From: dietmar@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Dietmar Braun) Subject: Re: Xconfig twiddling is a terrible thing! Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1993 08:01:12 GMT
In article <1varf9$9c7@almaak.usc.edu>, ajayshah@almaak.usc.edu (Ajay Shah) writes:
|> My experience is limited to installing SLS. IMHO the setting
|> up of Xconfig is a real hurdle in installation of X.
|>
|> I think the PC world has something to teach us in this regard. The
|> dumb user picks a card, picks a monitor, and the GUI comes up. (Just
|> curious: when there is a MSW driver associated with a card, that driver
|> knows properties of all possible monitors?).
|>
The MSW driver uses standard resolutions and standard sync values and
will crash your monitor as Xfree86 does, when you try to use modes you
monitor can't handle. It simply konws about a few standard values with not
very interesting resolutions. You'll find those standard settings in
the file Xconfig.sample and should try them first.
I've helped a lot of guys setting up Linux/Xfree86 and it never was a
problem to use standard video modes.
Twiddling nice resolutions like 1150x900 is a problem, since there a
monitors which are called multisync although unable to handle variable
resolutions. I've seen lots of really bad docs on monitors and card
and my own card shows weired behaviour in its highest DCF.
BUT all this twiddling for _best_ performance can only be done with
the really great Xfree86 and is never possible with MS-Windows.
Better monitor and card manuals would be a great help, since designing
a video mode can be in a few minutes if you know all frequencies and
timings.
Ciao
Dietmar
===== Dietmar Braun; University of Bielefeld
(finger dietmar@techfac.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de)