In case you've missed the announcement by David Dawes in
comp.windows.x.i386unix,  here's a stripped down version:


                         Announcing the Release of
                      XFree86[TM] Beta Version 3.1.2E

                                21 May 1996

  The XFree86 Project, Inc's beta version 3.1.2E of XFree86 is now
  available.  This is a binary-only release.  For most platforms it
  is an upgrade relative to the previous beta release (3.1.2D).

  Binaries are currently available for FreeBSD (2.0.5, and 2.1), Linux
  (ELF, a.out and AlphaAXP), NetBSD 1.1, SVR4, ISC, Solaris and PANIX98.
  Binaries for OS/2 are expected to be available soon.  They can be
  found at ftp://ftp.xfree86.org/pub/XFree86/3.1.2E/, and soon at most
  of the usual XFree86 mirror sites.

  The release notes for this release describe the changes in version
  3.1.2E, and how to install it.  It can be found at
  http://WWW.XFree86.org/3.1.2E/RELNOTES.html.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Release Notes for XFree86[TM] 3.1.2E (beta version)
  The XFree86 Project, Inc

  15 May 1996

[...]

  1.  General Information about Beta Releases

  This is a beta release of XFree86.  XFree86 beta releases are
  available to the public in binary form only.  Source code is available
  only to registered members of the XFree86 beta team.  The main reason
  for this is that XFree86 beta versions often contain source code from
  other sources (such as the X Consortium) which is not yet available
  for public release.  If you want to test or work on these releases at
  the source code level, you can apply for membership of the XFree86
  beta team by sending email to XFree86@XFree86.org.

  The X servers included in beta releases have a built-in expiry date.
  The reason for this is to try to prevent them from persisting beyond
  the date of the next release.  The expiry date for 3.1.2E is 1
  September 1996.

[...]

  3.  New Features in 3.1.2E

  3.1.  General


     o  3.1.2E is based on the first publicly released form of X11R6.1
        (i.e,. X11R6.1 public patch 1).

     o  Many updates have been made to the OS/2 port.

     o  3.1.2E also includes a first full distribution for Linux/AXP
        (Linux on DEC Alpha/AXP architecture) with tested servers for S3
        and Mach64 cards.

  3.2.  General X server changes


     o  All VGA cards with a set of discrete clocks (i.e. not a
        ClockChip or a ClockProg) can now also use all the clocks
        mentioned in the clocks line divided by 2.  This presents the
        server with twice as many clocks to choose from.  Add the option
        "clkdiv2" to the "Device" section of XF86Config to enable this.

     o  Some cursor colouring bugs have been fixed for servers that use
        hardware cursors.

     o  Autorepeating modifier keys when using XKB have been fixed.

  3.3.  XInput Extension


     o  A new device supporting mouse protocols has been added.

     o  The wacom device has been enhanced to support tilt valuators and
        to have a motion history.

  3.4.  PC98 Support


     o  Bugs have been fixed in some of the PC98 servers.

     o  Support has been added for the PowerWindow968, Cyber9320 and
        TGUI9680.

     o  Support has been added for the PANIX-PC98 SVR4.0 OS.

  3.5.  S3 server


     o  Support for the ELSA Winner 2000PRO/X rev G and ELSA Gloria-8
        (except the GLint 300SX 3D chip) has been added.

     o  S3 dashed lines are finally fixed.

     o  Fixed some problems with the S3 Trio64V+.

     o  Added options "slow_dram" and "slow_edodram" to avoid pixel
        errors on the display for some broken cards.




  3.6.  Mach64 server


     o  Screen blanking for Mach64 CT cards running at 16bpp and 32bpp
        has been fixed.

     o  The Mach64 server will detect the new VT and GT cards, and it
        should work for at least the VT cards.

     o  A problem that caused the server to incorrectly use block I/O
        mode on some cards has been fixed.

     o  A problem with olvwm icons has been fixed.

     o  A problem with ghostview scrollbars has been fixed.  This may
        also fix some Netscape font problems that have been reported.

  3.7.  W32 server


     o  Support has been added for the ICD2061A clock chip (which is
        used on the Diamond Stealth 32).

     o  The server's reporting of bits/RGB resolution has been fixed.

  3.8.  P9000 server


     o  DGA support has been added to the P9000 server.

  3.9.  Trident driver (SVGA server)


     o  Support for the TGUI9320 has been fixed (it was broken in
        3.1.2D).

  3.10.  ATI driver (SVGA server)


     o  There have been a number of updates to the ati driver.

  3.11.  ARK driver (SVGA server)


     o  A problem which caused the server to crash when no Ramdac was
        given in the XF86Config file has been fixed.

  3.12.  Client/Library changes


     o  Problems with the colour support in xterm have been fixed.

     o  POSIX termios support has been added for xterm on most BSD
        systems.  This removes the need for the BSD kernel to built with
        the COMPAT_43 option.  There are problems with this on FreeBSD
        2.0.5 and earlier, so it isn't used in that case.

     o  The termcap and terminfo entries for xterm have been brought up
        to date.