moninfo(4)moninfo(4)
NAME
moninfo - Monitor characteristics database
SYNOPSIS
/var/X11/Xvc/moninfo
DESCRIPTION
moninfo describes the characteristics of CRT monitors. The
information included in this file is used by the XSGIvc X
extension for video control; the information allows the
extension to determine whether the monitor connected to a
video channel has the capability to operate a given video
format and to provide responses to general queries.
The format of each entry in the moninfo file consists of the
monitor type name followed by a series of assignment
statements describing monitor characteristics. The monitor
type name and characteristics are separated by a space.
The first line of a definition must not be preceded by
white-space characters (tabs or spaces). If a definition is
too lengthy to fit on one line, you may continue the
definition on a second line by preceding it with a white-
space character.
Monitor Type Name
The name you specify as the monitor must be a unique string
of characters; spaces are prohibited, but hyphens and
underscores are permitted. This monitor type name is also
used in the chantab file to describe to the server which
type of monitor is connected to a channel. The monitor type
name is case-insensitive.
Monitor Characteristics Definition Statements
Each of the monitor's characteristics is described in a
definition statement. Characteristic definitions are
assignment statements with the characteristic name as the
left-hand side of the assignment. For example, to specify
that the height of the screen is 300 millimeters:
heightMM=300
Multiple characteristics are separated by white-space
characters.
Inheritance
A monitor definition may inherit its values from a
previously-defined monitor definition by using that monitor
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type definition's name in place of a monitor characteristic
statement. The characteristics of that named monitor type
are substituted as if they were entered in toto.
Numeric Range
Many values expect a numeric value. A single value is
appropriate if the monitor supports only a single setting;
for example a monitor the supports only a 72Hz frame rate
may be specified as:
FrameRate=72
However, if the monitor supports a range of values,
you may specify a range of minimum to maximum values separated
by a hyphen (-); for example, a monitor that supports
the range of frame rate frequencies from 50Hz to 72Hz
may be specified as:
FrameRate=50-72
If a monitor supports a set of specific values rather than
a range, you may specify the values with a comma-separated
list; for example, a monitor that supports only 50Hz, 60Hz,
and 72Hz may be specified as:
FrameRate=50,60,72
All numeric ranges must be specified without spaces.
Monitor Characteristics
Following are the characteristics of the monitor. You may
specify these as an assignment statement. The
characteristics may be defined in any order.
LineRate The line rate (lines per second).
FrameRate The frame rate (frames per second).
VerticalBlanking The duration of the vertical blanking
period (in nanoseconds).
VerticalSync The duration of the vertical
synchronization interval (in
nanoseconds). For most monitors, this
is the duration of the vertical sync
pulse.
HorizontalBlanking The duration of the horizontal
blanking period (in nanoseconds).
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HorizontalSync The duration of the horizontal
synchronization pulse (in
nanoseconds).
HeightMM The height of the monitor's viewable
area (in millimeters).
WidthMM The width of the monitor's viewable
area (in millimeters).
VariableFrequency TRUE if the monitor supports a range
of frequencies, FALSE if the monitor
supports only one frequency.
Color TRUE if the monitor displays pictures
in color, FALSE if the monitor
displays only monochromatic pictures.
HalfLines TRUE if the monitor supports formats
with active lines that are only half
line long, FALSE if the monitor
supports supports only full lines.
FullScreenStereo TRUE if the monitor supports full-
screen stereo (old-style SGI stereo),
FALSE if it does not.
Stereo TRUE if the monitor supports per-
window stereo, FALSE if it does not.
FieldSequential TRUE if the monitor supports field
sequential color video formats, FALSE
if it does not.
AuxiliarySync TRUE if the monitor requires separate
Horizontal and Vertical
synchronization signals which are
delivered via a separate cable from
the color signal(s), FALSE if the
monitor it does not.
CombinedHVSync TRUE if the monitor requires a
combined Horizontal and Vertical
synchronization signal which is
delivered via a separate cable from
the color signal(s), FALSE if the it
does not.
PowerSavingHVSync TRUE if the monitor supports a power-
saving mode by suppressing horizontal
and vertical synchronization pulses
(whether supplied on a color component
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or separately), FALSE if the monitor
does not support this feature.
SyncColor The colors on which the monitor
accepts the synchronization signal.
This can be any combination of the
words RED, GREEN, BLUE. If the
monitor accepts sync on more than one
color, specify the values separated by
a comma (,); for example
"SyncColor=RED,GREEN".
PermitQueryOverride TRUE if the server should use the
monitor's response to query regarding
its characteristics, FALSE if the
server should always use the
characteristic information provided in
this definition. Not all monitors
have the capability to provide this
information from a query, nor do all
servers have the capability to query
the monitor.
QueryResponseParallel If the server and monitor have a
parallel-connector query capability,
the response returned from the
monitor. This should be an integer
number.
QueryResponseSerial If the server and monitor have a
serial-connector query capability, the
response returned from the monitor.
This may be a quoted string, enclosed
with double quotes ("). You may embed
unprintable characters by preceding
number with a backslash (\) to
represent the ascii character. You
specify an octal number via a three-
digit pattern; for example, \008.
Hexadecimal numbers prefix a two-digit
pattern with the letter x, as in \x22.
Use \" to specify an embedded quote
character.
Comments
Any line whose first character is the pound sign (#) will be
treated as a comment.
Monitor Query
Some servers have the capability to query the monitor to
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determine the monitor type. If the server has this
capability, the chantab database can direct the server to
query the monitor type. Queries are performed only during
server initialization.
Two types of communication are used: parallel and serial
connections. Parallel connections are restricted to
determining a numeric code that defines the monitor type.
Serial connections may describe the monitor type with a
string; this provides a greater range of responses, thus a
larger number of definitions. Servers will choose the
response, serial or parallel, depending on what
communications type the server employs.
Moreover, some monitors may have the capability to fully
describe all their characteristics, not simply the monitor
type. In this case, the definition of the characteristics
is not needed; instead, set the permitQueryOverride
characteristic to TRUE so the server will query the
characteristics itself.
Duplicate Characteristic Definitions
If you specify more than one definition for a
characteristic, the last definition is used. This is true
whether the definition is made explicitly or by inheritance.
Unspecified Characteristics
Any unspecified characteristics are undefined and may return
to queries values that are not useful.
EXAMPLE
###############################
#
# moninfo
#
###############################
Hitachi-cm2198 LineRate=31500-76970 FrameRate=60-108
VerticalBlanking=585000-1429000 VerticalSync=39000-64000
HorizontalBlanking=3152-6349 HorizontalSync=1076-3770
HeightMM=290 WidthMM=385
VariableFrequency=TRUE
HalfLines=FALSE
FieldSequential=FALSE
AuxiliarySync=FALSE
CombinedHVSync=FALSE
PowerSavingHVSync=TRUE
SyncColor=GREEN
PermitQueryOverride=FALSE
QueryResponseParallel=0x12
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# The 2199 is similar to the 2198, but has a restricted frame rate
Hitachi-cm2199 Hitachi-cm2198 FrameRate=60-75
QueryResponseParallel=0x11
SEE ALSO
XSGIvc, XSGIvcQueryMonitorName, chantab
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