Syntax:
set terminal iris4d {8 | 24}
The color depth is not really a choice - the value appropriate for the hardware should be selected.
When using 24-bit mode, the colors can be directly specified via the file .gnuplot_iris4d that is searched in the current directory and then in the home directory specified by the HOME environment variable. This file holds RGB values for the background, border, labels and nine plotting colors, in that order. For example, here is a file containing the default colors:
85 85 85 Background (dark gray) 0 0 0 Boundary (black) 170 0 170 Labeling (magenta) 85 255 255 Plot Color 1 (light cyan) 170 0 0 Plot Color 2 (red) 0 170 0 Plot Color 3 (green) 255 85 255 Plot Color 4 (light magenta) 255 255 85 Plot Color 5 (yellow) 255 85 85 Plot Color 6 (light red) 85 255 85 Plot Color 7 (light green) 0 170 170 Plot Color 8 (cyan) 170 170 0 Plot Color 9 (brown)
This file must have exactly 12 lines of RGB triples. No empty lines are
allowed, and anything after the third number on a line is ignored.