X.org 6.8.1...

[Stealth870]

I was wondering some things:

Is the latest 6.8.1 X.org worth compilation?
Are there any deb packages for it yet?
Is it compatible with the fireglrx ATI drivers?
Will I break my current X thing ( I have Knoppix 3.4 installed, so I think it has Xfree 4.3? ATI drvers aren't compatible with 4.4 anyway)
Are there any "Compile-X.org-for-Noobs" tutorials out there :)

[Superstoned]

I was wondering some things:

Is the latest 6.8.1 X.org worth compilation?
Are there any deb packages for it yet?
Is it compatible with the fireglrx ATI drivers?
Will I break my current X thing ( I have Knoppix 3.4 installed, so I think it has Xfree 4.3? ATI drvers aren't compatible with 4.4 anyway)
Are there any "Compile-X.org-for-Noobs" tutorials out there :)

Installing a non-intrusive X.org server on Debian


This assumes you already have a working Nvidia XFree86 config. First off stop your current xdm/gdm session and login to a console. Now install the following packages:

flex bison libpam-dev libpng-dev libfontconfig-dev libxft-dev automake1.9

Get the X11 R6.8.0 source and unpack it. This gives you an "xc" directory. Now ...

mkdir xc-build
cd xc-build
lndir ../xc

We need to configure the package:

cd config/cf
cp xorgsite.def host.def

Edit the host.def file and add the following lines:

#define ProjectRoot /usr/local/X11R6.8
#define NothingOutsideProjectRoot YES
#define HasFreetype2 YES
#define HasFontconfig YES

Now build:

cd ../.. # i.e. to the xc-build directory
make World # Pipe this to a file or use a 'screen' session if you want
make install

You now need to the install the Nvidia driver into the new X11 tree. Get the latest version and do:

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-6111-pkg1.run -a -n --x-prefix /usr/local/X11R6.8

Configure X.org:

cd /etc/X11
cp XF86Config-4 xorg.conf

Edit xorg.conf and do the following:

In the keyboard section change the driver "keyboard" to "kbd".
Remove the line that sets "XkbRules" to "xfree86".
In the Nvidia driver section add the line
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
Add the following section:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Now you need to get the system to use this. Login as a normal user and set the following:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/X11R6.8/lib
export PATH=/usr/local/X11R6.8/bin:$PATH

Create and edit the file ".xinitrc" and set it to the following:

#!/bin/sh
ssh-agent gnome-session # Or KDE, or whatever

Now you're set to go. Type:

startx

You should now have a normal X11 session, but running under the X.org server. Time to make it interesting:

export CVSROOT=:pserver:anoncvs@cvs.freedesktop.org:/cvs/xapps
cvs login
cvs -z3 co xcompmgr
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/X11R6.8/lib/pkgconfig

cd xcompmgr
./autogen.sh
./configure
make

Now we can run the system with shadows:

./xcompmgr -c # Soft shadows
./xcompmgr -s # Hard shadows

But the real fun is in the transparency. With xcompmgr running in another shell do:

cvs -z3 co transset
cd transset
make
./transset 0.7

... and click on a window; it should turn transparent. You may need to restart xcompmgr for it to pick up changes.

Good luck.