I'd chosen to use the fvwm2 window manager, having a liking for lightweight interfaces. As usual with GUIs, I spent far too long changing colours to find that fabled desktop nirvana. Found out (partially) how to modify the fvwm2 defaults in Motif Window Manager mode - yes, I know its ropy, but it was the first UNIX window manager I ever used.
The directory /etc/X11/AnotherStep contained the file fvwm2rc.m4 which gets read. It includes a number of other files from the same directory, plus decors/MWM. This latter file contains the colour settings for MWM. Changed the active title background to IndianRed within this file. However, this changes the default for everyone - OK, I am the only user, but this wasn't the right way to do things. The next step is to find out how to modify the settings on a local basis. As part of this investigation, I also found out the fvwm2 was overriding my root colour setting, which I'd put in .xinitrc.
I started to investigate if the Compaq monitor could handle a resolution of 1280x1024. It was only a 17" monitor, so a resolution higher than 1024x768 was always going to be flaky. Anyway, it kind of worked in the higher res in Windows 95 - I figured I'd give it a try in Linux.
The helpful folks at Compaq support (thank you Don W.) provided me the detailed monitor specs, which did not mention any capability for 1280x1024. Of course, that didn't stop me. I used a horizonal sync rate of 60KHz and a vertical of 75Hz as input to xf86config. I also put in a mode for 256 colours at 1280x1024. On restarting X, the screen was completely blank. Oh, bugger. However, using the cntrl+alt+"+" key combination, I was able to cycle through the settings. 1280x1024 did work, but the flicker was horrible to behold. I abandoned this experiment. At some point, I'll just have to buy a better monitor.
