On Fri, 28 Feb 2003, Kendall Bennett wrote:

> Andrew C Aitchison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > X -configure comments these values out because many apps used to
> > get confused by having precise dpi values and displayed silly
> > fonts. I think that at one time a 85x90 dpi screen would make
> > Netscape use 75x100dpi fonts. I note that Netscape 7 allows you to
> > calibrate the horizontal screen pitch, but not the vertical pitch. 
> 
> So you are saying that should leave this section of the config file 
> commented out for better compatibility?

When it went in poeple complained about the broken apps, but if we never 
give them the right information what would the app gain by being fixed ?

> I have commented it out for now 
> anyway, as I haven't added the code in the installer to grab the values 
> from the EDID yet. I can just as easily leave it off (Red Hat 8.0 seems 
> ot get it directly from DDC when it is not in the config file anyway).

We do all the DDC queries at run time as well as config time, with
config values overriding probed values (the X server warns of 
conflicts), so leaving them out is OK.
Ultimately whether you record DDC info in the config file depends
whether you care more about what happens if a different monitor is plugged 
in or whether you want the same setup if you start X (and possibly the
computer) before switching on the monitor ?

Suppose I have a classroom full of identical machines, and at the end
of the day some people switch the monitors off to save the screens.
Overnight scripts detect an upgrade, kernel security patch say,
install it and reboot.
Now if the EDID info is not in the config, the machines whose monitors
are turned off will have a different DPI from those that were left on. 
That might mean that web browsers come up with different sized fonts,
which the user will be likely to notice.

The DDC spec does allow a better solution - the video card must supply 
enough power for the monitor to return EDID info even when not powered,
but I have yet to see a monitor which does that.

-- 
Dr. Andrew C. Aitchison         Computer Officer, DPMMS, Cambridge
[EMAIL PROTECTED]       http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~werdna

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