Up

Yet another Linux FAQ:

5 X Window Configurations

5.1 Start the X server at a certain color depth.

Type 'startx --bpp n' with n being the color depth ( 8=256, 16=some 10,000s of colors, 24=millions of colors, 32=same as 24 with an alpha channel )

5.2 Have the X server start at a certain color depth by default.

Open /etc/X11/XF86Config in an editor as root(note not all distros keep it here you might have to hunt, also some distros are calling it XF86Config-4 for the newest version). At the end of the the section titled Screen sections enter the line DefaultColorDepth n ( with n being the color depth you want to use. See above.) below the line Monitor and above the line Subsection.

5.3 Get the X server to start with a different pre-configured resolution.

Open /etc/X11/XF86Config in an editor as root ( see above ). At the end of this file there is "Section Screen". Go to the "Modes" line. Put the resolution you want X to start in first. 

5.4 Turn off virtual screen resolution. (Screen bigger than monitor)

Open /etc/X11/XF86Config in an editor as root ( see above ). Look for the "Virtual" line. Comment it out(put a # in front of it) or set the values to your preferred resolution(or just remove all the ones you don't want). Have a look at the XFree86 faq ( http://www.xfree86.org/#support ) for more information.

5.5 Start X/KDE right after boot.

Edit the file /etc/inittab (as root) and change id:3:initdefault to id:5:initdefault.

This works for RedHat, Mandrake, and Suse Linux

Slackware uses runlevel 4 for a graphical login so change this line to read id:4:initdefault

5.6 Use the power saving features in X/KDE.

The power saving features of 2.2.x kernels are quite pointless unless you are running Linux on a laptop. Don't use them. Instead use 'hdparm'. You can set a lot of parameters here like spin down time; sleep time etc (the -S option). Some settings (like the -m option) may even make your system considerably faster. On the other hand the wrong settings are a great way to render your filesystem to pieces, so read the man page before changing settings.

X: 'xset' sets all kinds of things, look for the dpms flags option in 'man xset'. You get an overview on current settings by typing 'xset -q'. xset commands go in your .xintric file.

KDE: