XFree86 Modeline - Obsolescence

Obsolescence

Modelines may no longer be necessary in XFree86 versions 4 and higher, since for many monitors and HDTVs they are now calculated by the X server at startup based on two factors:

• other, more generic and intuitive, settings in the server configuration file
• monitor capabilities acquired via an EDID query

EDID is not always completely accurate, and for some situations such as older or unusual display hardware or many HDTVs, it will be necessary to create a modeline to get the setting right. The EDID information can be obtained by using the command "startx -- -logverbose 6" and looking at /var/log/XFree86.0.log.