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<h1><a href="../index.html">XSF</a> / General FAQ</h1>
<span id="author">Cyril Brulebois</span><br />
<span id="email"><code><<a href="mailto:kibi@debian.org">kibi@debian.org</a>></code></span><br />
<div id="toc">
<div id="toctitle">Table of Contents</div>
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</div>
<div id="content">
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_input_drivers">Input drivers</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>How do I configure input for X?</em><br />
Look at the <a href="../howto/configure-input.html">how to configure input</a> documentation.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<em>Why can’t I kill X through <code>Ctrl+Alt+Backspace</code>?</em><br />
That’s explained in the above-mentioned documentation.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div style="page-break-after:always"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_video_drivers">Video drivers</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_all_drivers">All drivers</h3>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>What’s wrong with the DPI setting?</em><br />
By the default, the X server uses 96 DPI, as seen on upstream bug
<a href="https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23705">#23705</a> (in
particular
<a href="https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=23705#c6">Keith’s comment</a>). A
particular DPI setting can be set through desktop environment’s
preferences, through the <code>-dpi</code> X server command line option (see
<code>Xserver</code>’s manual page), or through <code>xrandr</code>’s <code>--dpi</code> option.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<em>How do I get some info about 3D support?</em><br />
Look at the <a href="../howto/build-mesa.html">instructions to build mesa</a>,
there are a few commands to learn about 3D support, the current driver,
etc.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_ati_driver">Ati driver</h3>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>Why is it I’m getting low performances, or even crashes?</em><br />
Make sure you have installed the
<a href="http://packages.debian.org/firmware-linux&exact=1"><code>firmware-linux</code>
package</a>. The driver might still be working without the firmware,
but using code paths which aren’t supported as well as the “normal”
ones.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_intel_driver">Intel driver</h3>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>Why isn’t it working?</em><br />
KMS is mandatory, as documented in its <code>README.Debian</code> (view it
online:
<a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/driver/xserver-xorg-video-intel.git;a=blob;f=debian/README.Debian">git.debian.org</a>). You
probably disabled KMS or didn’t include it in your kernel
configuration if you’re using a custom kernel.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<em>X is crashing all the time with my “old” Intel card. What can I do?</em><br />
Unfortunately, old cards are not very well supported, and you can’t
do much more than switching to a generic driver, like <code>fbdev</code> or
<code>vesa</code>, as documented in <code>README.Debian</code> (view it online:
<a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/driver/xserver-xorg-video-intel.git;a=blob;f=debian/README.Debian">git.debian.org</a>). Please
note that you need to disable <code>KMS</code> if you want to use the <code>vesa</code>
driver. A minimal <code>xorg.conf</code> would look like:
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="listingblock">
<div class="content">
<pre><code>Section "Device"
Identifier "MyBuggyCard"
Driver "fbdev"
EndSection</code></pre>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_nouveau_driver">Nouveau driver</h3>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>Why isn’t it working?</em><br />
Since it’s still considered experimental by its authors, the
interfaces aren’t stable yet, so the driver has particular
dependencies on the kernel, which are documented in <code>README.Debian</code>
(view it online:
<a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/driver/xserver-xorg-video-nouveau.git;a=blob;f=debian/README.Debian;h=27ced6b1bf5102a5b72525318439efdfb330745d;hb=6c2f12ca18f55b55d49e083d86d87d970ce53a07">for squeeze</a>,
<a href="http://git.debian.org/?p=pkg-xorg/driver/xserver-xorg-video-nouveau.git;a=blob;f=debian/README.Debian">for sid</a>).
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div style="page-break-after:always"></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_others">Others</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_session_management">Session management</h3>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
<em>How to start a bare X session (without Gnome, KDE, etc.)?</em><br />
Assuming there’s no X running on the <code>:1</code> display, run this from a
VT:
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="listingblock">
<div class="content">
<pre><code>startx /usr/bin/xterm -- :1</code></pre>
</div></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
<div id="footer">
<div id="footer-text">
Last updated
2016-02-23 18:41:06 UTC
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