[ale] Re: X in 16 or 32bpp?

[Matt Nelson]

On Thu, 5 Feb 1998, Robert L Harris wrote:

> I finally got XFree86 working on my AST laptop.  My problem now is that
> it's running at 800x600 (I can live with that) at 8bpp color (256) which
> is sad.  How would I try and force it to 16?  I've modified my XF86Config
> file to add a 16bpp section, but can't get it to use it.  Anyone got
> any ideas?  My video adapter is 2Meg.

try either 'startx -- -bpp 16'  (or 24 or 32 if the X server supports it)
or, if your are booting into runlevel 5 (i.e. you get the xdm login
screen), try modifying /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers from

:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X

to 

:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -bpp 16

note:  16 bpp is a sorta oddball color depth, and can cause problems with
some apps.  i've always stuck to 8 bpp for that reason (until recently,
when i got a new PII w/AGP - now i'm running at 32 bpp :)

also note:  if you are currently booting into runlevel 5, i would suggest
temporarily changing back to runlevel 3 and use 'startx' when you do this
color depth experimentation; if you're in 5 and your new X settings are
screwed up, it's more of a pain in the butt to fix.

good luck.

-matt

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Nelson
Dynamics Technology, Inc. 
21311 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 300, Torrance, CA 90503-5610
Voice: (310) 543-5433   FAX: (310) 543-2117   Email: mnelson at dynatec.com