XFree86-v31x

Overview

XFree86 is a collection of X servers for UNIX-like OSs on Intel x86 platforms. This work is derived from X386 1.2 which was contributed to X11R5 by Snitily Graphics Consulting Service.

Configurations

XFree86 operates under the following operating systems:

Network connections

XFree86 supports connections made using the following reliable byte-streams:

Local

XFree86 supports local connections via Streams pipe via various mechanisms, using the following paths (n represents the display number):

/dev/X/server.n (SVR3 and SVR4)
/dev/X/Nserver.n (SVR4)
/dev/XnS and /dev/XnR (SCO SVR3)

On SVR4.0.4, if the Advanced Compatibility Package is installed, and in SVR4.2, XFree86 supports local connections from clients for SCO XSight/ODT, and (with modifications to the binary) clients for ISC SVR3.

Unix Domain

XFree86 uses /tmp/.X11-unix/Xn as the filename for the socket, where n is the display number.

TCPIP

XFree86 listens on port htons(6000+n), where n is the display number.

Amoeba RPC

This is the default communication medium used under native Amoeba. Note that under Amoeba, the server should be started with a ``hostname:displaynumber'' argument.

Environment

For operating systems that support local connections other than Unix Domain sockets (SVR3 and SVR4), there is a compiled-in list specifying the order in which local connections should be attempted. This list can be overridden by the XLOCAL environment variable described below. If the display name indicates a best-choice connection should be made (e.g. :0.0), each connection mechanism is tried until a connection succeeds or no more mechanisms are available. Note: for these OSs, the Unix Domain socket connection is treated differently from the other local connection types. To use it the connection must be made to unix:0.0.

The XLOCAL environment variable should contain a list of one more more of the following:

NAMED
PTS
SCO
ISC

which represent SVR4 Named Streams pipe, Old-style USL Streams pipe, SCO XSight Streams pipe, and ISC Streams pipe, respectively. You can select a single mechanism (e.g. XLOCAL=NAMED), or an ordered list (e.g. XLOCAL="NAMED:PTS:SCO"). This variable overrides the compiled-in defaults. For SVR4 it is recommended that NAMED be the first preference connection. The default setting is PTS:NAMED:ISC:SCO.

To globally override the compiled-in defaults, you should define (and export if using sh or ksh) XLOCAL globally. If you use startx/xinit, the definition should be at the top of your .xinitrc file. If you use xdm, the definitions should be early on in the <XRoot>/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession script.

Options

In addition to the normal server options described in the Xserver(1) manual page, XFree86 accepts the following command line switches:

vtXX

XX specifies the Virtual Terminal device number which XFree86 will use. Without this option, XFree86 will pick the first available Virtual Terminal that it can locate. This option applies only to SVR3, SVR4, Linux, and BSD OSs with the `syscons' or `pcvt' driver.

-crt /dev/ttyXX

SCO only. This is the same as the vt option, and is provided for compatibility with the native SCO X server.

-probeonly

Causes the server to exit after the device probing stage. The XF86Config file is still used when this option is given, so information that can be auto-detected should be commented out.

-quiet

Suppress most informational messages at startup.

-bpp n

Set number of bits per pixel. The default is 8. Legal values are 8, 15, 16, 24, 32. Not all servers support all values.

-weight nnn

Set RGB weighting at 16 bpp. The default is 565. This applies only to those servers which support 16 bpp.

-flipPixels

Swap the default values for the black and white pixels.

-disableVidMode

Disable the the parts of the VidMode extension used by the xvidtune client that can be used to change the video modes.

-allowNonLocalXvidtune

Allow the xvidtune client to connect from another host. By default non-local connections are not allowed.

-disableModInDev

Disable dynamic modification of input device settings.

-allowNonLocalModInDev

Allow changes to keyboard and mouse settings from non-local clients. By default, connections from non-local clients are not allowed to do this.

-allowMouseOpenFail

Allow the server to start up even if the mouse device can't be opened or initialised.

-gamma value

Set the gamma correction. value must be between 0.1 and 10. The default is 1.0 This value is applied equally to the R, G and B values. Not all servers support this.

-rgamma value

Set the red gamma correction. value must be between 0.1 and 10. The default is 1.0 Not all servers support this.

-ggamma value

Set the green gamma correction. value must be between 0.1 and 10. The default is 1.0 Not all servers support this.

-bgamma value

Set the blue gamma correction. value must be between 0.1 and 10. The default is 1.0 Not all servers support this.

-showconfig

Print out the server version, patchlevel, and a list of screen drivers configured in the server.

-verbose

Multiple occurrences of this flag increase the amount of information printed on stderr (more than the default).

-version

Same as -showconfig.

-xf86config file

Read the server configuration from file. This option is only available when the server is run as root (i.e, with real-uid 0).

-keeptty

Prevent the server from detaching its initial controlling terminal. This option is only useful when debugging the server.

Keyboard

Multiple key presses recognized directly by XFree86 are:

Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

Immediately kills the server -- no questions asked. (Can be disabled by specifying "DontZap" in the ServerFlags section of the XF86Config file.)

Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus

Change video mode to next one specified in the configuration file, (increasing video resolution order).

Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus

Change video mode to previous one specified in the configuration file, (decreasing video resolution order).

Ctrl+Alt+F1...F12

For BSD systems using the syscons driver and Linux, these keystroke combinations are used to switch to Virtual Console 1 through 12.

Setup

XFree86 uses a configuration file called XF86Config for its initial setup. Refer to the XF86Config-v3(5) manual page for more information.

Files

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_SVGA

The color SVGA X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_Mono

The monochrome X server for VGA and other mono cards

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_S3

The accelerated S3 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_Mach8

The accelerated Mach8 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_Mach32

The accelerated Mach32 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_Mach64

The accelerated Mach64 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_P9000

The accelerated P9000 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_AGX

The accelerated AGX X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_W32

The accelerated ET4000/W32 and ET6000 X server

<XRoot>/bin/XF86_8514

The accelerated 8514/A X server

/etc/X11/XF86Config

Server configuration file

<XRoot>/lib/X11/XF86Config.hostname

Server configuration file

<XRoot>/lib/X11/XF86Config

Server configuration file

<XRoot>/bin/∗

Client binaries

<XRoot>/include/∗

Header files

<XRoot>/lib/∗

Libraries

<XRoot>/lib/X11/fonts/∗

Fonts

<XRoot>/lib/X11/rgb.txt

Color names to RGB mapping

<XRoot>/lib/X11/XErrorDB

Client error message database

<XRoot>/lib/X11/app-defaults/∗

Client resource specifications

<XRoot>/man/man?/∗

Manual pages

/etc/Xn.hosts

Initial access control list for display n

Note: <XRoot> refers to the root of the X11 install tree.