NAME

Xconfig − X Window System device description file

DESCRIPTION

The file /usr/lib/X11/Xconfig is used at runtime by the X(1) server to determine which input and output devices to use and how each should be configured. Each line describes exactly one device “resource.”

Each non-comment line in Xconfig should consist of five fields and be of the form:

Each field can be separated by any number of blanks or tabs, blank lines are permitted, and long lines may be continued by appending a ‘\’ character to the end of the line.  A ‘#’ begins a comment; characters to the end of line will be ignored.  Unused fields must be accounted for; dummy (null) fields such as "" or ” can be used.  White space can be embedded within a field by quoting it within a pair of single or double quotes (’ or ").  White space can be escaped with a backslash (\). 

Resource indicates the general class of input or output device described by this line.  Currently recognized resource types are keyboard, display, mouse, and tablet. 

Type is used to indicate the type of device, e.g., “VGA” or “WGE.” This field is used to determine which driver is needed for the device in question.  For information on supported keyboards, mice, and tablets, see the sections “Keyboards,” “Mice,” and “Tablets” below and consult the “INTERACTIVE X11 Release Notes” for a complete list of supported display types. 

Default is an optional field specifying a default for this resource.  For display resources, this is used to specify a default visual type.  It may be set to one of the following:

StaticGray
A colormap where the entries are pre-defined gray values, typically in a linear increasing ramp.

GrayScale
A colormap where the entries are limited to shades of gray, but may be changed dynamically.

StaticColor
A colormap where the entries are pre-defined colors.

PseudoColor
A colormap where the entries may be dynamically set to any color.

TrueColor
A colormap where the entries are pre-defined colors, and each pixel value is made up of distinct subfields for Red, Green, and Blue.

DirectColor
A colormap where the entries may be dynamically set, and each pixel value is made up of distinct subfields for Red, Green, and Blue.

Selecting one of these types may override the visual normally used as the default by the server.  If the server is capable of supporting a PseudoColor visual, a default of PseudoColor, StaticColor, GrayScale, or StaticGray may be chosen.  If the server is capable of supporting a GrayScale visual, a default of GrayScale or StaticGray may be chosen. 

In some cases, it is beneficial to choose a StaticColor or StaticGray visual to prevent running out of colors in a small colormap.  When using a static visual, the closest match to the requested color is used, rather than generating an error as happens when using a dynamic visual. 

If a server supporting a dynamic visual type is overridden with a static colormap default, a colormap will be generated automatically.  It is also possible to specify which colors should be used in the colormap.  See Xcolors(5) for details.

Info is a device-specific string used by the device-dependent portion of the X server to distinguish between subtypes of similar devices and to properly initialize the device.  For further information on the exact meaning of this field, read the descriptions below for keyboards and mice, and consult your server manual for each display. 

Display is used to match the description lines to the X server, using the standard display notation described in X(1).

Devname is the full path name to the file in /dev/ that corresponds to the physical hardware.  For the “keyboard” resource, this field contains a string that indicates the “basic” keyboard device, usually followed by a colon and a printf-style template used to construct the name of a virtual terminal device (see vt(4)) using sprintf(3s) and information obtained from the VT_OPENQRY ioctl call.  Thus, for the standard console device, this field should be /dev/console:/dev/vt%02d. 

This configuration will cause the X server for display 0 to use the standard console display as a VGA capable of 640 by 480 pixel resolution in 16 colors, the standard 101-key keyboard, and a 3-button ­LOGITECH bus mouse:

*Server 0: the console VGA, the console keyboard, and a LOGITECH bus mouse, all referred to as: :0. 

A second example is for a ­SunRiver EGA+ workstation capable of 640x480 16-color resolution, using unit 0 as X display number 1.  The default colormap will be StaticColor. The mouse is a LOGITECH serial, attached to the DB-9 serial connector on the back of the ­SunRiver system unit:

Keyboards

The X Window System supports the standard AT 84- and 101-key keyboards only, and the Wyse 60 serial terminal in scancode mode.  For the standard system keyboard, the Type field should be AT, and the third field (Info) should indicate the number of keys; i.e., 84 or 101, although it is not currently checked.  For the Wyse 60, the Type field should be WY60, and the third field (Info) should indicate the terminal’s baud rate (one of 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, or 19200 baud) or 0 to use the current baud rate if the terminal is normally used for logins. Note that the Wyse must be in its native “WY 60” emulation mode.  (See the terminal’s user manual for details.)  The last field (Devname) should contain the full path name of the serial port the terminal is connected to, and does not allow the :/dev/vt%02d notation.  Because virtual terminals are currently tied into the system keyboard (and ­SunRiver workstations), the WY 60 keyboard type cannot be used with displays requiring VTs, but can only be used with a secondary display, such as the Bell Technologies Blit (Xwge) server.

Mice

X currently supports eight types of mice:

LOGITECH Serial
LOGITECH Bus
Microsoft Serial
Microsoft Bus
MSC (Mouse Systems) Serial
MSC Bus
MSC OMNIMOUSE
PS/2 and compatible keyboard mice.

The general form of the mouse Info field is "speed numbuttons"; both values are optional, and there are reasonable defaults for each type of mouse.  Specific examples follow:

The ­LOGITECH serial mouse is supported at speeds of 1200, 2400, 4800, and 9600 baud, as specified in the configuration entry.  The default speed is 1200 baud, with three buttons.  The default is illustrated in this example using display 0, with the mouse attached to /dev/tty01: mouse  LOGI-S  "1200 3"  0   /dev/tty01

The ­LOGITECH bus mouse requires the installation of the logi kernel device driver, and also defaults to three buttons.  Again, for display 0, device /dev/logi (note that baud rate does not matter): mouse  LOGI-B  3   0    /dev/logi

The Microsoft serial mouse supports two buttons at most (the default), and a speed of 1200 baud.  This example assumes the mouse is attached to a ­SunRiver device, /dev/ser01, for display 1: mouse  MS-S   "1200 2"   1   /dev/ser01

The Microsoft bus mouse adapter supports up to three buttons, but the standard mouse is only equipped with two buttons, which is the default.  As with the ­LOGITECH bus mouse, baud rate does not matter and need not be specified.  The example is for display 0, using the standard mouse device /dev/mouse: mouse   MS-B   2   0   /dev/mouse

The MSC Technologies PC Mouse only supports three buttons and 1200 baud, so these are the defaults.  This is a serial mouse connected to /dev/tty01: mouse   MSC-S   "1200 3"  0   /dev/tty01

This is a bus mouse on /dev/tty02: mouse   MSC-B   "1200 3"  0   /dev/tty02

The OMNIMOUSE from MSC Technologies only comes in a serial version, running at a fixed speed of 1200 baud, with two buttons: mouse  OMNI-S  "1200 2"  0   /dev/tty01

The PS/2 or keyboard mouse is supported on PS/2 and compatible Micro Channel systems, as well as COMPAQ and similar AT-bus systems equipped with a mouse port integrated into the keyboard controller.  The default configuration specifies two buttons, but several versions of the mouse are available and supported with three buttons.  The default is illustrated in this example using display 0, with the mouse using two buttons: mouse  PS/2  "2"  0   /dev/kdmouse

In certain cases, the configuration information you choose for a mouse might not be related to the actual brand of mouse you are using.  Use the following table to select the correct configuration for your mouse:

Tablets

X currently supports the following digitizing tablets (also referred to as digitizing pads or digitizers) and compatibles:

•Summagraphics SummaSketch Plus, models MM961 and MM1201
•Kurta IS/ONE tablets in MM961/1201 mode
  (switches C5 up, C6 down, C7 down, and C8 up)

The Summagraphics tablet allows the following tokens to appear in any order in the Info field:

Positioning (applicable to the MM961 model only):

Type of pointer attached to the tablet:

Tablet’s pointing behavior:

The following lines of resolution can be used:

1000 lines per inch (lpi)
500 lines per inch
400 lines per inch
200 lines per inch
100 lines per inch
40 lines per mm (1016 lpi)
20 lines per mm (508 lpi)
10 lines per mm (254 lpi)

Report rate divisor − throttles the tablet’s data throughput:

1maximum throughput (recommended for faster systems only)
21/2th the maximum throughput
81/8th the maximum throughput
321/32nd the maximum throughput

The following tablet baud rates can be used:

300
1200
2400
4800
9600 (The default: other settings require jumper settings inside tablet.)
19200

Notes

The higher the tablet resolution setting, the more sensitive the pointer will be to movement, but the drawback is that the tablet will generate more serial data, possibly causing the system to drop bytes on the serial port.  Increasing the report rate by using a smaller divisor has a similar effect.  The best compromise is to use a moderate resolution (200, 400, or 500 lines per inch) in combination with a divisor of 2, then adjust the values to suit the system speed and your taste. 

When using a pointing ­device with the digitizing tablet, the pointer must be removed from the tablet work area when it is not in use.  Because of the sensitivity of the tablet, X will detect motion if the pointer is left on the tablet, and the screen saver device will not activate. 

FILES

/usr/lib/X11/Xconfig

SEE ALSO

X(1), Xcpqag(1), Xcvc(1), Xdcaga(1), Xgp(1), Xhrc(1), Xigsp(1), Xlvp(1), Xmsfdp(1), Xnnp(1), Xnnpi(1), Xpw(1), Xrren2(1) Xserver(1), Xsp200(1), Xtisdb(1), Xv256(1), Xvga(1), Xviking(1), Xwge(1), Xcolors(5). 

\*U  —  Version 1.0