News: 0180838008

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

T2 Linux Restores XAA In Xorg, Making 2D Graphics Fast Again (t2linux.com)

(Saturday February 21, 2026 @05:43PM (EditorDavid) from the broken-windows dept.)


Berlin-based T2 Linux developer [1]René Rebe (long-time Slashdot reader [2]ReneR ) is announcing that their Xorg display server has now [3]restored its XAA acceleration architecture , "bringing fixed-function hardware 2D acceleration back to many older graphics cards that upstream left in software-rendered mode."

> Older fixed-function GPUs now regain smooth window movement, low CPU usage, and proper 24-bit bpp framebuffer support (also restored in T2). Tested hardware includes ATi Mach-64 and Rage-128, SiS, Trident, Cirrus, Matrox (Millennium/G450), Permedia2, Tseng ET6000 and even the Sun Creator/Elite 3D.

>

> The result: vintage and retro systems and classic high-end Unix workstations that are fast and responsive again.



[1] https://github.com/sponsors/rxrbln/

[2] https://www.slashdot.org/~ReneR

[3] https://t2linux.com/#news-2026-02-14



Erm (Score:2)

by pele ( 151312 )

Why was it removed in the first place,

Re:Erm (Score:5, Insightful)

by ThePhilips ( 752041 )

Year of Wayland on Linux is any minute now. Thus it's never too early to throw away the "old junk"(tm), that works and is used daily by millions, that is inevitably going to be replaced by... jam tomorrow.

What's going to happen first: Wayland or AGI?

Re:Erm (Score:4, Funny)

by PPH ( 736903 )

AGI. Because we'll need that to answer the question: Why Wayland?

Re: (Score:2)

by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )

> AGI. Because we'll need that to answer the question: Why Wayland?

42

Re: (Score:2)

by bjoast ( 1310293 )

Year of Wayland on Linux was ages ago.

Re: (Score:3)

by PPH ( 736903 )

I missed it.

Re: (Score:2)

by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

I'm sure you'll figure it out when more and more things stop supporting Xorg. As much as Slashdotters want to, it's not something that can be ignored.

Re: (Score:2)

by PPH ( 736903 )

Already fixed with Wayback. Native Wayland apps can have a compositor stub that just connects them to the X11 system.

Re:Erm (Score:4, Interesting)

by hjf ( 703092 )

Because an alarmingly high number of developers believe that, if code isn't being changed, it's dead. And dead code is "VuLNeRaBle".

Have you ever tried anything in Python or JS? Breaking changes are the norm. And if the app broke, it's YOUR FAULT for not reading the changelog, not their fault for changing the API for no good reason (so many changes in JS for "consistency", like, someone developed something and spelled it "colour" and 3 versions later some dev is incredibly irritated that the rest of the spelling of the app is in american english, so they "fix" it for consistency. Yes, they broke thousands of apps out there that had been running for years, but, isn't it nice how the code is now all consistent?

And don't let me get started on shit like React Router, which, last time i checked was in V6 and every version was a full rewrite, completely incompatible with the previous version - because of conceptually different behavior. Imagine doing this SIX TIMES in less than a decade.

I can understand: Color vs Colour (Score:3)

by Firethorn ( 177587 )

Ouch, I can definitely see wanting to fix the color/colour thing for consistency. Reminds me of a game on steam with ONE broken achievement. Digging into it, the developer misspelled the achievement originally - then on the LAST update, fixed the spelling in the code, but not in the hook. one character edited in binary and the achievement popped.

But I'd think that an alias would work - allow people expecting color to spell it that way, but not break already developed apps that used the old colour.

Re: (Score:2)

by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

> Because an alarmingly high number of developers believe that, if code isn't being changed, it's dead. And dead code is "VuLNeRaBle".

Well yes. ... No really you don't believe that? Software development on critical platforms is forever a cat and mouse game between finding bugs and fixing them. There's no such thing as perfection, even in ancient well tested code. Purging code barely in use is generally a good security practice, it lowers an attack surface. That's just ... obvious, and your facetious tone makes me wonder if you have any concept of security at all.

That said your comparison to Python or JS is just stupid. We're not talking a

Re: Erm (Score:2)

by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 )

> Purging code barely in use is generally a good security practice, it lowers an attack surface. That's just ... obvious, and your facetious tone makes me wonder if you have any concept of security at all.

It's not obvious to anyone who lives out in the real world where niche corner cases are often only documented in "rarely used code."

Theoreticians with empty and spotless desks just love to rewrite stuff and reinvent the wheel. It's how they justify their existence.

Security against hypothetical attacks on code running several layers deep behind firewalls and/or airgaps is the excuse given for why my corporate issued managed workstation spontaneously reboots itself every week. After all...it's not bad to bric

Re: (Score:2)

by TwistedGreen ( 80055 )

The beauty of AI-generated code is that you can now generate bespoke code with zero dependencies. And if your requirements change, the AI can just rewrite it again. Libraries have always been an abstraction to allow busy programmers to make changes with minimal rewrites, enabling them to "stand on the shoulders of giants" as it were... but those giants have all been subsumed by an LLM that can just spit out a function that does one thing and one thing only. So maybe, hopefully, the sort of dependency hell y

Re: Erm (Score:2)

by toutankh ( 1544253 )

You're missing the bit about libraries being safer than coding your own version in certain cases. LLMs make this worse, not better.

Re: Erm (Score:2)

by sziring ( 2245650 )

Claude code is beta testing the ability to check your code for vulnerabilities and possible exploits.

Re: (Score:3)

by serafean ( 4896143 )

[1]https://xorg-devel.x.narkive.c... [narkive.com]

Nice read.

[1] https://xorg-devel.x.narkive.com/2qqEoKAp/patch-remove-xaa

T2 (Score:2)

by StormReaver ( 59959 )

I had no idea we had the Terminator writing Linux software now.

Re: (Score:3)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

I strongly suggest people submit any bug reports anonymously.

Re: (Score:3)

by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )

> I had no idea we had the Terminator writing Linux software now.

Overheard: "Your code, give them to me."

Re: (Score:3)

by ls671 ( 1122017 )

> I had no idea we had the Terminator writing Linux software now.

I think that you might be confusing the term (T2) some might be using to abbreviate a movie title (Terminator 2) with the terminator models.

Terminator models (there is no T2):

T-600 (Series 600): Early, large infiltrator model with rubber skin and a slow, clunky design, making it easier for humans to spot.

T-700: A precursor to the T-800, featuring a more compact design.

T-800 / T-850 / T-888: The most common and iconic mode

awesome (Score:2)

by OrangeTide ( 124937 )

Time to upgrade the OS on my PowerMac1,1(Blue & White G3) with ATI Rage 128 (PCI). I actually have some fun upgrades on that machine. Like SATA, USB 2.0, and 1GHz CPU. I used to dual boot System 9 and OSX on it, but swapped in Ubuntu about 15 years ago when getting apps that supported Tiger became troublesome. Then even Linux abandoned me.

There once was a Sailor who looked through a glass
And spied a fair mermaid with scales on her... island.
Where seagulls flew over their nest.
She combed the long hair which hung over her... shoulders.
And caused her to tickle and itch.
The sailor cried out "There's a beautiful... mermaid.
A sittin' out there on the rocks."
The crew came a running, all grabbing their... glasses.
And crowded four deep to the rail.
All eager to share in this fine piece of... news.
...
"Throw out a line and we'll lasso her... flippers.
And soon we will certainly find
If mermaids are better before or be... brave
My dear fellows," The captain cried out.
And cursing with spleen.
This song may be dull, but it's certainly clean.
-- Oscar Brand, "A Clean Song"