Bug#229850: DEFAULT_HORIZ_SYNC and DEFAULT_VERT_REFRESH still ignored (updated patch)
> > Thanks for the update, and for mentioning trying to get -8 into
> > Sarge. I noticed that the bug wasn't fixed for -7 and that it had
> > been pushed to -8 in the to do list along with several other debconf
> > changes. If you're interested in help with testing, please let me
> > know and I'll see what I can do. Thanks for all you do and for
> > finding the time to keep me informed through all of it.
>
> Please let me know what you think of the following logic. It includes your
> patch, along with some other enhancements as well as better instrumentation
> and internal documentation.
>
> I have committed this to the XSF SVN XFree86 repo's debconf-overhaul branch
> as revision 1858.
Reading through the code, I have a couple of quick comments. I'll
also test on a few machines and post additional comments even if they
are limited to saying that it works well.
* My guess is that several people out there have monitors whose
refresh rates are suboptimal but whose rates will not get fixed
during the upgrade because there are already answers in debconf to
some questions. If my understanding is correct, this could be
partially mitigated by changing the names of the some of the
variables. I haven't actually looked to see whether this is the
case, but it may be worth considering if it isn't. Stated
differently, it may be worth seeing whether there is something that
could make it possible to automatically fix suboptimal data left
over from older versions of the package. (I'm going to dpkg -P
--force-depends xserver-xfree86 and reinstall just to be sure.)
* In the Medium monitor selection code, there are 60Hz and 85Hz
choices for 1280x960 but only a 60Hz choice for 1280x1024.
Personally, my eyes hurt looking at any screen whose refresh rate
is less than about 75Hz (which is what motivated me to post this
bug in the first place). I think it would be best if there were a
75Hz rate at all common resolutions. 1280x1024 is the native
resolution on almost all 17" and 19" flat panels, so it is a pretty
important one to have in there. There is also no option to have
1024x768 at anything higher than 75Hz. I guess, ideally, there
should be a 60Hz, 75Hz, and 85Hz for all resolutions. If my
understanding is correct, in principle, to convert the sync and
refresh rates from one refresh rate to another at the same
resolution, you should be able to multiply the top number in each
range by the square root of the ratios of the sync/refresh rates.
In other words, the ratio of the product of the sync and refresh
rates should be the same as the ratio of the refresh rates.
Someone else probably understands better. The obsolete XFree86
Video Timings HOWTO actually explains this better. Anyway, people
with older hardware that need to use this menu probably won't be
pushing those resolutions anyway. (I notice this rule I've stated
doesn't actually match with all the menu items that are already
there.)
I should have time in the next day or two to test this on a few
different machines. If I have access to check out from subversion,
I'll try checking out the maintainer scripts and testing with all of
them. Otherwise, I'll just drop this config_monitor into the version
in the current package. (I'm trying to check svn now but alioth is
too slow.)
I'll try to get back to you after testing on three machines: a laptop
with a Radeon Mobility M6, my desktop machine with a Radeon 9600, and
my work machine with a built-in Intel video. I am no longer using the
Rage Pro card I was using when I posted the original report.
--
Jay Berkenbilt <ejb@ql.org>
http://www.ql.org/q/
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