X Window System

X Window System - also called X and X11 according to the current version - is a protocoll for handling the display of the most unix-like operating systems. Xorg is the most used implementation of the X protocoll. It is maintained by the X.Org Foundation.

Peripheral Devices

X also handles various options of peripheral devices. In the files of the directory /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d and the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf these settings can be found.

The handling of input devices is achieved by xinput. For this the identifier of the device to show the options of is needed. By running xinput list a list of all devices with identifiers handled by xinput is printed. Properties and options of a peripheral device can then be shown by running xinput list-props <id> where <id> is the identifier of the device.

Keyboard

This section describes the handling of keyboards by X.

Change Keyboardlayout

To temporarily change the layout of the keyboard just run setxkbmap <your preferred layout>. For a permanent change run localectl set-x11-keymap <your preferred layout>.

If there are two main layouts are used then the following command can be used to switch between them. Change <layout 1> and <layout 2> according to preferences.

`setxkbmap -query | grep -q '<layout 1>' && setxkbmap <layout 2> || setxkbmap <layout 1>

Using SXHKD a hotkey can be setup to seamlessly transition between the two layouts.

Display

This section describes the handling of displays by X. Additionally to the guides in this section that are independent of the used graphics unit special configuration for Nvidia and Intel can be found in their respective entries in this wiki.

Screen Blanking

To save power the screen is set to turn black after a given amount of time. This can be disabled temporarily by running xset s off or permanently by adding the following lines to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "BlankTime" "0"
EndSection

Adjust DPI and UI Scale

The dots per inch (DPI) is a measurement of spatial video dot density. It has effect on the size of UI elements. It is recommended to set the DPI inside the file ~/.config/xorg/xpcspec with the following line. The DPI number should be adjusted as needed.

Xft.dpi: 100

Afterwards ~/.config/xorg/xpcspec needs to be sourced in the ~/.xinitrc file. For this to work the following line needs to be added into the ~/.xinitrc file .

[ -f "$HOME/.config/xorg/xpcspec" ] && xrdb -merge "$HOME/.config/xorg/xpcspec"

Mouse

This section describes the handling of mouse by X.

Emulation of the Middle Mouse Button

If middle mouse button emulation is enabled the system will emulate a middle mouse button click when clicking both left and right mouse button simultaneously. The middle mouse button emulation can be activated or deactivated. First the current options have to be confirmed as explained in the peripheral section. Important is the property named libinput Middle Emulation Enabled. To enable the usage of the middle mouse button it should be set to 1. As written by opinion_no9 there are two ways to change this property. If the change is only needed temporarily xinput set-prop <id> "libinput Middle Emulation Enabled" <flag> can be run. <id> is the identifier of the mouse and is 0 for disabling and 1 for enabling the middle mouse button. For permanent change of the property a change or addition to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf can be made. If a section for the device is already present the line Option "MiddleEmulation" "true" should be added to it. Otherwise a catchall section for all types of mouses can be created like the following:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "middle button emulation class"
    MatchIsPointer "on"
    Option "MiddleEmulation" "true"
EndSection

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