Radeon driver defaults to 640x350 default on fresh boot

[umccullough]

Since the addition of the EDID code (i believe) Haiku now defaults to 640x350 (strange size) resolution on a fresh boot for my PIII 600 w/Radeon 9250 AGP where no settings file exists for the radeon driver yet.

I would expect it to choose a reasonable resolution that is supported, perhaps 800x600 minimum? Or perhaps do something similar to Windows XP where it starts at least in 640x480 and then prompts the user on first boot and setting it to a higher resolution such as the maximum for the LCD or 800x600 for most CRTs.

[axeld]

Can you please provide a syslog output? The radeon driver dumps the EDID information there, and that would be very helpful. I guess you connected the system to a CRT monitor?

[umccullough]

Yes, it was on a CRT.

syslog will be coming soon - hrev22889 hasn't been very stable, will be getting newer rev after hrev22901 and trying again later.

[umccullough]

syslog from machine with Radeon 9200

[umccullough]

It appears to actually be a Radeon 9200 AGP (not 9250) -- I seem to always forget that.

[axeld]

Thanks for the syslog! No idea where it gets the 640x350 from, though - maybe the last zero size resolution gets some defaults from the Radeon driver.

Is 1600x1200 an okay resolution for this monitor? It advertises it, at least, but maybe it's exaggerating a bit :-)

[axeld]

Please try again with hrev22908 - it should now choose 1600x1200 as default (hopefully).

[euan]

I'm guessing the driver doesn't handle the second "additional" video mode of 700x400 in the edid structure. 640x430 would be the nearest best match resolution to it.

[umccullough]

This monitor actually handles up to 2048x1536 - but I rarely run it over 1600x1200.

I will test hrev22908 when I get home from work (~10 hours).

I was just thinking after reading euan's comment - this card also has composite and svideo outputs - is it maybe picking up the resolutions for TV out?

BTW, for the user's sake, I would think we should limit the maximum default resolution to something reasonable also - probably 1280x1024 ;)

[marcusoverhagen]

Perhaps these links will be helpful:

​Custom Resolutions on Intel Graphics

​EDID (Wikipedia)

Especially the ​EDIT Limitations (Wikipedia) might call for some rounding to be added to the EDID handling in order to properly display widescreen resolutions.

[euan]

I think it's probably better to try and pick the highest resolution displayable at 85Hz for a CRT if the recommended resolution isn't too clear from edid. Perhaps also add in some DPI ceiling as well so as not to make things too small.

This could easily get messy as monitor manufacturers don't seem to good at providing good EDID data on occasions.

[umccullough]

I forgot to report back that Haiku now defaults my Radeon screen size to 1600x1200@85hz on this monitor after hrev22908.

Still not entirely convinced that choosing something that high as the default would be sane :)

[axeld]

CRTs are dying out, and for flat panels, it's definitely a good idea to run them in their native resolution. Unfortunately, you cannot really differentiate a CRT from a panel with a fixed internal resolution. In any case, limiting the default resolution does not sound like a good idea to me.

What we probably should have is a key that, when pressed during boot, let's the app_server choose a lower resolution.