Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

Debian GNU/Linux Reference Guide
Prev Home Next

9.4.3 The X server

See XFree86(1x) for X server information.

Invoke X server from a local console:

     $ startx -- :<display> vtXX
     e.g.:
     $ startx -- :1 vt8 -bpp 16
     ... start on vt8 connected to localhost:1 with 16 bpp mode

Arguments given after -- are for the X server.

Note, when using a ~/.xserverrc script to customize the X server startup process, be sure to exec the real X server. Failing to do this can make the X server slow to start and exit. For example:

     #!/bin/sh
     exec /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp

9.4.3.1 Configuring the X server (version 4)

To (re-)configure an XF4 server,

     # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-common
     # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-xfree86

will generate /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file and configure X using the script dexconf.


9.4.3.2 Configuring the X server (version 3)

To (re-)configure an XF3 server, for example, for ATI mach64,

     # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-common-v3
     # dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-mach64

will generate /etc/X11/XF86Config file and configure X using the script xf86config-v3.


9.4.3.3 Configuring the X server manually

For Woody, to add user customizations to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, do not edit the configuration file between the text:

     ### BEGIN DEBCONF SECTION
     [snip]
     ### END DEBCONF SECTION

Instead, add the customizations before the text. For example, to use a custom video device, add something resembling the following text to the top of the file:

     Section "Device"
       Identifier        "Custom Device"
       Driver            "ati"
       Option            "NoAccel"
     EndSection
     
     Section "Screen"
       Identifier  "Custom Screen"
       Device      "Custom Device"
       Monitor     "Generic Monitor"
       DefaultDepth 24
       Subsection "Display"
         Depth       8
         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
     
     Section "ServerLayout"
         Identifier        "Custom"
         Screen            "Custom Screen"
         InputDevice       "Generic Keyboard" "CoreKeyboard"
         InputDevice       "Configured Mouse" "CorePointer"
     EndSection

For Sarge (testing at the time of writing), if you wish to retain user customizations to /etc/X11/XF86Config file through upgrade, run the following commands as root:

     # cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
     # md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 > /var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
     # dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

In order to achieve font de-uglification, you need to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 as described in TrueType fonts in X, Section 9.4.13.

Please also check the other parts of your X configuration. Bad monitor settings can be even more of a headache than bad fonts, so make sure your refresh rate is as high as your monitor can handle (85 Hz is great, 75 Hz is OK, 60 Hz is painful).


Debian GNU/Linux Reference Guide
Prev Home Next

 
 
  Published under the terms of the GNU General Public License Design by Interspire