xset(X) 19 June 1992 xset(X) Name xset - user preference utility for X Syntax 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] [accelera- tion [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 xset sets user preference options of the X server. Options -display display specifies the server to use; see X(X). b controls bell volume, pitch and duration. This option accepts up to three numerical parameters, a preceding dash(-), or an on/off flag. If no parameters are given, or the on flag is used, the system defaults are used. If the dash or off are given, the bell is turned off. If only one numerical parameter is given, the bell vol- ume is set to that value, as a percentage of its max- imum. Likewise, the second numerical parameter speci- fies 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 sets the characteristics of the bell as closely as it can to the user's specifications. bc controls bug compatibility mode in the server, if possi- ble; a preceding dash(-) disables the mode, otherwise the mode is enabled. Various pre-R4 clients pass ille- gal values in some protocol requests, and pre-R4 servers do not correctly generate errors in these cases. Such clients, when run on an R4 server, terminate abnormally or fail to operate correctly. Bug compatibility mode explicitly reintroduces certain bugs into the X server, so that many such clients can still be run. Use this mode with care; new applications should be developed with this mode disabled. The server must support the MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD protocol extension in order for this option to work. c 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 are used. If the dash or off flag is used, keyclick is 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 sets the volume to the nearest value that the hardware can support. fp= path,... 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 are ignored by the server. fp default causes the font path to be reset to the server's default fp rehash 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- remove elements from the current font path. They must be followed by a comma-separated list of directories. +fp or fp+ prepend and append elements to the current font path, respectively. They must be followed by a comma- separated list of directories and you must specify valid font directories. led 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 is 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 controls the mouse parameters. The parameters for the mouse are ``acceleration'' and ``threshold''. The mouse, or whatever pointer the machine is connected to, goes ``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 parame- ters for the m option can be omitted, but if only one is given, it is interpreted as the acceleration. If no pa- rameters or the flag ``default'' is used, the system defaults are set. p controls pixel color values. The parameters are the color map entry number in decimal, and a color specifi- cation. 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 is generated. The map entry must not be a read-only color, or an error results. r controls the autorepeat. If a preceding dash or the off flag is used, autorepeat is disabled. If no parameters or the on flag is used, autorepeat is enabled. s 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 system is 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 is used for the length. q gives you information on the current settings. These settings are 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), Xsco(X), xmodmap(X), xrdb(X), xsetroot(X)