AppleACPIDisplay, c.a.windowserver.plist, 1280x800

[mindslip]

So, the previous thread was getting long with a lot of "me too!"'s.

 

I've got some progress on full QE/CI support on laptops running a 915 chip.

 

Some steps: (don't do, just read):

 

- delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist

- reboot *with* a monitor connected

- make sure the menubar is on the LCD (via Displays preferences)

- disconnect the monitor

- Detect displays (in Displays prefs or displays menubar)

 

What this gives me is a proper list of resolutions for the only monitor available: the LCD. At this point, there is still no c.a.windowserver.plist file

 

- Change res to whatever, change it back to max (in my case 1280x800... you may have more).

 

NOW there is a c.a.windowserver.plist file written.

 

If you open this in Property List Editor, you'll see that there are the proper attributes for your LCD display. (PCI id, res, etc.) You can also enable Quartz 2D, but that's neither here nor there at the moment.

 

I had tried saving this "proper" plist elsewhere, and editing /etc/rc to copy it back early in the boot sequence: It doesn't work. I have a feeling that without the external monitor connected, AppleIntel915 extension doesn't properly detect the LCD (Apple, if you're listening, bug fix!)

 

One other potential is that missing kext, AppleACPIDisplay ... it's likely (hypothesis only) that this is the missing piece of the puzzle to read the BIOS's settings of what displays are connected, and initialize them early, thus telling the AppleIntel915 driver that indeed the LCD is the primary display, not the external port.

 

If anyone has AppleACPIDisplay.kext on the Developer DVD, please upload it somewhere so we can test this theory!!!

 

So... All in all, CoreImage and Quartz Extreme work *great*... Screen spanning works *great*... large displays work *great*.... But all only if you start up with an external monitor plugged in, even if you unplug it at some point during boot, after the displays are detected. I haven't looked into a VGA loopback (shorting) plug of any sort, I'd rather not.

 

The only other thing I can think of is using a better laptop than mine, which lets you explicitly select the primary display in BIOS, but a better solution would be debugging the source to the Intel915 driver so that it properly detects the internal LCD.

 

Hope this inspires someone to do more than I can!

 

mindslip