86Config file, you can fine tune the video modes with the xvidtune utility. Note this is an X11 program which has to be executed in a local xterm window of a running X server, not in a PM window.

10.1.1.1. Running X

16mb of memory is a recommended minimum for running the network software, X and the presentation manager in parallel. The server, window manager and an xterm take about 4-6 Mb of memory themselves. X will start up on a system with 8MB or less, but the performance will severely suffer from heavy disk swapping. Your mileage may vary, though, so some people might consider this still tolerable.

Some more on resource requirements: With the arrival of complex desktops like WindowMaker, KDE, Gnome, Enlightment, etc. which add a lot of graphical features, resource requirements grow. The X server will cache used fonts and resource settings internally, and depending on the number of windows (backing- store) it may require much more memory and swapspace than the mentioned few MBs. Also take into consideration that X runs in parallel to PM which also takes its share. My own system, albeit meanwhile rather outdated, is a PII-233 with 128MB, however, it is a development system. 64 MB are meanwhile standard, and okay for the purpose, and my laptop runs Aurora with XFree86 in 32MB, as well.

The easiest way for new users to start X windows is to type:

startx

To get out of X windows, type: ``exit'' in the console xterm. You can customize your X by creating .xinitrc, .xserverrc, and .twmrc files in the directory that the HOME environment variable points to. These files are described in the xinit and startx man pages.

By default, the systemwide xinitrc file (in Y:/XFree86/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc.cmd) installs the rather simplistic twm window manager. You can find better window managers on the ported software page at http://ais.gmd.de/~veit/os2/xf86ported.html .

Rebuilding the XFree86 Distribution

Do you really want to rebuild XFree86/OS2 from source? Read the file OS2.Notes on details to recompile XFree86/OS2 from scratch.

Building New X Clients

The easiest way to build a new client (X application) is to use xmkmf if an Imakefile is included in the sources. Type ``xmkmf -a'' to create the Makefiles, check the configuration if necessary and type ``xmake''. ``xmake'' is a wrapper for the GNU make program which defeats the improper SHELL setting typically found in a Makefile generated from an Imakefile. Also see the XFree86/OS2 FAQ for more hints about porting X clients.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to:

• Sebastien Marineau for his great work on getting the server code debugged
• Eberhard Mattes for the wonderful base platform EMX which this port heavily relies on
• ME - no, no, forget this: I won't praise myself :-)

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