[Pcbsd-developer] Setting monitor config properly

[Charles A. L. <lan...@gm...>]

Guys, I have an idea, please tell me if it's a good one, or if it's
not viable :)
I think we definately need a monitor configuration that runs out of
the box, so that the user doesn't need to edit any xorg.conf file to
increase the refresh rate and the resolution.

PC-BSD "works" out of the box, but still, most of the time, the
refresh rate and screen resolution are not set the way the user wants.

Here's what I suggest: We create a database of screens (could be
extended to any piece of hardware actually), and for each screen, the
PC-BSD community informs data such as screen resolution, refresh rate,
etc... For instance I have 19' Sony SDM-S93 LCD monitor that has
native 1280x1024 resolution, an horizontal refresh rate of 28-80 and a
vertical refresh rate of 48-75, the maximum refresh rate of the screen
being 75Hz.

Now, we store this data in the PC-BSD install CD. During installation,
PC-BSD detects the monitor, look at the hardware DB and sees if there
is already an SDM-S93 monitor. If there is this monitor in the DB, it
configures X.org accordingly using a configuration that works fine
because it has already been tested by contributors, and that uses the
maximum screen performance (1280x1024@75Hz in this case instead of
1024x768@60Hz by default!)

No hack for newbies, and faster for the rest of us. What do you think?

Charles.