A possible workaround to run xvista on a (Linux) machine on which
you wish to use 24-bit color for some applications, from Alan Watson:

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Here's my best-of-a-bad-situation solution:

(a) Log in on virtual console 1 (Ctrl-Alt-F1) and start a
24b X server on DISPLAY=:0 using:

    $ startx

(b) Log in on virtual console 2 (Ctrl-Alt-F2) and start an
8b X server on DISPLAY=:1 using:

    $ startx -- :1 -bpp 8

(c) Switch back and forth between the displays using
Ctrl-Alt-F7 and Ctrl-Alt-F8 (assuming your displays end up
in the same place as mine). Use xvista (or ximtool et al.)
on :1 and everything else on :0.

Switching between screens takes several seconds on my
hardware, which isn't great but is a lot less painful than
either logging out and restarting X or running everything in
8b mode.

If you use xdm or something similar, you may be able to make
all this happen automatically.

