cirrus is obsolete: https://www.vintage3d.org/cirrus.php nv is obsolete: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_kills_nv&num=1 vesa is obsolete: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nzc3Nw ati and ati_unfree are superseded by amdgpu and amdgpu-pro: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/ATI_FAQ#Is_my_AMD.2FATI_board_supported.3F nouveau and fbdev added for better fallback support.
336 lines
13 KiB
XML
336 lines
13 KiB
XML
<chapter xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
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version="5.0"
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xml:id="sec-x11">
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<title>X Window System</title>
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<para>
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The X Window System (X11) provides the basis of NixOS’ graphical user
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interface. It can be enabled as follows:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.enable"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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The X server will automatically detect and use the appropriate video driver
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from a set of X.org drivers (such as <literal>vesa</literal> and
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<literal>intel</literal>). You can also specify a driver manually, e.g.
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "r128" ];
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</programlisting>
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to enable X.org’s <literal>xf86-video-r128</literal> driver.
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</para>
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<para>
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You also need to enable at least one desktop or window manager. Otherwise,
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you can only log into a plain undecorated <command>xterm</command> window.
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Thus you should pick one or more of the following lines:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.plasma5.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.xfce.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome3.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.desktopManager.mate.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.windowManager.xmonad.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.windowManager.twm.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.windowManager.icewm.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.windowManager.i3.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.windowManager.herbstluftwm.enable"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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<para>
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NixOS’s default <emphasis>display manager</emphasis> (the program that
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provides a graphical login prompt and manages the X server) is LightDM. You
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can select an alternative one by picking one of the following lines:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.sddm.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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<para>
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You can set the keyboard layout (and optionally the layout variant):
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.layout"/> = "de";
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.xkbVariant"/> = "neo";
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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<para>
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The X server is started automatically at boot time. If you don’t want this
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to happen, you can set:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.autorun"/> = false;
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</programlisting>
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The X server can then be started manually:
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<screen>
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<prompt># </prompt>systemctl start display-manager.service
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</screen>
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</para>
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<para>
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On 64-bit systems, if you want OpenGL for 32-bit programs such as in Wine,
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you should also set the following:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-hardware.opengl.driSupport32Bit"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11-auto-login">
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<title>Auto-login</title>
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<para>
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The x11 login screen can be skipped entirely, automatically logging you into
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your window manager and desktop environment when you boot your computer.
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</para>
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<para>
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This is especially helpful if you have disk encryption enabled. Since you
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already have to provide a password to decrypt your disk, entering a second
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password to login can be redundant.
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</para>
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<para>
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To enable auto-login, you need to define your default window manager and
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desktop environment. If you wanted no desktop environment and i3 as your your
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window manager, you'd define:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.defaultSession"/> = "none+i3";
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</programlisting>
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Every display manager in NixOS supports auto-login, here is an example
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using lightdm for a user <literal>alice</literal>:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.lightdm.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.autoLogin.enable"/> = true;
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.autoLogin.user"/> = "alice";
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</programlisting>
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11--graphics-cards-intel">
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<title>Intel Graphics drivers</title>
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<para>
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There are two choices for Intel Graphics drivers in X.org:
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<literal>modesetting</literal> (included in the <package>xorg-server</package> itself)
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and <literal>intel</literal> (provided by the package <package>xf86-video-intel</package>).
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</para>
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<para>
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The default and recommended is <literal>modesetting</literal>.
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It is a generic driver which uses the kernel
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<link xlink:href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_setting">mode setting</link>
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(KMS) mechanism. It supports Glamor (2D graphics acceleration via OpenGL)
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and is actively maintained but may perform worse in some cases (like in old chipsets).
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</para>
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<para>
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The second driver, <literal>intel</literal>, is specific to Intel GPUs,
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but not recommended by most distributions: it lacks several modern features
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(for example, it doesn't support Glamor) and the package hasn't been officially
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updated since 2015.
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</para>
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<para>
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The results vary depending on the hardware, so you may have to try both drivers.
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Use the option <xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> to set one.
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The recommended configuration for modern systems is:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "modesetting" ];
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.useGlamor"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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If you experience screen tearing no matter what, this configuration was
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reported to resolve the issue:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "intel" ];
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.deviceSection"/> = ''
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Option "DRI" "2"
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Option "TearFree" "true"
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'';
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</programlisting>
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Note that this will likely downgrade the performance compared to
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<literal>modesetting</literal> or <literal>intel</literal> with DRI 3 (default).
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11-graphics-cards-nvidia">
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<title>Proprietary NVIDIA drivers</title>
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<para>
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NVIDIA provides a proprietary driver for its graphics cards that has better
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3D performance than the X.org drivers. It is not enabled by default because
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it’s not free software. You can enable it as follows:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "nvidia" ];
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</programlisting>
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Or if you have an older card, you may have to use one of the legacy drivers:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "nvidiaLegacy390" ];
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "nvidiaLegacy340" ];
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "nvidiaLegacy304" ];
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</programlisting>
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You may need to reboot after enabling this driver to prevent a clash with
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other kernel modules.
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11--graphics-cards-amd">
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<title>Proprietary AMD drivers</title>
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<para>
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AMD provides a proprietary driver for its graphics cards that is not
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enabled by default because it’s not Free Software, is often broken
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in nixpkgs and as of this writing doesn't offer more features or
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performance. If you still want to use it anyway, you need to explicitly set:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.videoDrivers"/> = [ "amdgpu-pro" ];
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</programlisting>
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You will need to reboot after enabling this driver to prevent a clash with
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other kernel modules.
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11-touchpads">
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<title>Touchpads</title>
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<para>
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Support for Synaptics touchpads (found in many laptops such as the Dell
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Latitude series) can be enabled as follows:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.libinput.enable"/> = true;
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</programlisting>
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The driver has many options (see <xref linkend="ch-options"/>). For
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instance, the following disables tap-to-click behavior:
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.libinput.touchpad.tapping"/> = false;
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</programlisting>
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Note: the use of <literal>services.xserver.synaptics</literal> is deprecated
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since NixOS 17.09.
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="sec-x11-gtk-and-qt-themes">
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<title>GTK/Qt themes</title>
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<para>
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GTK themes can be installed either to user profile or system-wide (via
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<literal>environment.systemPackages</literal>). To make Qt 5 applications
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look similar to GTK2 ones, you can install <literal>qt5.qtbase.gtk</literal>
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package into your system environment. It should work for all Qt 5 library
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versions.
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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<simplesect xml:id="custom-xkb-layouts">
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<title>Custom XKB layouts</title>
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<para>
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It is possible to install custom
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<link xlink:href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_keyboard_extension">
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XKB
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</link>
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keyboard layouts using the option
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<option>
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<link linkend="opt-services.xserver.extraLayouts">
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services.xserver.extraLayouts
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</link>
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</option>.
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As a first example, we are going to create a layout based on the basic US
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layout, with an additional layer to type some greek symbols by pressing the
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right-alt key.
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</para>
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<para>
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To do this we are going to create a <literal>us-greek</literal> file
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with a <literal>xkb_symbols</literal> section.
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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xkb_symbols "us-greek"
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{
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include "us(basic)" // includes the base US keys
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include "level3(ralt_switch)" // configures right alt as a third level switch
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key <LatA> { [ a, A, Greek_alpha ] };
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key <LatB> { [ b, B, Greek_beta ] };
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key <LatG> { [ g, G, Greek_gamma ] };
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key <LatD> { [ d, D, Greek_delta ] };
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key <LatZ> { [ z, Z, Greek_zeta ] };
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};
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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To install the layout, the filepath, a description and the list of
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languages must be given:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.extraLayouts"/>.us-greek = {
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description = "US layout with alt-gr greek";
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languages = [ "eng" ];
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symbolsFile = /path/to/us-greek;
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}
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</programlisting>
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<note>
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<para>
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The name should match the one given to the
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<literal>xkb_symbols</literal> block.
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</para>
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</note>
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<para>
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The layout should now be installed and ready to use: try it by
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running <literal>setxkbmap us-greek</literal> and type
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<literal><alt>+a</literal>. To change the default the usual
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<option>
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<link linkend="opt-services.xserver.layout">
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services.xserver.layout
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</link>
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</option>
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option can still be used.
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</para>
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<para>
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A layout can have several other components besides
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<literal>xkb_symbols</literal>, for example we will define new
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keycodes for some multimedia key and bind these to some symbol.
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</para>
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<para>
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Use the <emphasis>xev</emphasis> utility from
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<literal>pkgs.xorg.xev</literal> to find the codes of the keys of
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interest, then create a <literal>media-key</literal> file to hold
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the keycodes definitions
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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xkb_keycodes "media"
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{
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<volUp> = 123;
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<volDown> = 456;
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}
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Now use the newly define keycodes in <literal>media-sym</literal>:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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xkb_symbols "media"
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{
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key.type = "ONE_LEVEL";
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key <volUp> { [ XF86AudioLowerVolume ] };
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key <volDown> { [ XF86AudioRaiseVolume ] };
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}
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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As before, to install the layout do
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.extraLayouts"/>.media = {
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description = "Multimedia keys remapping";
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languages = [ "eng" ];
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symbolsFile = /path/to/media-key;
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keycodesFile = /path/to/media-sym;
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};
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</programlisting>
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<note>
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<para>
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The function <literal>pkgs.writeText <filename> <content>
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</literal> can be useful if you prefer to keep the layout definitions
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inside the NixOS configuration.
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</para>
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</note>
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<para>
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Unfortunately, the Xorg server does not (currently) support setting a
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keymap directly but relies instead on XKB rules to select the matching
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components (keycodes, types, ...) of a layout. This means that components
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other than symbols won't be loaded by default. As a workaround, you
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can set the keymap using <literal>setxkbmap</literal> at the start of the
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session with:
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</para>
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<programlisting>
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<xref linkend="opt-services.xserver.displayManager.sessionCommands"/> = "setxkbmap -keycodes media";
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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If you are manually starting the X server, you should set the argument
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<literal>-xkbdir /etc/X11/xkb</literal>, otherwise X won't find your layout files.
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For example with <command>xinit</command> run
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<screen><prompt>$ </prompt>xinit -- -xkbdir /etc/X11/xkb</screen>
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</para>
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<para>
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To learn how to write layouts take a look at the XKB
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<link xlink:href="https://www.x.org/releases/current/doc/xorg-docs/input/XKB-Enhancing.html#Defining_New_Layouts">
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documentation
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</link>. More example layouts can also be found
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<link xlink:href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_KeyBoard_extension#Basic_examples">
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here
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</link>.
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</para>
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</simplesect>
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</chapter>
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