fbset(1)

✨ NAME ✨

fbset — show and modify frame buffer device settings 💅

yep bestie, that's fbset(1) from the Linux frame buffer utils, and she is here to either show you your frame buffer's whole situation or change it. let's get into it 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

fbset [options] [mode]

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💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

okay so. fbset is a system utility that shows or changes the settings of the frame buffer device. and what's a frame buffer device, you ask? it's the thing that gives you a simple and unique interface to access different kinds of graphic displays. iconic behavior honestly.

Frame buffer devices are accessed via special device nodes that live in the /dev directory. The naming scheme for these nodes is always fb<n>, where n is the number of the used frame buffer device. no cap, always that pattern.

fbset uses its own video mode database, located in /etc/fb.modes. An unlimited number of video modes can be defined in this database. For further information see fb.modes(5).

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

If no option is given, fbset will display the current frame buffer settings. that's the default vibe, periodt.

🎀 General options

• --help, -h — display a usage information
• --test — don't change anything, just test whether the mode is valid
• --show, -s — display the video mode settings. This is the default if no further option or only a frame buffer device via -fb is given
• --info, -i — display all available frame buffer information
• --verbose, -v — display information about what fbset is currently doing
• --version, -V — display the version information about fbset
• --xfree86, -x — display the timing information as it's needed by XFree86

🦋 Frame buffer device nodes

• --all, -a — change all virtual consoles on this device
• -fb <device> — device gives the frame buffer device node. If no device via -fb is given, /dev/fb0 is used

🍓 Video mode database

• -db <file> — set an alternative video mode database file (default is /etc/fb.modes), see also fb.modes(5)

🌈 Display bitfield colors

• -rgba <red,green,blue,alpha> — each in length or length/offset color format

🧚 Display geometry

• -xres <value> — set visible horizontal resolution (in pixels)
• -yres <value> — set visible vertical resolution (in pixels)
• -vxres <value> — set virtual horizontal resolution (in pixels)
• -vyres <value> — set virtual vertical resolution (in pixels)
• -depth <value> — set display depth (in bits per pixel)
• -nonstd <value> — select nonstandard video mode
• --geometry, -g ... — set all geometry parameters at once in the order <xres> <yres> <vxres> <vyres> <depth>, e.g. -g 640 400 640 400 4
• -match — make the physical resolution match the virtual resolution

⭐ Display timings

• -pixclock <value> — set the length of one pixel (in picoseconds). Note that the frame buffer device may only support some pixel lengths
• -left <value> — set left margin (in pixels)
• -right <value> — set right margin (in pixels)
• -upper <value> — set upper margin (in pixel lines)
• -lower <value> — set lower margin (in pixel lines)
• -hslen <value> — set horizontal sync length (in pixels)
• -vslen <value> — set vertical sync length (in pixel lines)
• --timings, -t ... — set all timing parameters at once in the order <pixclock> <left> <right> <upper> <lower> <hslen> <vslen>, e.g. -t 35242 64 96 35 12 112 2

💅 Display flags

• -accel {false|true} — set hardware text acceleration enable
• -hsync {low|high} — set the horizontal sync polarity
• -vsync {low|high} — set the vertical sync polarity
• -csync {low|high} — set the composite sync polarity
• -gsync {false|true} — set synch on green
• -extsync {false|true} — enable or disable external resync. If enabled the sync timings are not generated by the frame buffer device and must be provided externally instead. Note that this option may not be supported by every frame buffer device
• -sync <value> — set custom sync flags. If specified, this value is bitwise or-ed to the other sync flags. This is useful for drivers that use custom sync flags
• -bcast {false|true} — enable or disable broadcast modes. If enabled the frame buffer generates the exact timings for several broadcast modes (e.g. PAL or NTSC). Note that this option may not be supported by every frame buffer device
• -laced {false|true} — enable or disable interlace. If enabled the display will be split in two frames, each frame contains only even and odd lines respectively. These two frames will be displayed alternating, this way twice the lines can be displayed and the vertical frequency for the monitor stays the same, but the visible vertical frequency gets halved
• -double {false|true} — enable or disable doublescan. If enabled every line will be displayed twice and this way the horizontal frequency can easily be doubled, so that the same resolution can be displayed on different monitors, even if the horizontal frequency specification differs. Note that this option may not be supported by every frame buffer device

🫶 Display positioning

• -move {left|right|up|down} — move the visible part of the display in the specified direction
• -step <value> — set step size for display positioning (in pixels or pixel lines), if -step is not given display will be moved 8 pixels horizontally or 2 pixel lines vertically

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💥 EXAMPLE 💥

To set the used video mode for X, insert the following in rc.local:

fbset -fb /dev/fb0 640x480-60

and make the used frame buffer device known to X:

export FRAMEBUFFER=/dev/fb0

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• /dev/fb*
• /etc/fb.modes

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

fb.modes(5), fbdev(4), /usr/share/doc/fbset/FAQ.gz

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💖 AUTHORS 💖

• Geert Uytterhoeven <Geert.Uytterhoeven@cs.kuleuven.ac.be>
• Roman Zippel <zippel@fh-brandenburg.de> — man files

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and that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🫶 this was version 2.1, dated 2010-04-12, and she's been serving frame buffer realness ever since. mwah 💅✨