Doug MacFarlane wrote: > I'm running Debian 3.0 r0 with Blackbox X-Windows Manager. > > XF86Config-4 has a large number of "Display" SubSections in the "Screen" > section, one for each pixel-depth from 1 to 32, and modes from "1280x1024" > to "640x480". > > How does one pick which of these is the running configuration? > The "ServerLayout" section has a > > Screen "Default Screen" > > entry, but how does the Default Screen get set? Let's cover this from the beginning... The "ServerLayout" section specifies what other sections to use to define your screen, mouse, etc. So if it contains a line, 'Screen "Default Screen"' as you have above, then you look for a 'Section "Screen"' that contains a line saying 'Identifier "Default Screen"'. This screen section should, in turn, contain a Device line identifying the video card, and a Monitor line identifying your monitor. These should correspond to sections as well in which the video card and monitor are defined. The video card section should identify an X driver corresponding to your video card, and the monitor section should describe the horizontal and vertical sync limits of your monitor, and may also define non-standard video modes that you want to use. The Screen section should also contain a "DefaultDepth" line indicating what bit depth you want to use (typically 24 or 32 these days, for modern video hardware). The Screen section also contains a set of Display subsections, one for each available bit depth, each containing a list of modes corresponding either to standard video modes or custom modes defined in the Monitor section. XFree86 will attempt to use these modes, starting with the first one and proceeding through the others if it decides the first one won't work. Here are some excerpts from my XF86Config-4 for a machine with Intel i810 video hardware and a Philips 107P20 monitor, with notes explaining how it works. This first section describes the Intel i810 video: Section "Device" Identifier "Intel i810 Video" Driver "i810" VideoRam 8192 EndSection This next one describes the Philips monitor. I took the HorizSync and VertRefresh values from the owner's manual. The custom 1280x960 video mode was generated for me by a Web-based X mode calculator at "http://zaph.com/Modeline/";. I like 1280x960 because unlike 1280x1024, its aspect ratio is square on a standard 4:3 display, and I don't like going higher than 1280 on a 17" monitor. Section "Monitor" Identifier "Philips 107P20" HorizSync 30-92 VertRefresh 50-160 Option "DPMS" ModeLine "1280x960" 126.00 1280 1296 1440 1680 960 961 964 1000 +hsync +vsync EndSection Now we describe the screen, which is a combination of a video card and a monitor. DefaultDepth is 24, so we look for a Display subsection with "Depth 24" to see what modes X will try to use. 1280x960 (which is defined above in the Monitor section) is listed first, so X will try to use it first. If it thinks, based on your monitor's HorizSync and VertRefresh, or based on information from the video card driver, that that mode won't work, then rather than risk blowing up your hardware, it will move on to the next mode (in this case 1152x864, which is a standard mode and therefore does not need to be defined above). If it doesn't think any of the modes in the 24-bit subsection will work, it will try other bit depths. If no mode in any bit depth subsection will work (in X's opinion), then X fails. Section "Screen" Identifier "Default Screen" Device "Intel i810 Video" Monitor "Philips 107P20" DefaultDepth 24 SubSection "Display" Depth 1 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 4 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 8 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 15 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 16 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection SubSection "Display" Depth 24 Modes "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" EndSubSection EndSection Finally, the ServerLayout section simply references the screen, keyboard, etc. sections that X will use. Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Default Layout" Screen "Default Screen" InputDevice "Generic Keyboard" InputDevice "Configured Mouse" EndSection > Also, how does one set the default font/font-size? Default fonts and sizes are not set in XF86Config-4. Default fonts are selected on a per-app or per-toolkit basis. Blackbox's fonts are set by the Blackbox style you choose (see ~/.blackbox/blackboxrc, if I recall correctly). GTK apps (including nearly all Gnome apps) use the current GTK theme (see ~/.gtkrc). QT apps (including KDE apps) have their own themes. And so on. There is no single place to set default fonts for all programs because, unlike MS Windows, there is more than one toolkit, more than one window manager, and so on. I use GTK apps whenever possible to minimize the visual inconsistency of seeing different toolkits. > As crummy as M$ WinBlows is, right-clicking the desktop, selecting properties, > and settings, avails one of all three of these options . . . > > There has to be an X equivalent . . . doesn't there? > > TIA > > madmac > -- > Doug MacFarlane > madmac@covad.net > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-request@lists.debian.org > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org >
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