X11 configuration
12 July 2003

Guides

• nVidia driver guide (pdf)
• See also X-windows (local)
• nVidia driver
• Mouse driver (local file)
• man rivafb
• man nvidiafb
• man vesa
• man vga
• man fbdev
• XFree86 -scanpci
• /etc/vga/libvga.config

You should be able to generate a semi-useful XF86Config file using the command 'XFree86 -configure'. This will probe your hardware and attempt to figure out your video card, monitor timings, and mouse.

Installation history

August 2005: VESA device driver

Discovered the lockvc console screensaver, which uses the vesa driver and svgalib to produce incredibly elegant graphics in console.

What this appears to mean is that you can use the vesa driver for images in console, without having to start rivafb or nvidiafb, modules which cannot be unloaded and do not suspend.

A "man vesa" shows that vesa can also be used as the x-windows device driver, instead of nv or fbdev -- I wonder what the performance is.

You should also be able to use the vesa driver for bootsplash -- no worry about ending up in a graphics mode you cannot exit.

Note in addition that svgalib has a configuration file (/etc/vga/libvga.config) where you can define mouse, screen resolutions, and so on, just like for x-windows. This suggests a lot of graphics functions can be handled directly by vga, without needing to run a window manager.

Spring 2003 sometime

Successfully enabled spanning mode; for details, see nVidia.

13 April 2003 -- installed XFree86 4.3.0.

Initially I let it overwrite the keyboard defs, which caused no end of trouble. Just keep the old ones; the rest of the package works fine.

To fix the cursor I created the file ~/.Xdefaults with this content:

Xcursor.theme: handhelds
Xcursor.size: 32

The cursors are located in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/icons/

That gave me a small and red cursor -- I'll try one of the others -- whiteglass. Anyway, these problems did have surprisingly elegant fixes, but it's a despair how smart you have to be to fix this stuff.

whiteglass and size 16 is ok -- whiteglass may be the default, not very pretty.

1 February 2003: defining spanning windows

I made a concerted attempt to define spanning windows, using nVidia's proprietary DualView commands for XFree86 (see the nVidia driver guide (pdf) for an impressive range of options). However, no dice -- my previous mirroring configuration is the best I can do for now. For some purposes it may be useful to have spanning, but it's not a big deal.

3 January 2003: defining mirroring windows

I spent quite a bit of time tweaking the configuration file (see below) to get mirroring, and succeeded above all expectations: the projector in the classroom gives me a full 1280x854 screen, and the smaller VG150 in the office gives me a virtual screen the same size. Getting mirroring to work was crucial for letting me use Linux in class, for demonstrations and for exposure.

9 December 2002: configuring the touch pad

The keyboard has 82 keys and is currently configured as a generic 104-key, but since this has produced no problems so far, I'm leaving it alone.

You can use the utility xf86cfg to configure the keyboard, monitor, and mice.  The safest is to do it manually -- I borrowed some elements from the cyberspace configuration, and got the rest from examples on the web:

/etc/X11/XF86Config-4

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "Layout[0]"
        Screen      0  "Screen[0]" 
        InputDevice    "Default Keyboard"
        InputDevice    "Mouse[0]" "AlwaysCore"
        InputDevice    "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse[0]"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Name" "ALPS GlidePad"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
        Option      "Protocol" "PS/2"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse[1]"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Name" "USB wheel mouse"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "SendCoreEvents" "yes"
EndSection

his lets me use both the touchpad and the USB mouse at the same time. There's tap-to-click feature that can be turned on and off with the tpconfig utility at  http://www.compass.com/synaptics/ -- it detected my touchpad as an ALPS GlidePad and added, "Tapping is enabled" -- and I like the feature. The "SendCoreEvents" under Mouse1 may not be required -- that's likely covered by "CorePointer" under layout.

In configuring x-windows I used xf86cfg and xf86config, two handy utilities, and xvidtune. See man XF86Config-4 and /usr/share/doc/xfree86-common/FAQ.gz. Check /var/log/XFree86.0.log to see what happens when you start X-windows.