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Mode setting
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<p>Mode setting is a software operation that activates a display mode (screen resolution, color depth, and refresh rate) for a computer's display controller by using <a href="/facts/VESA_BIOS_Extensions/h0zmB0qW">VESA BIOS Extensions</a> or <a href="/facts/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface/w86VGmy2">UEFI Graphics extensions</a> (on more modern computers). </p><p>The display mode is set by the kernel. In <i>user-space mode-setting</i> (UMS), the display mode is set by a <a href="/facts/User-space/0yIzMY8t">user-space</a> process. </p><p>Kernel mode-setting is more flexible and allows displaying of an error in the case of a fatal system error in the kernel, even when using a user-space display server. </p><p>User-space mode setting would require superuser privileges for direct hardware access, so kernel-based mode setting shuns such requirement for the user-space graphics server. </p>