about X resolutions on non-laptops (xresprobe)

[Fabio Massimo Di Nitto]

Hi everybody,
	I am in front of a small problem and I am not completly sure which
direction to take.

Scenario:

- classic home made workstation with the most common video hardware
  available on the market.

xresprobe (and all the underlaying tools) perfectly capable of detecting
the video card and the monitor.

As we discussed during the last conference, our X resolution should be set
to the second best available and insert the others as option.

In Section "Screen" this solution would look like (give the best is
2048x1536):

Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" [SNIP] "640x480" "2048x1536"

What I am experiencing is that the resolution is always set according to
the first entry in the Modes, that means 1600x1200, but the virtual
desktop resolution is always set to the maximum specifies, 2048x1536 in my
case.

Now this can be rather annoying since, for example, you will get your gdm
login not fitting into your monitor and enable the desktop scrolling.

(Note that this behaviour is also driver dependent. It happens on nv but
not on nvidia)

What i would like to discuss is one of the possible solutions:

- use the best mode available as first entry.

ex: Modes "2048x1536" "1600x1200" [SNIP] "640x480"

or

- drop completely the best mode availabe in favour of the second best.

ex: Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" [SNIP] "640x480"

or

- drop completely the list of other modes in favour of the second best.

ex: Best available = 2048x1536:
    Modes "1600x1200"

or

- drop completely the list of other modes in favour of the best.

ex: Best available = 2048x1536:
    Modes "2048x1536"

or

- setting a threshold so that if the best is higher than 1280x1024 use the
  second best is used otherwise use the best.

ex: Best available = 2048x1536:
    Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" [SNIP] "640x480"

    Best available = 1024x768:
    Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

Please let me know what is your opinion, and take into account that this
solution affects only new installations.

Thanks
Fabio

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<user> fajita: step one
<fajita> Whatever the problem, step one is always to look in the error log.
<user> fajita: step two
<fajita> When in danger or in doubt, step two is to scream and shout.