Why doesn't xrandr list legacy modes by default?

[Alex Deucher]

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Luke Benstead <kazade at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, so if it's not
> then feel free to send me elsewhere :)
>
> I'm running some recent git open source ATI drivers on an R700, they work
> great. The other day I picked up an old game that runs under Wine, but
> requires a 320x200 resolution. I managed to get it running fullscreen by
> adding the mode via xrandr, but I was wondering why xrandr doesn't show this
> resolution as an option by default? xrandr itself says that the minimum
> supported is 320x200, so why is it not listed as a supported mode?
>
> I've just tried the same game on an nvidia based PC using the proprietary
> drivers and it works fine there with no fiddling.
>
> Is this a bug that needs reporting?

Lots of modern digital monitors do not like modes that are not in
their EDIDs so we don't add the default mode list to monitors without
the gtf bit set in the EDID.  I.e., the user picks the mode and then
their screen goes blank.  Plus, it often comes down to what modes to
include.  Everyone thinks their special perfectly tuned modeline
should be part of the standard set.

Alex