XSET(1) X Version 11(Release 5) XSET(1)
NAME
xset - user preference utility for X
SYNOPSIS
xset [-display display] [-b] [b on/off] [b [volume [pitch [duration]]]
[[-]bc] [-c] [c on/off] [c [volume]] [[-+]fp[-+=] path[,path[,...]]] [fp
default] [fp rehash] [[-]led [integer]] [led on/off] [m[ouse]
[accel_mult[/acceldiv] [threshold]]] [m[ouse] default] [p pixel color]
[[-]r] [r on/off] [s [length [period]]] [s blank/noblank] [s
expose/noexpose] [s on/off] [s default] [q]
DESCRIPTION
This program is used to set various user preference options of the
display.
OPTIONS
-display display
This option specifies the server to use; see X(1).
b The b option controls bell volume, pitch and duration. This
option accepts up to three numerical parameters, a preceding
dash(-), or a 'on/off' flag. If no parameters are given, or the
'on' flag is used, the system defaults will be used. If the dash
or 'off' are given, the bell will be turned off. If only one
numerical parameter is given, the bell volume will be set to that
value, as a percentage of its maximum. Likewise, the second
numerical parameter specifies the bell pitch, in hertz, and the
third numerical parameter specifies the duration in milliseconds.
Note that not all hardware can vary the bell characteristics.
The X server will set the characteristics of the bell as closely
as it can to the user's specifications.
bc The bc option controls bug compatibility mode in the server, if
possible; a preceding dash(-) disables the mode, otherwise the
mode is enabled. Various pre-R4 clients pass illegal values in
some protocol requests, and pre-R4 servers did not correctly
generate errors in these cases. Such clients, when run against
an R4 server, will terminate abnormally or otherwise fail to
operate correctly. Bug compatibility mode explicitly
reintroduces certain bugs into the X server, so that many such
clients can still be run. This mode should be used with care;
new application development should be done with this mode
disabled. The server must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD
protocol extension in order for this option to work.
c The c option controls key click. This option can take an
optional value, a preceding dash(-), or an 'on/off' flag. If no
parameter or the 'on' flag is given, the system defaults will be
used. If the dash or 'off' flag is used, keyclick will be
disabled. If a value from 0 to 100 is given, it is used to
indicate volume, as a percentage of the maximum. The X server
will set the volume to the nearest value that the hardware can
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support.
fp= path,...
The fp= sets the font path to the directories given in the path
argument. The directories are interpreted by the server, not by
the client, and are server-dependent. Directories that do not
contain font databases created by mkfontdir will be ignored by
the server.
fp default
The default argument causes the font path to be reset to the
server's default.
fp rehash
The rehash argument causes the server to reread the font
databases in the current font path. This is generally only used
when adding new fonts to a font directory (after running
mkfontdir to recreate the font database).
-fp or fp-
The -fp and fp- options remove elements from the current font
path. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of
directories.
+fp or fp+
This +fp and fp+ options prepend and append elements to the
current font path, respectively. They must be followed by a
comma-separated list of directories.
led The led option controls the keyboard LEDs. This controls the
turning on or off of one or all of the LEDs. It accepts an
optional integer, a preceding dash(-) or an 'on/off' flag. If no
parameter or the 'on' flag is given, all LEDs are turned on. If
a preceding dash or the flag 'off' is given, all LEDs are turned
off. If a value between 1 and 32 is given, that LED will be
turned on or off depending on the existence of a preceding dash.
A common LED which can be controlled is the ``Caps Lock'' LED.
``xset led 3'' would turn led #3 on. ``xset -led 3'' would turn
it off. The particular LED values may refer to different LEDs on
different hardware.
m The m option controls the mouse parameters. The parameters for
the mouse are `acceleration' and `threshold'. The acceleration
can be specified as an integer, or as a simple fraction. The
mouse, or whatever pointer the machine is connected to, will go
`acceleration' times as fast when it travels more than
`threshold' pixels in a short time. This way, the mouse can be
used for precise alignment when it is moved slowly, yet it can be
set to travel across the screen in a flick of the wrist when
desired. One or both parameters for the m option can be omitted,
but if only one is given, it will be interpreted as the
acceleration. If no parameters or the flag 'default' is used,
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the system defaults will be set.
p The p option controls pixel color values. The parameters are the
color map entry number in decimal, and a color specification.
The root background colors may be changed on some servers by
altering the entries for BlackPixel and WhitePixel. Although
these are often 0 and 1, they need not be. Also, a server may
choose to allocate those colors privately, in which case an error
will be generated. The map entry must not be a read-only color,
or an error will result.
r The r option controls the autorepeat. If a preceding dash or the
'off' flag is used, autorepeat will be disabled. If no
parameters or the 'on' flag is used, autorepeat will be enabled.
s The s option lets you set the screen saver parameters. This
option accepts up to two numerical parameters, a 'blank/noblank'
flag, an 'expose/noexpose' flag, an 'on/off' flag, or the
'default' flag. If no parameters or the 'default' flag is used,
the system will be set to its default screen saver
characteristics. The 'on/off' flags simply turn the screen saver
functions on or off. The 'blank' flag sets the preference to
blank the video (if the hardware can do so) rather than display a
background pattern, while 'noblank' sets the preference to
display a pattern rather than blank the video. The 'expose' flag
sets the preference to allow window exposures (the server can
freely discard window contents), while 'noexpose' sets the
preference to disable screen saver unless the server can
regenerate the screens without causing exposure events. The
length and period parameters for the screen saver function
determines how long the server must be inactive for screen saving
to activate, and the period to change the background pattern to
avoid burn in. The arguments are specified in seconds. If only
one numerical parameter is given, it will be used for the length.
q The q option gives you information on the current settings.
These settings will be reset to default values when you log out.
Note that not all X implementations are guaranteed to honor all of these
options.
SEE ALSO
X(1), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHOR
Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
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