>>> (Do 1-bit monitors even exist?  [...])
>> ["yes"]
> OK, stupid question on my part, I guess.

:)

> Now, to get back on topic, how do I get the X server to operate in
> the linear region?

"You don't."  It's not something the X server has any control over, or
more precisely, if it did the issue wouldn't arise.

If you want to get grayscale displayed, the monitor has to be suitable
(ie, be designed to operate in the linear region for that signal) and
the framebuffer electronics must be suitable (ie, be prepared to use
more than one bit of video RAM per pixel to generate its signal).

If you've got 1bpp framebuffer hardware, you can juggle the rest all
you like, there just ain't no way to get more than 1bpp out of it; you
need a different framebuffer.  (You may need a different monitor, too,
if the first monitor isn't grayscale-capable, of course.)

Once you have suitable video hardware, _then_ is the time to worry
about the software.  (Well, actually, if you have a choice of suitable
video hardware, software support may influence your decision.)

> And why is it that X doesn't already do grayscale?  Lack of
> documentation?

I don't know.  Perhaps the hardware doesn't support it.  Perhaps it's
lack of docs.  Perhaps it _does_ already do it and you just don't know
how to turn it on.  Perhaps something else....  I've never even tried
to make X work on mac68k, so I'm rather out of my depth here.

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