Re: [TCLUG:12350] Color Question

[Perry Hoekstra <dutchman@uswest.net>]

Nick.T.Reinking@supervalu.com wrote:
> 
> Hey, Perry!  I didn't know you were on this list!  (I used to work with Perry,
> all - very cool!)
> 
> Actually, your resolution is very different from your color depth.
> 
> Resolution: How much "space" you have on your screen.  The higher the depth,
> the more
> detail that can be stuffed on your screen.
> 
> Color Depth: How many colors programs have access to.  If you have 256 (8-bit)
> colors, it's, well,
> 256 (two programs can't be using the same color at the same time, either.)
> 16-bit is some
> 65 thousand colors.  24/32-bit is 16.4 million colors.  You can change how many
> colors
> X windows uses in two ways.  One, you can do startx -bpp <number>.  Two, you
> can look
> in your XF86Config (usually /etc/XF86Config) for the line DefaultColorDepth
> <number>.
> 
> Change that to DefaultColorDepth 32, and then work your way down to 24 or 16 if
> your
> video card can't support it.  If it doesn't exist, add that line under the
> "Screen" section.
> 
> Nick Reinking

Under "Screen", there are three depth entries for 1024*780 resolution,
8-bit, 16-bit, and 32.  I tried starting X under 16 and 32 using the
<startx -bpp 16> command with no joy.  So either X refuses to run at a
higher color rate than 8bpp or I got something really horked.  By the
way, the card is a Matrox G200 with 8MB.

-- 
Perry Hoekstra
Consultant
Talent Software Services
dutchman@mn.uswest.net	
(612) 253-8461