Re: [PLUG] X color depth

[Stephen Gran <steve@lobefin.net>]

On Sun, Jul 24, 2005 at 11:40:30PM -0400, Jeff Abrahamson said:
> I set up X on a new machine this weekend.  I used xf86cfg to configure
> it, as it seems to be the most successful, even though I don't
> understand what it is doing most of the time.
> 
> One thing I don't understand is the difference between /etc/X11/ and
> /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/.  The latter is where xf86cfg puts its files.

The config file is read from /etc/X11/ - /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/ is for
programs related to X.  X -configure (IIRC) will output a config file to
the $PWD, and is also fairly good at this sort of thing.

> More important, though, the config file it writes does not specify a
> color depth, and I am getting 15 or 16 bit color.  I want 24.  There's
> a gnome desktop widget for changing the screen resolution, but I don't
> see a way to change the color depth.  The fact that it isn't specified
> in the config file just makes it more confusing.

You want an extra line

> (The config file says this:
> 
>     Section "Screen"
> 	    Identifier "Screen0"
> 	    Device     "Card0"
> 	    Monitor    "Monitor0"
            DefaultDepth    24
            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     1
> 	    EndSubSection
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     4
> 	    EndSubSection
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     8
> 	    EndSubSection
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     15
> 	    EndSubSection
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     16
> 	    EndSubSection
> 	    SubSection "Display"
> 		    Depth     24
> 	    EndSubSection
>     EndSection
> 
> But if I comment out the depths 1-16, X won't start.)
> 
> I have a 64 MB graphics card (I think: nVidia Corporation NV20
> [GeForce3 Ti 200] (rev a3)), so I would think I'd have memory to do 24
> bit at 2048 x 1536.

Maybe not, or maybe it thinks your monitor can't do it.  Try the above
line, and see what the logs say if it won't start
(/var/log/XFree86.0.log on Debian, if you use a *dm).

HTH,
-- 
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Stephen Gran                  | If swimming is so good for your figure, |
|  steve@lobefin.net             | how come whales look the way they do?   |
|  http://www.lobefin.net/~steve |                                         |
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