xset (X) X Version 11 (Release 4) xset (X)
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] [acceleration [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(X).
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 numeri-
cal parameter specifies the duration in milli-
seconds. 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 specifica-
tions.
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
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 pro-
tocol extension in order for this option to
work.
c The c option controls key click. This
option can take an optional value, a preced-
ing 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 dis-
abled. If a value from 0 to 100 is given,
it is used to indicate volume, as a percen-
tage of the maximum. The X server will set
the volume to the nearest value that the
hardware can support.
fp= path,...
The fp= sets the font path to the direc-
tories 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 data-
bases 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 data-
base).
-fp or fp-
The -fp and fp- options remove elements from
the current font path. They must be fol-
lowed by a comma-separated list of direc-
tories.
+fp or fp+
The +fp and fp+ options prepend and append
elements to the current font path, respec-
tively. They must be followed by a comma-
separated list of directories and you must
specify valid font 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 preced-
ing 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 dif-
ferent hardware.
m The m option controls the mouse parameters.
The parameters for the mouse are `accelera-
tion' and `threshold'. The mouse, or what-
ever 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, 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 specifica-
tion. 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 allo-
cate 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 parame-
ters 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 parame-
ters or the 'default' flag is used, the sys-
tem 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 prefer-
ence to allow window exposures (the server
can freely discard window contents), while
'noexpose' sets the preference to disable
screen saver unless the server can regen-
erate 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(X)
Xsight(X)
xmodmap(X)
xrdb(X)
xsetroot(X)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1988, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
See X(X) for a full statement of rights and permissions.
AUTHOR
Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)