The Xfree86 Server - Red Hat LINUX 7.2 Reference Manual

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Xconfigurator should not be used to configure XFree86 while the X
server is currently active. If your system defaults to starting up directly into
X (runlevel 5), you should switch to runlevel 3 prior to running Xconfig-
urator. Alternatively, if your system defaults to starting up in text mode
(runlevels 1-4), you should make sure that X is not running while configuring
X via Xconfigurator, otherwise you may experience hardware lockups
and possibly data corruption.

6.2 The XFree86 Server

Red Hat Linux uses XFree86 4 as the base X Window System, which includes the various necessary X
libraries, fonts, utilities, documentation, and development tools. To provide maximum compatibility
with older hardware, as well as hardware that isn't currently well supported by XFree86 4, Red Hat
Linux also provides the older XFree86 3 Server packages. Both XFree86 Server versions differ in
design methodologies, and as such vary in features as well as configuration details.
The primary X server (XFree86 4) includes many cutting edge XFree86 technology enhancements
such as hardware 3D acceleration support, the XRender extension for anti-aliased fonts, a modular
driver based design, support for modern video hardware and input devices, and many other features.
In contrast, the XFree86 3 server packages are standalone non-modular X servers, each of which act
as a display driver for a select set of specific video hardware. If you're using an XFree86 3 server,
you need to have installed the specific X server for your particular video card. These older servers
do not support many features found only in the newer XFree86 4 servers, and are only included for
compatibility. The XFree86 3 backward compatibility servers are now deprecated and will eventually
be removed from some future release of Red Hat Linux.
The Red Hat Linux installation program will install the base components of XFree86, any optional
XFree86 packages you may have chosen to install, the XFree86 4 X server, and any XFree86 3 X
server packages that may be needed for your hardware.
The X Window system resides primarily in two locations in the filesystem.
/usr/X11R6
A directory containing X client binaries (the bin directory), assorted header files (the in-
clude directory), libraries (the lib directory), manual pages (the man directory), and various
other X documentation (the doc directory).
/etc/X11
Chapter 6:X Servers and Clients
CAUTION