GraphicalXConfiguration

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⇤ ← Revision 3 as of 2006-01-19 19:24:13 →
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← Revision 4 as of 2006-06-11 20:59:41 → ⇥
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Comment: Fleshed out spec. Included link to xorg-conf.
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 * '''Launchpad Entry''': https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/foo  * '''Launchpad Entry''': https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/xorg-config-ui
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This is being proposed to decrease the ["ListOfNGUIs"]; i.e. to make it possible to change video settings beyond screen resolution through the GUI. As it stands, configuring X involves the manual editing of a text-based configuration file, which is not particularly well-commented.
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Brian wants to add a second monitor. He has either a second graphics card or a video card with two video outputs. He goes to System>Administration>Video Settings (or similar) and clicks to add a new screen. A wizard guides him through setting graphical options and then prompts him to restart X (warning him about saving open documents). There is, however, and option to restart X later, much like the restart notification after a kernel upgrade.
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Creating and packaging a graphical X configuration tool.
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<to-do>
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[http://www.cyskat.de/dee/progxorg.htm] is a fairly advanced effort to make such a tool. It does, however, carry inherent limitations which are described below. Concerted work needs to be done on addressing these issues, and this needs to find itself packaged into default desktop installations.
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=== Data preservation and migration ===		 Available from above link. Work needs doing. See below.
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Many. Unfortunately.
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== BoF agenda and discussion ==
----		 Various video cards have different options. There are hundreds of permutations of options, and they all need to be sanely documented, and schemas implemented (giving advice per card, per setup about whether to enable them). This tool is useless without taking into account the inherent complexity of X and xorg.conf. This needs to be a graphical solution, with easy-to-use wizards, of course, but it also needs to be a powerful admin tool.

You need to restart X for changes to take effect. This is a serious problem, and will apparently be fixed in a few versions' time of Xorg. This means not in time for Edgy.

Backups, backups, backups. If a user hoses something with this tool it is almost as bad for them as if they hosed the entire computer with Gparted. X failing to start should be caught and a backup restored, if the user wishes.

Auto-detection is apparently difficult, and not implemented in xorg-edit. This is crucial for ease-of-use, and perhaps borrowing an idea from Vista in this respect would not be a bad thing. Unfortunately, such autodetected changes require a restart of X. See above.

Summary

We need an easy way for people to edit their xorg.conf in a sane way, including enabling 3D acceleration, 2 monitors, etc.

AndreasSchildbach: Is auto-configuration (when (un-)plugging monitors) also in scope of this spec?

Rationale

This is being proposed to decrease the ["ListOfNGUIs"]; i.e. to make it possible to change video settings beyond screen resolution through the GUI. As it stands, configuring X involves the manual editing of a text-based configuration file, which is not particularly well-commented.

Use cases

Brian wants to add a second monitor. He has either a second graphics card or a video card with two video outputs. He goes to System>Administration>Video Settings (or similar) and clicks to add a new screen. A wizard guides him through setting graphical options and then prompts him to restart X (warning him about saving open documents). There is, however, and option to restart X later, much like the restart notification after a kernel upgrade.

Scope

Creating and packaging a graphical X configuration tool.

Design

<to-do>

Implementation

[http://www.cyskat.de/dee/progxorg.htm] is a fairly advanced effort to make such a tool. It does, however, carry inherent limitations which are described below. Concerted work needs to be done on addressing these issues, and this needs to find itself packaged into default desktop installations.

Code

Available from above link. Work needs doing. See below.

Outstanding issues

Many. Unfortunately.

Various video cards have different options. There are hundreds of permutations of options, and they all need to be sanely documented, and schemas implemented (giving advice per card, per setup about whether to enable them). This tool is useless without taking into account the inherent complexity of X and xorg.conf. This needs to be a graphical solution, with easy-to-use wizards, of course, but it also needs to be a powerful admin tool.

You need to restart X for changes to take effect. This is a serious problem, and will apparently be fixed in a few versions' time of Xorg. This means not in time for Edgy.

Backups, backups, backups. If a user hoses something with this tool it is almost as bad for them as if they hosed the entire computer with Gparted. X failing to start should be caught and a backup restored, if the user wishes.

Auto-detection is apparently difficult, and not implemented in xorg-edit. This is crucial for ease-of-use, and perhaps borrowing an idea from Vista in this respect would not be a bad thing. Unfortunately, such autodetected changes require a restart of X. See above.

CategorySpec

GraphicalXConfiguration (last edited 2008-08-06 16:39:19 by localhost)