On Wednesday, April 11, 2007, Keith Packard wrote: > > o what should the initial config be? cloned? multihead? single, > > primary head with other heads initialized to a blank screen? > > The X server has some built-in policy for what the starting mode should > look like. I think we should be able to build that into the kernel and > leave more complicated policies to user-mode. > > 1. Identify outputs with 'preferred' modes. > 2. If no preferred mode, pick an output, set it to 96dpi > 3. All other outputs get the closest mode which is no larger than > the mode selected above > 4. Fit CRTCs to the output configuration by searching for the best > match, scoring preferred modes 2, other modes 1, no mode 0. > 5. Clone everybody. > > Cloning seems like the obviously right plan to me; we want to make the > boot-up output visible, and we don't expect to need more than one > screen. The worst thing that could happen in clone mode is that the user > will see more than one copy of the boot messages.
Right, bootup output is important (though its signal to noise is degrading with the proliferation of printks added to the bootup these days). But you could also argue (at least for GUI desktop usage) that desktop extension is preferable to cloning. For a text-only bootup (whether it be actual textmode or fbcon), a clone may make more sense, though then you run the risk of not being able to use your preferred mode on the 'main' display (e.g. laptop panel), don't you? Or does the 'fit' in step 4 above work in that situation? E.g. a laptop with a 1280x800 panel connected to an LCD with a 1024x768 display? For the kernel (special uses like debugging aside), I guess either cloning or just using the primary head would make the most sense. Detecting the other heads is necessary, and if cloning weren't in use, some sort of natively sized splash screen would let the user know that it was detected properly... Thanks, Jesse ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ -- _______________________________________________ Dri-devel mailing list Dri-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dri-devel
