XOrg 7 Setup Guide

This guide covers installing and configuring XOrg 7.x, the modular X Window System, on Lunar Linux. All commands require root privileges.

Installing XOrg 7.x

XOrg 7.x uses a modular architecture, making it more flexible and maintainable than previous monolithic releases.

Install the XOrg7 Module

lin XOrg7

This meta-module installs the complete XOrg 7.x modular tree.

Input Device Support

Modern X servers require explicit input drivers. Install the evdev driver for keyboard and mouse support:

lin xf86-input-evdev

Auto-Configuration

XOrg 7.x auto-configures at runtime, so you typically don't need to generate an xorg.conf file manually. The server will detect and configure hardware automatically on first run.

Third-Party Drivers

NVIDIA Proprietary Drivers

The NVIDIA binary driver provides optimal performance for NVIDIA graphics cards.

Installation

Important: X must not be running during installation. Stop any display managers (GDM, KDM, XDM, SLIM) before proceeding.

# Stop display manager (if running)
/etc/init.d/xdm stop    # or gdm, kdm, slim

# Install NVIDIA driver
lin NVIDIA

Configuration

Generate an NVIDIA-specific X configuration:

nvidia-xconfig

This creates /etc/X11/xorg.conf with optimal settings for your NVIDIA card.

Kernel Updates

Important: NVIDIA drivers include kernel modules that must be rebuilt after kernel updates.

After updating your kernel:

Reboot into the new kernel
Stop X and display managers
Rebuild the NVIDIA module:

lin NVIDIA

Failure to rebuild will result in X server failure or fallback to the nouveau driver.

lunar set X11R7_PREFIX=/your/prefix/here

Then rebuild XOrg7:

lunar renew XOrg7

Compatibility Symlinks

The XOrg7 profile creates compatibility symlinks:

/usr/X11 → $MODULE_PREFIX (default: /usr)
/usr/X11R6 → $MODULE_PREFIX (default: /usr)

The /usr/X11R6 symlink maintains compatibility with older packages that have hardcoded paths to /usr/X11R6.

Verifying Installation

Start X Server

startx

Check X Server Version

X -version

Test Configuration

# Generate a test xorg.conf
X -configure

# Test the generated configuration
X -config /root/xorg.conf.new

Troubleshooting

X Won't Start

Check logs:

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log

Common issues:

Missing input drivers (install xf86-input-evdev)
Incorrect video driver
Permissions issues

Keyboard/Mouse Not Working

Install input drivers:

lin xf86-input-evdev
lin xf86-input-mouse
lin xf86-input-keyboard

NVIDIA Driver Issues

Kernel module not loaded:

# Check if module is loaded
lsmod | grep nvidia

# Load manually
modprobe nvidia

Version mismatch:

Ensure kernel module and X driver versions match:

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version
nvidia-settings --version

If they differ, rebuild NVIDIA:

lin NVIDIA

Missing Modules from XOrg 7.x Tree

Some XOrg modules are not yet packaged in Lunar. Contributions are welcome!

Unpackaged x11-apps

lbxproxy - Low Bandwidth X proxy
mkcfm - CID font metric files
oclock - Round X clock
proxymngr - Proxy manager service
scripts - Run X commands via rsh
showfont - Font server information
viewres - Resource browser for Xt
xbiff - Mailbox watcher
xclipboard - Clipboard manager
xditview - Display ditroff output
xfd - Display font characters
xfindproxy - Locate proxy services
xfontsel - Font name selector
xfsinfo - X font server utility
xfwp - X Firewall Proxy
xgc - X graphics demo
xlogo - X logo display
xlsclients - List client applications
xphelloworld - Xprint sample
xprehashprinterlist - Xprint utilities
xrx - Broadway
xsetmode - Set input device mode
xsetpointer - Set main pointer
xsm - Session manager
xstdcmap - Standard colormap utility
xtrap - User emulation extension
xvidtune - Video mode tuner

Unpackaged x11-driver

xf86-video-sunbw2 - Sun hardware
xf86-video-suncg3 - Sun hardware
xf86-video-suncg6 - Sun hardware
xf86-video-suncg14 - Sun hardware
xf86-video-sunffb - Sun hardware
xf86-video-sunleo - Sun hardware
xf86-video-suntcx - Sun hardware
xf86-video-tdfx - 3dfx hardware
xf86-video-tga - DEC hardware
xf86-video-tseng - Tseng Labs hardware

Unpackaged x11-lib

libAppleWM - macOS specific
libWindowsWM - Windows specific

Unpackaged x11-proto

windowswmproto - Windows specific

Unpackaged x11-util

lndir - Create shadow directory tree

Note: Sun, Apple, and Windows-specific modules are not needed on Linux x86/x64 systems.

Advanced Configuration

Manual xorg.conf

While auto-configuration usually works, you can create a manual configuration:

# Generate template
X -configure

# Copy to system location
cp ~/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

# Edit as needed
nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Multi-Monitor Setup

For multi-monitor configurations with NVIDIA:

nvidia-settings

Use the graphical interface to configure displays, then save to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Custom Resolutions

Add custom modelines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Monitor0"
    Modeline "1920x1080_60.00"  173.00  1920 2048 2248 2576  1080 1083 1088 1120 -hsync +vsync
EndSection