VGAHelp Extension 
                            Kaleb S. KEITHLEY
                               [email protected]

Features:

This is Release 0.0 (6 February, 1995) of an Xserver extension  and
client that can be used to simplify determining and setting mode lines 
for the XFree86 servers.


Getting:

VGAHelp may be found on ftp.x.org (198.112.44.100) and possibly other
sites; check archie. On ftp.x.org it may be found in the files:

    ~ftp/contrib/utilities/vgahelp/3.1/vgahelp.patch.gz
    ~ftp/contrib/utilities/vgahelp/3.1/vgahelp.tar.gz


Building:

There are two parts to the VGAHelp utility. One part is a patch to the
X Consortium and/or XFree86 sources. This patch adds two header files,
a C source file to the extension library, and a C source file to the
X server extensions. It also makes minor changes to the associated
Imakefiles in order to build the extension into the library and Server.
Lastly it makes a change to extension initialization in the server's
machine independent (mi) portion of the server. The second part is
a client application that exercises the extension to set the mode line
in the server.

Apply the patch at the base of the X source tree, i.e. the directory
that contains xc and contrib using the command 'patch -p0 -s < 
vgahalp.patch'. Edit your site.def or host.def file and add the line:

    "#define ExtensionOSDefines -DVGAHELP"

If you have not already built the whole distribution you may proceed to 
'make World' using whatever BOOTSTRAPCFLAGS are necessary for your 
platform. If you have already done so and wish to retrofit your server 
with the extension, several steps are necessary. They are:

   1) cd xc/include/extensions
   2) make Makefile
   3) make includes
   4) cd ../../lib/Xext
   5) make Makefile
   6) make depend
   7) make
   8) make install
   9) cd ../../programs/Xserver/mi
   10) make
   11) cd ../Xext
   12) make Makefile
   13) make depend
   14) make
   15) cd ..
   16) make loadXF86_SVGA (or whatever server you're using.)
   17) make install

Don't forget to make your new server suid root if necessary.

To build the client, untar the the file vgahelp.tar in a convenient
directory, e.g. ~/src/vgahelp with the command 'tar xf vgahelp.tar'.
You may then proceed to build the client with the following steps:

   1) xmkmf
   2) make depend
   3) make
   4) make install


Using:

Remember to restart your server. Start the vgahelp client. The vgahelp
client will automatically query the server for the current mode line.
If you change your server's resolution, e.g. with <Ctrl><Alt><KP_plus>
you must requery the mode line values. To do this press the button
labeled "Fetch". Adjust the values you want to try by moving the
scrollbars. To apply the new values you've just set with the scrollbars
press the button labeled "Apply". To test the new values and then
revert to the old values after a short delay, press the button labeled
"Test".


Disclaimer:

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL Kaleb S. KEITHLEY (or his employer) BE LIABLE FOR 
ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, 
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

In other words, if the "magic smoke" comes out of either your monitor or
your computer, don't tell me about it. You have been warned.