xorg.conf(5x)
____________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Xorg supports several mechanisms for supplying/obtaining configura
tion
and run-time parameters: command line options, environment variab
les,
the xorg.conf configuration file, auto-detection, and fall
back
defaults. When the same information is supplied in more than one
way,
the highest precedence mechanism is used. The list of mechanism
s is
ordered from highest precedence to lowest. Note that not all par
ame-
ters can be supplied via all methods. The available command
line
options and environment variables (and some defaults) are described
in
the Xserver(1) and Xorg(1) manual pages. Most configuration
file
parameters, with their defaults, are described below. Driver and
mod-
ule specific configuration parameters are described in the rele
vant
driver or module manual page.
DESCRIPTION
Xorg uses a configuration file called xorg.conf for its initial se
tup.
This configuration file is searched for in the following places
when
the server is started as a normal user:
/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
/etc/X11/xorg.conf-4
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/etc/xorg.conf
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/xorg.conf-4
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xorg.conf-4
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xorg.conf
where <cmdline> is a relative path (with no ".." components) speci
fied
with the -config command line option, $XORGCONFIG is the relative
path
(with no ".." components) specified by that environment variable,
and
<hostname> is the machine's hostname as reported by gethostname(3).
When the Xorg server is started by the "root" user, the config
file
search locations are as follows:
<cmdline>
/etc/X11/<cmdline>
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/<cmdline>
$XORGCONFIG
/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/$XORGCONFIG
$HOME/xorg.conf
/etc/X11/xorg.conf-4
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
/etc/xorg.conf
/usr/X11R6/etc/X11/xorg.conf.<hostname>
present in any order. Each section has the form:
Section "SectionName"
SectionEntry
...
EndSection
The section names are:
Files File pathnames
ServerFlags Server flags
Module Dynamic module loading
InputDevice Input device description
Device Graphics device description
VideoAdaptor Xv video adaptor description
Monitor Monitor description
Modes Video modes descriptions
Screen Screen configuration
ServerLayout Overall layout
DRI DRI-specific configuration
Vendor Vendor-specific configuration
The following obsolete section names are still recognised for comp
ati-
bility purposes. In new config files, the InputDevice section sh
ould
be used instead.
Keyboard Keyboard configuration
Pointer Pointer/mouse configuration
The old XInput section is no longer recognised.
The ServerLayout sections are at the highest level. They bind toge
ther
the input and output devices that will be used in a session. The i
nput
devices are described in the InputDevice sections. Output devices
usu-
ally consist of multiple independent components (e.g., a graphics b
oard
and a monitor). These multiple components are bound together in
the
Screen sections, and it is these that are referenced by the Server
Lay-
out section. Each Screen section binds together a graphics board a
nd a
monitor. The graphics boards are described in the Device sections,
and
the monitors are described in the Monitor sections.
Config file keywords are case-insensitive, and "_" characters
are
ignored. Most strings (including Option names) are also case-inse
nsi-
tive, and insensitive to white space and "_" characters.
Each config file entry usually takes up a single line in the f
ile.
They consist of a keyword, which is possibly followed by one or
more
arguments, with the number and types of the arguments depending on
the
keyword. The argument types are:
Integer an integer number in decimal, hex or octal
Real a floating point number
Boolean a boolean value (see below)
Frequency a frequency value (see below)
Note that all Option values, not just strings, must be enclosed
in
quotes.
Boolean options may optionally have a value specified. When no v
alue
is specified, the option's value is TRUE. The following boolean op
tion
values are recognised as TRUE:
1, on, true, yes
and the following boolean option values are recognised as FALSE:
0, off, false, no
If an option name is prefixed with "No", then the option valu
e is
negated.
Example: the following option entries are equivalent:
Option "Accel" "Off"
Option "NoAccel"
Option "NoAccel" "On"
Option "Accel" "false"
Option "Accel" "no"
Frequency option values consist of a real number that is option
ally
followed by one of the following frequency units:
Hz, k, kHz, M, MHz
When the unit name is omitted, the correct units will be determ
ined
from the value and the expectations of the appropriate range of
the
value. It is recommended that the units always be specified when u
sing
frequency option values to avoid any errors in determining the valu
e.
FILES SECTION
The Files section is used to specify some path names required by
the
server. Some of these paths can also be set from the command line
(see
Xserver(1) and Xorg(1)). The command line settings override the va
lues
specified in the config file. The Files section is optional, as
are
all of the entries that may appear in it.
The entries that can appear in this section are:
FontPath "path"
sets the search path for fonts. This path is a comma separ
ated
list of font path elements which the Xorg server searches
for
font databases. Multiple FontPath entries may be specified,
and
they will be concatenated to build up the fontpath used by
the
server. Font path elements may be either absolute direc
tory
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/
The recommended font path contains the following font path
ele-
ments:
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/
Font path elements that are found to be invalid are removed
from
the font path when the server starts up.
RGBPath "path"
sets the path name for the RGB color database. When this e
ntry
is not specified in the config file, the server falls bac
k to
the compiled-in default RGB path, which is:
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb
Note that an implicit .txt is added to this path if the server was
com-
piled to use text rather than binary format RGB color databases.
ModulePath "path"
sets the search path for loadable Xorg server modules.
This
path is a comma separated list of directories which the
Xorg
server searches for loadable modules loading in the order sp
eci-
fied. Multiple ModulePath entries may be specified, and
they
will be concatenated to build the module search path used by
the
server.
SERVERFLAGS SECTION
In addition to options specific to this section (described below),
the
ServerFlags section is used to specify some global Xorg server opti
ons.
All of the entries in this section are Options, although for comp
ati-
bility purposes some of the old style entries are still recogni
sed.
Those old style entries are not documented here, and using them is
dis-
couraged. The ServerFlags section is optional, as are the entries
that
may be specified in it.
Options specified in this section (with the exception of the "Defa
ult-
still drop a core file. In general you never want to use
this
option unless you are debugging an Xorg server problem and
know
how to deal with the consequences.
Option "DontVTSwitch" "boolean"
This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Fn sequence (wher
e Fn
refers to one of the numbered function keys). That sequence
is
normally used to switch to another "virtual terminal" on ope
rat-
ing systems that have this feature. When this option
is
enabled, that key sequence has no special meaning and is pa
ssed
to clients. Default: off.
Option "DontZap" "boolean"
This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace sequence.
That
sequence is normally used to terminate the Xorg server.
When
this option is enabled, that key sequence has no special mea
ning
and is passed to clients. Default: off.
Option "DontZoom" "boolean"
This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus
and
Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Minus sequences. These sequences allows you
to
switch between video modes. When this option is enabled, t
hose
key sequences have no special meaning and are passed to clie
nts.
Default: off.
Option "DisableVidModeExtension" "boolean"
This disables the parts of the VidMode extension used by
the
xvidtune client that can be used to change the video mo
des.
Default: the VidMode extension is enabled.
Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune" "boolean"
This allows the xvidtune client (and other clients that use
the
VidMode extension) to connect from another host. Default:
off.
Option "DisableModInDev" "boolean"
This disables the parts of the Xorg-Misc extension that ca
n be
used to modify the input device settings dynamically. Defa
ult:
that functionality is enabled.
Option "AllowNonLocalModInDev" "boolean"
This allows a client to connect from another host and ch
ange
keyboard and mouse settings in the running server. Defa
ult:
off.
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "boolean"
This allows the server to start up even if the mouse de
vice
can't be opened/initialised. Default: false.
Option "VTInit" "command"
Runs command after the VT used by the server has been ope
ned.
The command string is passed to "/bin/sh -c", and is run
with
the real user's id with stdin and stdout set to the VT.
The
enabled.
Option "BlankTime" "time"
sets the inactivity timeout for the blanking phase of
the
screensaver. time is in minutes. This is equivalent to
the
Xorg server's `-s' flag, and the value can be changed at
run-
time with xset(1). Default: 10 minutes.
Option "StandbyTime" "time"
sets the inactivity timeout for the "standby" phase of
DPMS
mode. time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at
run-
time with xset(1). Default: 20 minutes. This is only suit
able
for VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supporte
d by
all video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have
the
"DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
Option "SuspendTime" "time"
sets the inactivity timeout for the "suspend" phase of
DPMS
mode. time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at
run-
time with xset(1). Default: 30 minutes. This is only suit
able
for VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported
by
all video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have
the
"DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
Option "OffTime" "time"
sets the inactivity timeout for the "off" phase of DPMS m
ode.
time is in minutes, and the value can be changed at run-
time
with xset(1). Default: 40 minutes. This is only suitable
for
VESA DPMS compatible monitors, and may not be supported by
all
video drivers. It is only enabled for screens that have
the
"DPMS" option set (see the MONITOR section below).
Option "Pixmap" "bpp"
This sets the pixmap format to use for depth 24. Allowed va
lues
for bpp are 24 and 32. Default: 32 unless driver constra
ints
don't allow this (which is rare). Note: some clients d
on't
behave well when this value is set to 24.
Option "PC98" "boolean"
Specify that the machine is a Japanese PC-98 machine.
This
should not be enabled for anything other than the Japanese-
spe-
cific PC-98 architecture. Default: auto-detected.
Option "NoPM" "boolean"
Disables something to do with power management events. Defa
ult:
PM enabled on platforms that support it.
Option "Xinerama" "boolean"
enable or disable XINERAMA extension. Default is disabled.
Option "AllowDeactivateGrabs" "boolean"
This option enables the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Divide
key
Option "HandleSpecialKeys" "when"
This option controls when the server uses the builtin handle
r to
process special key combinations (such as Ctrl+Alt+Backspa
ce).
Normally the XKEYBOARD extension keymaps will provide mapp
ings
for each of the special key combinations, so the builtin han
dler
is not needed unless the XKEYBOARD extension is disabled.
The
value of when can be Always, Never, or WhenNeeded. Default:
Use
the builtin handler only if needed. The server will scan
the
keymap for a mapping to the Terminate action and, if found,
use
XKEYBOARD for processing actions, otherwise the builtin han
dler
will be used.
MODULE SECTION
The Module section is used to specify which Xorg server modules sh
ould
be loaded. This section is ignored when the Xorg server is buil
t in
static form. The types of modules normally loaded in this section
are
Xorg server extension modules, and font rasteriser modules. Most o
ther
module types are loaded automatically when they are needed via o
ther
mechanisms. The Module section is optional, as are all of the ent
ries
that may be specified in it.
Entries in this section may be in two forms. The first and most
com-
monly used form is an entry that uses the Load keyword, as descr
ibed
here:
Load "modulename"
This instructs the server to load the module called modulen
ame.
The module name given should be the module's standard name,
not
the module file name. The standard name is case-sensitive,
and
does not include the "lib" prefix, or the ".a", ".o", or "
.so"
suffixes.
Example: the Type 1 font rasteriser can be loaded with the
fol-
lowing entry:
Load "type1"
The second form of entry is a SubSection, with the subsection
name
being the module name, and the contents of the SubSection being Opt
ions
that are passed to the module when it is loaded.
Example: the extmod module (which contains a miscellaneous grou
p of
server extensions) can be loaded, with the Xorg-DGA extension disa
bled
by using the following entry:
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit XFree86-DGA"
EndSubSection
Modules are searched for in each directory specified in the Module
Path
search path, and in the drivers, input, extensions, fonts, and inte
rnal
INPUTDEVICE SECTION
The config file may have multiple InputDevice sections. There
will
normally be at least two: one for the core (primary) keyboard, and
one
of the core pointer. If either of these two is missing, a default
con-
figuration for the missing ones will be used. Currently the def
ault
configuration may not work as expected on all platforms.
InputDevice sections have the following format:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "name"
Driver "inputdriver"
options
...
EndSection
The Identifier and Driver entries are required in all InputDevice
sec-
tions. All other entries are optional.
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this input dev
ice.
The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use for this i
nput
device. When using the loadable server, the input driver mo
dule
"inputdriver" will be loaded for each active InputDevice section.
An
InputDevice section is considered active if it is referenced by
an
active ServerLayout section, if it is referenced by the -keyboar
d or
-pointer command line options, or if it is selected implicitly as
the
core pointer or keyboard device in the absence of such explicit re
fer-
ences. The most commonly used input drivers are "keyboard"
and
"mouse".
In the absence of an explicitly specified core input device, the f
irst
InputDevice marked as CorePointer (or CoreKeyboard) is used. If t
here
is no match there, the first InputDevice that uses the "mouse"
(or
"keyboard" or "kbd") driver is used. The final fallback is to
use
built-in default configurations.
InputDevice sections recognise some driver-independent Options, w
hich
are described here. See the individual input driver manual pages f
or a
description of the device-specific options.
Option "CorePointer"
When this is set, the input device is installed as the
core
(primary) pointer device. There must be exactly one
core
pointer. If this option is not set here, or in the ServerLa
yout
section, or from the -pointer command line option, then
the
first input device that is capable of being used as a
core
pointer will be selected as the core pointer. This option
is
implicitly set when the obsolete Pointer section is used.
Option "CoreKeyboard"
When this is set, the input device is to be installed as
the
Option "HistorySize" "number"
Sets the motion history size. Default: 0.
Option "SendDragEvents" "boolean"
???
DEVICE SECTION
The config file may have multiple Device sections. There must be
at
least one, for the video card being used.
Device sections have the following format:
Section "Device"
Identifier "name"
Driver "driver"
entries
...
EndSection
The Identifier and Driver entries are required in all Device secti
ons.
All other entries are optional.
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this grap
hics
device. The Driver entry specifies the name of the driver to use
for
this graphics device. When using the loadable server, the driver
mod-
ule "driver" will be loaded for each active Device section. A De
vice
section is considered active if it is referenced by an active Sc
reen
section.
Device sections recognise some driver-independent entries and Opti
ons,
which are described here. Not all drivers make use of these dri
ver-
independent entries, and many of those that do don't require them t
o be
specified because the information is auto-detected. See the indivi
dual
graphics driver manual pages for further information about this,
and
for a description of the device-specific options. Note that most
of
the Options listed here (but not the other entries) may be specifie
d in
the Screen section instead of here in the Device section.
BusID "bus-id"
This specifies the bus location of the graphics card.
For
PCI/AGP cards, the bus-id string has the
form
PCI:bus:device:function (e.g., "PCI:1:0:0" might be appropr
iate
for an AGP card). This field is usually optional in single-
head
configurations when using the primary graphics card. In mu
lti-
head configurations, or when using a secondary graphics car
d in
a single-head configuration, this entry is mandatory. Its
main
purpose is to make an unambiguous connection between the de
vice
section and the hardware it is representing. This informa
tion
can usually be found by running the Xorg server with the -s
can-
pci command line option.
chipset type. Don't specify it unless the driver-specific d
ocu-
mentation recommends that you do.
Ramdac "ramdac-type"
This optional entry specifies the type of RAMDAC used on
the
graphics board. This is only used by a few of the drivers,
and
in most cases it is not required because the drivers will p
robe
the hardware to determine the RAMDAC type where possible. D
on't
specify it unless the driver-specific documentation recomm
ends
that you do.
DacSpeed speed
DacSpeed speed-8 speed-16 speed-24 speed-32
This optional entry specifies the RAMDAC speed rating (which
is
usually printed on the RAMDAC chip). The speed is in MHz.
When
one value is given, it applies to all framebuffer pixel si
zes.
When multiple values are give, they apply to the framebu
ffer
pixel sizes 8, 16, 24 and 32 respectively. This is not used
by
many drivers, and only needs to be specified when the speed
rat-
ing of the RAMDAC is different from the defaults built in
to
driver, or when the driver can't auto-detect the cor
rect
defaults. Don't specify it unless the driver-specific docu
men-
tation recommends that you do.
Clocks clock ...
specifies the pixel that are on your graphics board. The cl
ocks
are in MHz, and may be specified as a floating point num
ber.
The value is stored internally to the nearest kHz. The orde
ring
of the clocks is important. It must match the order in w
hich
they are selected on the graphics board. Multiple Clocks l
ines
may be specified, and each is concatenated to form the l
ist.
Most drivers do not use this entry, and it is only required
for
some older boards with non-programmable clocks. Don't spe
cify
this entry unless the driver-specific documentation explic
itly
recommends that you do.
ClockChip "clockchip-type"
This optional entry is used to specify the clock chip type
on
graphics boards which have a programmable clock generator.
Only
a few Xorg drivers support programmable clock chips.
For
details, see the appropriate driver manual page.
VideoRam mem
This optional entry specifies the amount of video ram tha
t is
installed on the graphics board. This is measured in kBytes.
In
most cases this is not required because the Xorg server pr
obes
the graphics board to determine this quantity. The driver-
spe-
cific documentation should indicate when it might be needed.
BiosBase baseaddress
This optional entry specifies the base address of the video
BIOS
ChipID id
This optional entry specifies a numerical ID representing
the
chip type. For PCI cards, it is usually the device ID.
This
can be used to override the auto-detection, but that should
only
be done when the driver-specific documentation recommends it
.
ChipRev rev
This optional entry specifies the chip revision number.
This
can be used to override the auto-detection, but that should
only
be done when the driver-specific documentation recommends it
.
TextClockFreq freq
This optional entry specifies the pixel clock frequency that
is
used for the regular text mode. The frequency is specifie
d in
MHz. This is rarely used.
Options
Option flags may be specified in the Device sections. T
hese
include driver-specific options and driver-independent opti
ons.
The former are described in the driver-specific documentat
ion.
Some of the latter are described below in the section about
the
Screen section, and they may also be included here.
VIDEOADAPTOR SECTION
Nobody wants to say how this works. Maybe nobody knows ...
MONITOR SECTION
The config file may have multiple Monitor sections. There should
nor-
mally be at least one, for the monitor being used, but a default
con-
figuration will be created when one isn't specified.
Monitor sections have the following format:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "name"
entries
...
EndSection
The only mandatory entry in a Monitor section is the Identifier en
try.
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this monitor.
The
Monitor section provides information about the specifications of
the
monitor, monitor-specific Options, and information about the v
ideo
modes to use with the monitor. Specifying video modes is opti
onal
because the server now has a built-in list of VESA standard mo
des.
When modes are specified explicitly in the Monitor section (with
the
Modes, ModeLine, or UseModes keywords), built-in modes with the
same
names are not included. Built-in modes with different names are,
how-
is two values separated by a dash. By default the values ar
e in
units of kHz. They may be specified in MHz or Hz if MHz o
r Hz
is added to the end of the line. The data given here is use
d by
the Xorg server to determine if video modes are within the s
pec-
ifications of the monitor. This information should be avail
able
in the monitor's handbook. If this entry is omitted, a def
ault
range of 28-33kHz is used.
VertRefresh vertrefresh-range
gives the range(s) of vertical refresh frequencies supported
by
the monitor. vertrefresh-range may be a comma separated lis
t of
either discrete values or ranges of values. A range of va
lues
is two values separated by a dash. By default the values ar
e in
units of Hz. They may be specified in MHz or kHz if MHz or
kHz
is added to the end of the line. The data given here is use
d by
the Xorg server to determine if video modes are within the s
pec-
ifications of the monitor. This information should be avail
able
in the monitor's handbook. If this entry is omitted, a def
ault
range of 43-72Hz is used.
DisplaySize width height
This optional entry gives the width and height, in millimet
res,
of the picture area of the monitor. If given this is used
to
calculate the horizontal and vertical pitch (DPI) of the scr
een.
Gamma gamma-value
Gamma red-gamma green-gamma blue-gamma
This is an optional entry that can be used to specify the g
amma
correction for the monitor. It may be specified as eith
er a
single value or as three separate RGB values. The values sh
ould
be in the range 0.1 to 10.0, and the default is 1.0. Not
all
drivers are capable of using this information.
UseModes "modesection-id"
Include the set of modes listed in the Modes section called
mod-
esection-id. This make all of the modes defined in that sec
tion
available for use by this monitor.
Mode "name"
This is an optional multi-line entry that can be used to pro
vide
definitions for video modes for the monitor. In most cases
this
isn't necessary because the built-in set of VESA standard m
odes
will be sufficient. The Mode keyword indicates the start
of a
multi-line video mode description. The mode description is
ter-
minated with the EndMode keyword. The mode description cons
ists
of the following entries:
DotClock clock
is the dot (pixel) clock rate to be used for the mode.
HTimings hdisp hsyncstart hsyncend htotal
ally, on some hardware, "+CSync" and "-CSync" may be use
d to
select the composite sync polarity.
HSkew hskew
specifies the number of pixels (towards the right edg
e of
the screen) by which the display enable signal is to
be
skewed. Not all drivers use this information. This op
tion
might become necessary to override the default value
sup-
plied by the server (if any). "Roving" horizontal l
ines
indicate this value needs to be increased. If the last
few
pixels on a scan line appear on the left of the screen,
this
value should be decreased.
VScan vscan
specifies the number of times each scanline is painted
on
the screen. Not all drivers use this information. Va
lues
less than 1 are treated as 1, which is the default. Ge
ner-
ally, the "DoubleScan" Flag mentioned above doubles
this
value.
ModeLine "name" mode-description
This entry is a more compact version of the Mode entry, and
it
also can be used to specify video modes for the monitor.
is a
single line format for specifying video modes. In most c
ases
this isn't necessary because the built-in set of VESA stan
dard
modes will be sufficient.
The mode-description is in four sections, the first three
of
which are mandatory. The first is the dot (pixel) clock.
This
is a single number specifying the pixel clock rate for the
mode
in MHz. The second section is a list of four numbers specif
ying
the horizontal timings. These numbers are the hdisp, hs
ync-
start, hsyncend, and htotal values. The third section is a
list
of four numbers specifying the vertical timings. These num
bers
are the vdisp, vsyncstart, vsyncend, and vtotal values.
The
final section is a list of flags specifying other characte
ris-
tics of the mode. Interlace indicates that the mode is in
ter-
laced. DoubleScan indicates a mode where each scanline is
dou-
bled. +HSync and -HSync can be used to select the polarit
y of
the HSync signal. +VSync and -VSync can be used to select
the
polarity of the VSync signal. Composite can be used to spe
cify
composite sync on hardware where this is supported. Addit
ion-
ally, on some hardware, +CSync and -CSync may be used to se
lect
the composite sync polarity. The HSkew and VScan options
men-
tioned above in the Modes entry description can also be
used
here.
Options
Some Option flags that may be useful to include in Monitor
sec-
tions (when needed) include "DPMS", and "SyncOnGreen".
EndSection
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this set of
mode
descriptions. The other entries permitted in Modes sections are
the
Mode and ModeLine entries that are described above in the Monitor
sec-
tion.
SCREEN SECTION
The config file may have multiple Screen sections. There must b
e at
least one, for the "screen" being used. A "screen" represents
the
binding of a graphics device (Device section) and a monitor (Mon
itor
section). A Screen section is considered "active" if it is refere
nced
by an active ServerLayout section or by the -screen command
line
option. If neither of those is present, the first Screen section f
ound
in the config file is considered the active one.
Screen sections have the following format:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "name"
Device "devid"
Monitor "monid"
entries
...
SubSection "Display"
entries
...
EndSubSection
...
EndSection
The Identifier and Device entries are mandatory. All others
are
optional.
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this screen.
The
Screen section provides information specific to the whole scr
een,
including screen-specific Options. In multi-head configurations, t
here
will be multiple active Screen sections, one for each head.
The
entries available for this section are:
Device "device-id"
This mandatory entry specifies the Device section to be used
for
this screen. This is what ties a specific graphics card
to a
screen. The device-id must match the Identifier of a De
vice
section in the config file.
Monitor "monitor-id"
specifies which monitor description is to be used for
this
screen. If a Monitor name is not specified, a default conf
igu-
ration is used. Currently the default configuration may
not
function as expected on all platforms.
this. The only case where there is even a choice in this v
alue
is for depth 24, where some hardware supports both a packed
24
bit framebuffer layout and a sparse 32 bit framebuffer layou
t.
Options
Various Option flags may be specified in the Screen sect
ion.
Some are driver-specific and are described in the driver d
ocu-
mentation. Others are driver-independent, and will eventu
ally
be described here.
Option "Accel"
Enables XAA (X Acceleration Architecture), a mechanism
that
makes video cards' 2D hardware acceleration available to
the
Xorg server. This option is on by default, but it may be ne
ces-
sary to turn it off if there are bugs in the driver. There
are
many options to disable specific accelerated operations, li
sted
below. Note that disabling an operation will have no effec
t if
the operation is not accelerated (whether due to lack of sup
port
in the hardware or in the driver).
Option "BiosLocation" "address"
Set the location of the BIOS for the Int10 module. One
may
select a BIOS of another card for posting or the legacy V_
BIOS
range located at 0xc0000 or an alternative address (BUS_I
SA).
This is only useful under very special circumstances and sh
ould
be used with extreme care.
Option "InitPrimary" "boolean"
Use the Int10 module to initialize the primary graphics c
ard.
Normally, only secondary cards are soft-booted using the I
nt10
module, as the primary card has already been initialized by
the
BIOS at boot time. Default: false.
Option "NoInt10" "boolean"
Disables the Int10 module, a module that uses the int10 call
to
the BIOS of the graphics card to initialize it. Default: fa
lse.
Option "NoMTRR"
Disables MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support, a featur
e of
modern processors which can improve video performance by a
fac-
tor of up to 2.5. Some hardware has buggy MTRR support,
and
some video drivers have been known to exhibit problems
when
MTRR's are used.
Option "XaaNoCPUToScreenColorExpandFill"
Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from so
urce
patterns stored in system memory (using a memory-mapped a
per-
ture).
Option "XaaNoColor8x8PatternFillRect"
Disables accelerated fills of a rectangular region with a f
ull-
color pattern.
terns from system memory to video memory (using a memory-ma
pped
aperture).
Option "XaaNoMono8x8PatternFillRect"
Disables accelerated fills of a rectangular region with a m
ono-
chrome pattern.
Option "XaaNoMono8x8PatternFillTrap"
Disables accelerated fills of a trapezoidal region with a m
ono-
chrome pattern.
Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps"
Disables accelerated draws into pixmaps stored in offsc
reen
video memory.
Option "XaaNoPixmapCache"
Disables caching of patterns in offscreen video memory.
Option "XaaNoScanlineCPUToScreenColorExpandFill"
Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from so
urce
patterns stored in system memory (one scan line at a time).
Option "XaaNoScanlineImageWriteRect"
Disables accelerated transfers of full-color rectangular
pat-
terns from system memory to video memory (one scan line a
t a
time).
Option "XaaNoScreenToScreenColorExpandFill"
Disables accelerated rectangular expansion blits from so
urce
patterns stored in offscreen video memory.
Option "XaaNoScreenToScreenCopy"
Disables accelerated copies of rectangular regions from one
part
of video memory to another part of video memory.
Option "XaaNoSolidBresenhamLine"
Disables accelerated solid Bresenham line draws.
Option "XaaNoSolidFillRect"
Disables accelerated solid-color fills of rectangles.
Option "XaaNoSolidFillTrap"
Disables accelerated solid-color fills of Bresenham trapezo
ids.
Option "XaaNoSolidHorVertLine"
Disables accelerated solid horizontal and vertical line draw
s.
Option "XaaNoSolidTwoPointLine"
Disables accelerated solid line draws between two arbit
rary
points.
Each Screen section may optionally contain one or more Display sub
sec-
Display subsections have the following format:
SubSection "Display"
Depth depth
entries
...
EndSubSection
Depth depth
This entry specifies what colour depth the Display subsectio
n is
to be used for. This entry is usually specified, but it may
be
omitted to create a match-all Display subsection or when wis
hing
to match only against the FbBpp parameter. The range of d
epth
values that are allowed depends on the driver. Most driver
sup-
port 8, 15, 16 and 24. Some also support 1 and/or 4, and
some
may support other values (like 30). Note: depth means the
num-
ber of bits in a pixel that are actually used to determine
the
pixel colour. 32 is not a valid depth value. Most hard
ware
that uses 32 bits per pixel only uses 24 of them to hold
the
colour information, which means that the colour depth is 24,
not
32.
FbBpp bpp
This entry specifies the framebuffer format this Display sub
sec-
tion is to be used for. This entry is only needed when pro
vid-
ing depth 24 configurations that allow a choice between a 24
bpp
packed framebuffer format and a 32bpp sparse framebuffer for
mat.
In most cases this entry should not be used.
Weight red-weight green-weight blue-weight
This optional entry specifies the relative RGB weighting to
be
used for a screen is being used at depth 16 for drivers
that
allow multiple formats. This may also be specified from
the
command line with the -weight option (see Xorg(1)).
Virtual xdim ydim
This optional entry specifies the virtual screen resolutio
n to
be used. xdim must be a multiple of either 8 or 16 for
most
drivers, and a multiple of 32 when running in monochrome m
ode.
The given value will be rounded down if this is not the c
ase.
Video modes which are too large for the specified virtual
size
will be rejected. If this entry is not present, the vir
tual
screen resolution will be set to accommodate all the valid v
ideo
modes given in the Modes entry. Some drivers/hardware comb
ina-
tions do not support virtual screens. Refer to the appropr
iate
driver-specific documentation for details.
ViewPort x0 y0
This optional entry sets the upper left corner of the ini
tial
display. This is only relevant when the virtual screen res
olu-
Ctrl+Alt+Keypad-Plus and to the previous mode with Ctrl+Alt+
Key-
pad-Minus. When this entry is omitted, the valid modes re
fer-
enced by the appropriate Monitor section will be used. If
the
Monitor section contains no modes, then the selection will
be
taken from the built-in VESA standard modes.
Visual "visual-name"
This optional entry sets the default root visual type. This
may
also be specified from the command line (see the Xserver(1)
man
page). The visual types available for depth 8 are (defaul
t is
PseudoColor):
StaticGray
GrayScale
StaticColor
PseudoColor
TrueColor
DirectColor
The visual type available for the depths 15, 16 and 24
are
(default is TrueColor):
TrueColor
DirectColor
Not all drivers support DirectColor at these depths.
The visual types available for the depth 4 are (default is S
tat-
icColor):
StaticGray
GrayScale
StaticColor
PseudoColor
The visual type available for the depth 1 (monochrome) is S
tat-
icGray.
Black red green blue
This optional entry allows the "black" colour to be specif
ied.
This is only supported at depth 1. The default is black.
White red green blue
This optional entry allows the "white" colour to be specif
ied.
This is only supported at depth 1. The default is white.
Options
Option flags may be specified in the Display subsections. T
hese
may include driver-specific options and driver-indepen
dent
options. The former are described in the driver-specific d
ocu-
mentation. Some of the latter are described above in the
sec-
tion about the Screen section, and they may also be incl
uded
as described in the relevant sections above.
ServerLayout sections have the following format:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "name"
Screen "screen-id"
...
InputDevice "idev-id"
...
options
...
EndSection
Each ServerLayout section must have an Identifier entry and at l
east
one Screen entry.
The Identifier entry specifies the unique name for this server lay
out.
The ServerLayout section provides information specific to the w
hole
session, including session-specific Options. The ServerFlags opt
ions
(described above) may be specified here, and ones given here over
ride
those given in the ServerFlags section.
The entries that may be used in this section are described here.
Screen screen-num "screen-id" position-information
One of these entries must be given for each screen being use
d in
a session. The screen-id field is mandatory, and specifies
the
Screen section being referenced. The screen-num field
is
optional, and may be used to specify the screen number in mu
lti-
head configurations. When this field is omitted, the scr
eens
will be numbered in the order that they are listed in. The
num-
bering starts from 0, and must be consecutive. The posit
ion-
information field describes the way multiple screens are p
osi-
tioned. There are a number of different ways that this info
rma-
tion can be provided:
x y
Absolute x y
These both specify that the upper left corner's coordin
ates
are (x,y). The Absolute keyword is optional. Some o
lder
versions of Xorg (4.2 and earlier) don't recognise the A
bso-
lute keyword, so it's safest to just specify the coordin
ates
without it.
RightOf "screen-id"
LeftOf "screen-id"
Above "screen-id"
used in a session. Normally at least two are required, one
each
for the core pointer and keyboard devices. If either of t
hose
is missing, suitable InputDevice entries are searched for u
sing
the method described above in the INPUTDEVICE section.
The
idev-id field is mandatory, and specifies the name of the In
put-
Device section being referenced. Multiple option fields may
be
specified, each in double quotes. The options permitted
here
are any that may also be given in the InputDevice secti
ons.
Normally only session-specific input device options woul
d be
used here. The most commonly used options are:
"CorePointer"
"CoreKeyboard"
"SendCoreEvents"
and the first two should normally be used to indicate the
core
pointer and core keyboard devices respectively.
Options
In addition to the following, any option permitted in
the
ServerFlags section may also be specified here. When the
same
option appears in both places, the value given here overr
ides
the one given in the ServerFlags section.
Option "IsolateDevice" "bus-id"
Restrict device resets to the specified bus-id. See the B
usID
option (described in DEVICE SECTION, above) for the forma
t of
the bus-id parameter. This option overrides SingleCard,
if
specified. At present, only PCI devices can be isolated in
this
manner.
Option "SingleCard" "boolean"
As IsolateDevice, except that the bus ID of the first device
in
the layout is used.
Here is an example of a ServerLayout section for a dual headed conf
igu-
ration with two mice:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout 1"
Screen "MGA 1"
Screen "MGA 2" RightOf "MGA 1"
InputDevice "Keyboard 1" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse 1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse 2" "SendCoreEvents"
Option "BlankTime" "5"
EndSection
DRI SECTION
This optional section is used to provide some information for
the
Direct Rendering Infrastructure. Details about the format of this
sec-
tion can be found on-line at <http://dri.freedesktop.org/>.
fbdev(4), glide(4), glint(4), i128(4), i740(4), i810(4), imstt
(4),
mga(4), neomagic(4), nv(4), r128(4), rendition(4), savage
(4),
s3virge(4), siliconmotion(4), sis(4), sunbw2(4), suncg14(4), suncg3
(4),
suncg6(4), sunffb(4), sunleo(4), suntcx(4), tdfx(4), tga(4),
tri-
dent(4), tseng(4), v4l(4), vesa(4), vga(4), vmware(4),
AUTHORS
This manual page was largely rewritten by David D
awes
<dawes@xfree86.org>.
X Version 11 xorg-server 1.1.1 xorg.con
f(5)
____________________________________________________________
Man(1) output converted with man2html
Man(1) output converted with
man2html