[H-GEN] onefang's theory of monitor speed. Was: flat panel monitors with Linux?

[David Seikel]

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 --- David Seikel <won_fang at yahoo.com.au> wrote: 
> think I remember that the old monitor is two seconds, but the new one
> around five.   I'll do a real test on the home monitors and get back to
> you.

Real test done, old monitor too quick to time, a small fraction of a
second, new monitor slightly more than four seconds.  These figures match
my theory, as the old monitor is the oldest of the bunch, and my new
monitor is very new.

Strangely, both are Samsung SyncMasters, but the new one isn't really a
master, only an amateur B-).  They both are the same size, with the same
maximum resolution, and otherwise similar specs.  They are both attached to
the same video card, and thus are both doing exactly the same job.  So why
does the new one take so much longer?  What is it doing in those four
seconds?  Why would Samsung slow down that process so much?  Why do I
care[1]?

So, onefang's theory of monitor speed -

Y = Year of monitor design.
S = Time to sync to arbitrary video signal.

S = (Y - 1995) / 2

Anybody care to add more data points to test this theory?  Bet it only
needs fine tuning of the constants B-).

[1] I care because computers are getting much faster, and there are some
processes where you need to switch monitor frequencies and the time taken
is important.  An example - controlling the boot process.  When you boot,
the video card is reset and the monitor needs to resync.  During the pre
boot stage, you get a few seconds to enter the BIOS, a few seconds to enter
the SCSI BIOS, a few seconds to decide to do a network boot, a few seconds
to decide to do a CD boot, and finally GRUB takes over and you get a few
seconds to decide to do a non default boot.  It is important to be able to
see the screen so that you can decide when to hit what magic key that
changes the boot process.  According to my theory, monitors designed a few
years from now will not finish syncing until after the "Press Del to enter
BIOS" stage, and every few years after that, the next stage will be
blinded.

Currently, the box that displays the details of your hardware scrolls off
screen in a micro second, and that will only happen faster.  Good luck if
you actually need to see it.  The way things are going, monitors will take
so long to resync that it will bring back memories of 60's TV warm up
periods.  Your 6GHz computer may take only seconds to boot, but it will be
unusable until after the coffee is made.


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