Ken Nakata wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 10 Nov 1997 20:56:24 -0500 (EST),
> Michael R Zucca <mrz5149@cs.rit.edu> wrote:
> > 
> > The big question is what to do when I add functionality for *resolution*
> > switching. I was thinking along the lines of the linux-pmac idea of
> > having fixed mode numbers but I've been looking more and more at letting
> > user-land have more control. Perhaps both would be good, especially since
> > we're going to have to do support for cards through the ROMs and the
> > Mac OS DRVR calls use mode numbers instead of values like vertical back
> > porches and the like.
> 
> While at the fundamental level I really like this idea of "letting
> user-land have more control", I'd really hate to see an XF86Config-ish
> initial set-up process...  It's a night mare for non-display-gurus to
> set up the right display signal timings, and definitely not the way to
> go, IMHO.  Having said that, I can't think of an alternative way for
> letting user have more control over the resolution and color depth.

Maybe I'm missing something here (probably so ;-), but couldn't we simply
pass resolution and color-depth to the Xserver as arguments?  Perhaps
number the resolution modes to simplify things a bit.  Say you want
640x480 (mode 1?) and 8-bit color (which is the best my current setup can
do anyway ;-) :

X -color 8 -res 1

and then have the server attempt to match the requested specifications.
If it can't for some reason (i.e. resolution to high for requested number
of colors), have it either fail with a (helpful!) error message or else
settle for the next best settings it can (like reducing the bit
depth...sorta like the Monitors control panel).

Of course, I don't know how well on-the-fly resolution/bit-depth changes
would work while in X, tho...

Keep in mind that I know next to nothing about how the Xserver works, so
I'm basically just hoping I'm not totally off in the clouds somewhere on
this one :-)

Later.

-- 
Colin Wood                                 cwood@ichips.intel.com
Component Design Engineer - MD6                 Intel Corporation
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I speak only on my own behalf, not for my employer.