Bug 27651 - Both monitors are set to too low resolution when second monitor is attached from system start
Summary: Both monitors are set to too low resolution when second monitor is attached f...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Server/General (show other bugs)
Version: 7.5 (2009.10)
Hardware: All Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Xorg Project Team
QA Contact: Xorg Project Team
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-04-14 14:28 UTC by Hans Bakker
Modified: 2014-04-08 14:30 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:

Attachments

Description Hans Bakker 2010-04-14 14:28:08 UTC 
I have a laptop (Sony Vaio VGN-SR51MF/S) which I use together with an external monitor (Benq G2410HD). I'm running Kubuntu Lucid (development version, latest updates installed).
The video card is an Ati Monility Radeon 4530 HD; i'm using the xserver-xorg-video-ati drivers.

When looking at Screen settings, there is printed (Auto) after the correct native resolutions for both the laptop screen as the external monitor, so it can detect which settings are "preferred".

What the system does when booting while the HDMI cable is already connected and the external monitor is switched on, is that it enables the external monitor in clone mode (which is good), but it sets both displays to 1024x768. This resolution is lower than both the native resolution of my laptop (1280x800) and the native resolution of my external monitor (which is 1920x1080).

What I would expect that if the system can detect (which it can do) which resolution is the native resolution, it would enable clone mode and set the resolutions to the respective *native resolutions* instead of setting them both to 1024x768.

This bug was already filed as https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/509329 on ubuntu launchpad.
Comment 1 Adam Jackson 2014-04-08 14:30:12 UTC 
(In reply to comment #0)

> What I would expect that if the system can detect (which it can do) which
> resolution is the native resolution, it would enable clone mode and set the
> resolutions to the respective *native resolutions* instead of setting them
> both to 1024x768.

That's nonsensical.  "Clone" means identical.

We did actually try doing something like this at one point, where we'd set all the outputs to their native resolutions, overlapping, with their top-left corners aligned.  Turns out that's a worse solution because desktop UI elements like panels get either placed in the middle of the screen (if you align them to the smaller screen) or only visible on one screen and not the other (if you align them to the larger).  And people hated that, and rightly so, so now we pick the largest mode supported on both.

Use of freedesktop.org services, including Bugzilla, is subject to our Code of Conduct. How we collect and use information is described in our Privacy Policy.