XFree86 4.1 --> 4.2.1 (Woody)

[Kenneth Jacker <khj@be.cs.appstate.edu>]

Greetings!

As some of you following this list know, I have been trying to get my
"ATI Radeon RV200 QW [Radeon 7500]" board working with XFree86-4.1
under stable.  After much help and emails, it appears that that
controller/chip isn't supported under v4.1.  :-(

So, since I think the board is a decent one, I guess my only
alternative is to provide a later XFree86 version.  Keeping in mind
that I'm running Woody/stable, to which version should I upgrade?

Various correspondents state that 4.2.1 supports my board.  Version
4.3.0 and 4.4.0 are some of the "latest and greatest".  But, I thought
I might just "get my feet wet" (since I have done *zero* backports)
with the 4.2.1 version. Suggestions?

One thing that concerns me, though, is the affect of upgrading the X
server. I assume I will have to "purge" all traces of the current
version.  But won't that also remove components that depend on it
(e.g., kde, ...)?  If true, what will be the best way to recover those
X11-dependent applications?

The final issue for me is the actual process of changing to 4.2.1
under Woody.  I've done the usual searches (seems like FAQs), but
didn't find anything that appeared to describe the actual procedure.

I do have these URLs:

  http://www.backports.org/debian/dists/stable/xfree86/binary-i386/

  ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/4.2.1/binaries/Linux-ix86-glibc22/

Should they be my starting point?


I hope I'm not embarking on a long, long journey!  ;-)

Thanks for all comments, suggestions and help ...

-- 
Prof Kenneth H Jacker       khj@cs.appstate.edu
Computer Science Dept       www.cs.appstate.edu/~khj
Appalachian State Univ
Boone, NC  28608  USA