XF86Config - Part XI

XF86Config - Part XI

We left off yesterday with the Device section of XF86Config. This is the section of your X Window configuration file that sets all the possible variables for your video card. It’s the longest most detailed section of XF86Config. Accordingly, we’re taking a few days to work our way through it.

ClockChip subsection:
ClockChip allows the user to set a programmable clock generator chip. This section has all but gone away in recent versions of XFree86, so it’s safe to leave this line out of your configuration.

ClockProg subsection:
The ClockProg subsection is closely tied to the ClockChip subsection. ClockProg allowss the user to set a command that will set the dotclock during X Window initialization. If you know for certain that the clock generator on your video card is programmable, you may need to set this subsection. Otherwise, it’s safe to leave it out.

Option subsection:
For all the options available in the Device section, you should check out the XFree86 man page. This is, in fact, a fine way to tweak the settings for your X Window server, but the options are fairly exhastive. Paying close attention to the possibilities means you may get that much closer to the perfect X Window configuration.You can also set several options within this section to further fine tune your system.

VideoRam subsection:
At last, a subsection who’s purpose is pretty self-explanatory. The VideoRam section is used to set the available RAM in your video card in kilobytes. In many cases, this is autodetected accurately during the install. However, as with the configuration of all the other subsections in XF86Config, it’s useful to have the actual manufacturer’s information in front of you when setting the configuration or when starting a fresh install.

It looks like we’ll have two more days with the Device section of XF86Config before moving on to the Screen section. Tomorrow, we’ll look at subsections of the Device section that get right down to the lowest hardware level.