manpagez: man pages & more
man xset(1)
Home | html | info | man
xset(1)                                                                xset(1)




NAME

       xset - user preference utility for X


SYNOPSIS

       xset [-display display]
       [-b] [b {on|off}] [b [volume [pitch [duration]]]]
       [-bc] [bc]
       [-c] [c {on|off}] [c [volume]]
       [+dpms] [-dpms]
            [dpms  standby  [  suspend [ off]]]      [dpms force {standby|sus-
       pend|off|on}]
       [fp=pathlist] [-fp=pathlist] [+fp=pathlist] [fp-pathlist] [fp+pathlist]
       [fp default] [fp rehash]
       [-led [integer]] [+led [integer]]
       [led {on|off}]
       [mouse [accel_mult[/accel_div] [threshold]]] [mouse default]
       [p pixel color]
       [-r [keycode]]  [r [keycode]] [r {on|off}] [r rate delay [rate]]
       [s  [length  [period]]]  [s  {blank|noblank}]  [s {expose|noexpose}] [s
       {on|off}] [s default] [s activate] [s reset]
       [q]


DESCRIPTION

       This program is used to set various user preference options of the dis-
       play.


OPTIONS

       -display display
               This option specifies the server to use; see X(7).


       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  reintro-
               duces 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
               support.


       -dpms   The -dpms option disables DPMS (Energy Star) features.

       +dpms   The +dpms option enables DPMS (Energy Star) features.

       dpms flags...
               The dpms option allows the DPMS (Energy Star) parameters to  be
               set.   The option can take up to three numerical values, or the
               `force' flag followed by  a  DPMS  state.   The  `force'  flags
               forces the server to immediately switch to the DPMS state spec-
               ified.  The DPMS state can  be  one  of  `standby',  `suspend',
               `off',  or `on'.  When numerical values are given, they set the
               inactivity period (in units of seconds) before the three  modes
               are  activated.   The  first  value  given is for the `standby'
               mode, the second is for the `suspend' mode, and  the  third  is
               for  the  `off'  mode.  Setting these values implicitly enables
               the DPMS features.  A value of zero disables a particular mode.

       fp= path,...
               The  fp=  sets  the  font path to the entries given in the path
               argument.  The entries are interpreted by the  server,  not  by
               the  client.  Typically they are directory names or font server
               names, but the interpretation is server-dependent.

       fp default
               The default argument causes the font path to be  reset  to  the
               server's default.

       fp rehash
               The  rehash argument resets the font path to its current value,
               causing 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
               entries.


       +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 entries.


       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 pre-
               ceding 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.


       mouse   The  m option controls the mouse parameters; it may be abbrevi-
               ated to 'm'.  The parameters for the mouse  are  `acceleration'
               and `threshold'.  The acceleration can be specified as an inte-
               ger, 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, the  system  defaults
               will be set.

               If  the `threshold' parameter is provided and 0, the `accelera-
               tion' parameter will be used in the exponent of a more  natural
               and  continous  formula, giving precise control for slow motion
               but big reach for fast motion, and a progresive transition  for
               motions  in  between.  Recommended `acceleration' value in this
               case is 3/2 to 2, but not limited to that range.


       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 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.  Invoking with "-r", or
               "r off", will disable autorepeat, whereas "r", or  "r on"  will
               enable  autorepeat.   Following  the "-r" or "r" option with an
               integer keycode between  0  and  255  will  disable  or  enable
               autorepeat on that key respectively, but only if it makes sense
               for the particular keycode.  Keycodes below 8 are not typically
               valid  for  this  command.   Example: "xset -r 10" will disable
               autorepeat for the "1" key on the top row of  an  IBM  PC  key-
               board.

               If  the  server supports the XFree86-Misc extension, or the XKB
               extension, then a parameter of 'rate' is accepted and should be
               followed  by  zero, one or two numeric values. The first speci-
               fies the delay before autorepeat starts and the  second  speci-
               fies the repeat rate.  In the case that the server supports the
               XKB extension, the delay is the number of  milliseconds  before
               autorepeat  starts,  and  the rate is the number of repeats per
               second.  If the rate or delay is not given, it will be  set  to
               the default value.


       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, an 'activate/reset' 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
               'activate' flag forces activation of screen saver even  if  the
               screen  saver  had  been  turned  off.  The 'reset' flag forces
               deactivation of screen saver if it is active.  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(7), Xserver(1), xmodmap(1), xrdb(1), xsetroot(1)


AUTHOR

       Bob Scheifler, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
       David Krikorian, MIT Project Athena (X11 version)
       XFree86-Misc support added by David Dawes and Joe Moss
       Manpage updates added by Mike A. Harris <mharris@redhat.com>



X Version 11                      xset 1.0.4                           xset(1)

Mac OS X 10.6 X11 - Generated Sun Mar 7 12:29:02 CST 2010
© manpagez.com 2000-2024
Individual documents may contain additional copyright information.