Thanks RE: Weird Video

[Brian Densmore]

Yes I still have several Diamond S3 video cards in use on my low end
systems. Excellent cards.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Hale [mailto:maclaoch at earthlink.net]
> 
> I'm by no means an expert, but I'd check the lines in the 
> XF86Config file to
> make sure none of the important ones are commented out...
Looked acceptable for an automated script creation

> always had to tweak with the XF86Config file a bit because 
> the autoload utilities (i.e. xf86config and Xconfigurator) never seem to
work quite
> right... 
Been there done that (not on this Mandrake install, yet)

> I took a
> training course this spring to prepare for SAIR certification 
> and the first
> thing that this guy in my class who was way more advanced 
> than me did was to
> go into the XF86Config file and start deleting out 
> superfluous lines...
Yep, me too. I haven't done that just yet on this install. It also speeds up
the loading of XWindows if you do it right.

> Here's a really stripped down XF86Config file...
> 
Hmm, that was pretty minimal. I can see how that would work for most any
respectable card. I've never gone that radical on my own XF86Config.
Although I have calculated a few modelines in my day (really it is a lot of
fun you should try it sometimes, just be careful you can fry you monitor if
you screw up really bad).

This is still one of my biggest gripes about XWindows - it can be sooooo
difficult to set up successfully. I know there are some good utilities out
there to do it. But, I think the programs need to check the video card,
check the monitor and produce a list of acceptable choices for the user.
Hell, it can't be that hard to query the ID string in the video card for the
card name. DOS could do that as early as 4.0 if not earlier.

JMHO,
Brian