Figuring out the terms used in the documentation

Sleep ireallyhatespam at yandex.com
Thu Jun 4 09:55:34 UTC 2020


So, in X11,

A Colormap consists of a set of entries defining color values (I thought 
this would be called a "palette").

A Visual manages the color resources but doesn't configure the color 
depth, it sets colors in accordance with the current color depth of the 
Screen and Colormap of the Visual.

A Window has a Visual associated with it.

A Screen can be a video output stream produced by the video card, which 
is better understood as a physical monitor, containing multiple VisualS 
(emphasis on plural). A Screen determines the color depth and Visual 
Type (PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor and so on) of the Screen, not 
a Visual. It does not define a Colormap for it, that is the job of the 
Visuals.

A Display is the Server, which contains (the documentation uses 
"together with", not sure if it is the same here) ScreenS and Input 
DeviceS (emphasis on plural).

Is there anything that needs correction here?


More information about the xorg mailing list