Re: Progress Report - Pascal Schoenhardt - XRandR Display Configuration

[sjoerd spring luon net (Sjoerd Simons)]

On Mon, May 07, 2007 at 02:09:08PM +0100, Pascal Schoenhardt wrote:
> Below is a preliminary idea of how I see the configuration applet
> looking and functioning:
> 
> The applet will follow the general layout of Sebastian's applet (see
> link above). However, for multi-screen support, I will be relying of
> XRandR, rather than Guidance, which only supports dual-monitors. Since
> most people use only two monitors, and configuration of dual displays
> is much easier, the "Multi-Screen Mode" tab will have a different
> interface depending on the number of monitors:
> 
> - Single Monitor ? Tab greyed out, inaccessible.
> 
> - Dual-Monitor ? Layout as in screenshots. Clear and concise.
> 
> - Multi-Monitor ? Entire area becomes a canvas, in which screens can
> be alligned via drag and drop. A "Identify Screens" button, similar to
> that in That Other Operating System, will be in the bottom-left
> corner, which will label the screens.
> 
> The only problem I see with the above layout is that the "Screens"
> section, currently under the "Dual Screen Mode" tab, will need to be
> moved to the "Display Mode" tab since having a canvas in Multi-Monitor
> mode will not leave any room for that. This isn't really a problem, I
> think, but it will leave the "Dual Screen Mode" tab a bit bare looking
> when there are only two screens.

I couldn't judge this from this screenshots but does your dual-screen tab also
allow me to say: I want my second monitor on the right of my first monitor,
aligned on the top/bottom/middle.

> I have also been considering how to handle default resolutions, and
> getting information on what resolutions are supported by a monitor.
> EDID information is a good start, but it has several weaknesses. In
> particular, EDID can not properly represent resolutions that are not
> 4x3 or 16x9, and there are lots of 16x10 screens out there. Also, EDID
> doesn't specify what the native resolution of an LCD is. I think a
> database of monitors and capabilities is in order. However, that type
> of thing takes a lot of time and effort to create. In this case,
> however, I think that we can take advantage of the fact that most
> monitor manufacturers create Windows drivers in the form of .inf files
> for their screens. These are nothing more than a plain-text file that
> describes the capabilities of the device.

Doesn't RandR 1.2 provide the needed information? Stated otherwise, should the
applet really know about this, or should the knowledge to the X server/hal ?

  Sjoerd
-- 
A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated.  But an authentic soothsayer should
be shot on sight.  Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.
		-- R. A. Heinlein