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I took over the maintenance of this document since it was abandoned and wanted to offer a suggested change. Every attempt has been made to ensure that the contents of this document were accurate when written.
XFree86
Hardware
Conversely, if it's something relatively new, with groundbreaking technology, the odds aren't as good. Mice and other pointing devices -- Most should be supported, including PS/2, bus, serial, USB, and many infrared devices.
XF86Config
The first mode listed also defines the viewable screen area, which may be smaller than the mode itself (resolution). In this case, you would have a virtual desktop that is larger than the viewable screen.
If whatever configuration program you use doesn't automatically correctly recognize your video card or monitor specifications, you're unlikely to get an optimal configuration. Using someone else's XF86Config file is generally a bad idea, as they are unlikely to have identical hardware.
Running X
- xserverrc
- xinitrc
- Xclients
Then it checks for the presence of the XClients file, both a system wide file and in the user's home directory. This is in the user's home directory, so it won't be overwritten even during updates.
Display Managers
- xdm
- gdm
- kdm
DisplayManager._0.setup: /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 DisplayManager._0.startup: /etc/X11/xdm/GiveConsole DisplayManager._0.reset: /etc/X11/xdm/TakeConsole. The command that starts the X server in this particular case is in /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers as defined by "DisplayManager.servers" and is equivalent to the xserverrc used for the startx X server start commands, but the syntax it's a bit different here. Below is a sample /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 which is only used to configure the login screen.
As you can see, this uses helvetica as the preferred font, with different point sizes and dots per font. inch depending on screen size. Again, the files in a user's home directory can be created or modified by the user at any time and must be executable shell scripts. The main configuration file for kdm is kdmrc and is typically installed as /etc/kde/kdm/kdmrc.
As is the case with gdm.conf, it uses kdmrc for comments, and has sections with section headings in similar square brackets. This will accomplish the same thing as xdm's Xsetup_0: namely running whatever programs the user wants, such as xconsole.
More X Configuration
X Resources
- App Defaults
- Xdefaults
This would also provide a dark blue background for the xterm fontMenu, as well as any other xterm properties that also have a "background" attribute (e.g. window background, etc.), regardless of where they are in the widget hierarchy. For example, Netscape typically comes with a Netscape.ad file that contains an extensive set of resource definitions that can be customized. All in all, this concerns a relatively small number of applications in the overall whole.
Also note the #include at the top. 34;XTerm" which "includes" the resource definitions for XTerm, a much longer file with a more diverse set of definitions. These files provide system defaults and would generally not be edited by the user. version will override all system settings and persist after upgrades system.
In the case of system-wide files, these should be taken care of by the vendor that provided startup scripts. Generally, such scripts will also check the user's home directory (see the xinitrc example above).
- Special Key Mappings
- Mice and Pointers
X does not require a restart if xrdb is used interactively from the command line after making changes. There is also a utility available like numlockx or setnumlock, which can be found on the Net, if your distribution doesn't include one or the other. This can be placed in a startup file to automatically enable Numlock if you wish.
Window managers and desktop environments will also allow customization of the keyboard and mouse (as long as they are correctly recognized by X). If a mouse has only two buttons, the third (i.e. the middle) button can be simulated by pressing both buttons simultaneously. When all is said and done, a third button is very handy and I would personally recommend having one.
If for some reason this doesn't work, it's either a poorly implemented application or a bug of some kind. Don't expect this to work with non-compatible programs (ie non-KDE aware programs in KDE for example).
Fonts and Colors
Fonts Demystified
- Type 1 and TrueType Fonts
And the font server configuration would need to be adjusted if this is a new folder. Enter xlsfonts | out less, and you can also get an idea of the font definition as understood by
When you select from the fmly selection, you will see most of the options dimmed and only three remaining. Once you get far enough, you'll narrow it down to the font you want. This will paste a selection from the clipboard, which should be the font you just selected.
If you have found a font you prefer, it can be used permanently by placing the font definition in the appropriate configuration file (see above). De-Uglification Mini HOWTO, The Font De-Uglification Mini HOWTO, for various X-related font tips, especially TrueType.
Colors
Or more can be found for free on the internet with great ease and try. If you don't have a good selection of TrueType fonts installed, then Type 1 is what you want for most GUI applications. But again, this is not standard on other platforms, and can cause problems when viewing documents (eg web pages) designed with "other platforms" in mind.
So people migrating from non-Unix platforms are already familiar with these high-quality fonts. TrueType fonts under the appropriate license, so not many are included in Linux distributions. Also, unfortunately, TrueType has become something of a standard on the web and elsewhere, and the lack of good TrueType fonts can be a detriment.
We won't go into the details of installing and configuring these fonts here, as they are covered in depth in other documents. This file can be customized if desired, but this is rarely necessary for most of us.
Window Managers and Desktops
Window Managers
Desktop Environments
Therefore, the goal is to keep most of the system resources for applications and not consume all the memory and CPU usage with the desktop environment.
X and the Command Line
Sooner or later, most of us need access to the "command line" for one reason or another. In typical use, when a terminal emulator window is opened, a shell is started with which the user can interact. So when all is said and done, the user is interacting with X, the terminal, and the shell all at once.
For example, how keystrokes are handled as they move from hardware to X server to terminal to the shell and finally echo back to the user. Quick and easy terminal configuration is done via the "$TERM" variable, which is typically set in one of the user's shell configuration files. The variable "$TERM" is actually a reference to an entry in the "termcap" database (man termcap), which is typically installed as /etc/termcap.
Also, you're also interacting with the shell, which can have its own impact, especially on how keystrokes are handled in the shell prompt. Again, this is beyond the scope of this document, but check with local or on-line bash (or other shell) references.
X Networking and Security
Performance Considerations
- Hardware
- Memory
- X over the Network
- Other Tips
Or possibly this could be the symptom of a badly behaved kernel VM system (try a different kernel in this case). In fact, most KDE and GNOME programs can still be used even if KDE and GNOME don't run themselves (assuming the right libs are installed). While a ColorDepth of 24 is preferred, you probably won't notice the difference of 16 with most applications.
Again, faster and much less memory is used, and these are text-based protocols anyway. Font servers can provide a slight performance boost by offloading font rendering to the font server, freeing up the X server to do other things. This shouldn't be a problem in LAN situations, but it might be if you try to use X over the Internet.
You can also add the font server (if used) and the main KDE and GNOME processes. This doesn't work very well with startx, since X is running as root and you're not root, right.
Appendix
Terminology and Usage
34;Clients" is any program that connects to the X server, and requires an X server for some task (eg to display itself). The "Window Manager" is a special type of client application and a user -definable component of the GUI It is technically possible to run X without a window manager (although not very functionally), but not the other way around.
In name alone it is called a window. It doesn't behave like any other window, but you run your applications in the main window, or place an image on it, or maybe just a solid color. The "pointer" is the arrow or indicator of some shape that shows the location of your mouse or other pointing device. Most window managers will mark the "active" or focused window in some way to distinguish it from other windows.
34;Widgets" is the term used to describe such GUI control components as buttons, sliders, menus, scrollbars, list boxes, checkboxes, etc. While both pairs are often specified, it is allowed to use only one or the other couple.
Links and other References
BUILD_TXT = jade -t sgml -i html -d /usr/lib/sgml/stylesheets/ldp.dsl\#html -V nochunks SPELL_CMD = aspell -H -c.