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New Failsafe Graphics Mode For Ubuntu
ianare sends us to Ars Technica for news of the Ubuntu Xorg BulletProof-X feature, coming soon to a 7.10 (Gutsy) build near you. "It provides a failsafe mode that will ensure that users never have to manually configure their graphics hardware settings from the command line. If Xorg fails to start,the failsafe mode will initiate with minimalistic settings, low resolution, and a limited number of colors. The failsafe mode also automatically runs Ubuntu's new GTK-based display configuration utility so that users can easily test various display settings and choose a configuration that will work properly with their hardware."
"done a long time ago"
:)
It is very good news, but I hope this fail safe also works for everyone in the installer. I had a machine which wasn't possible to install Feisty Fawn on it, via the graphical Ubuntu install program. This was due to the default resolution being lower than required, for the window size of the install program. (So it wasn't possible to complete options in the installer windows and so continue with the install, using that program). (It occured with the on board graphics card on a new PC build at work, so the quickest work around was simply to put a better graphics card in which I had to hand and was planning on using it at some point anyway. A software only solution would have taken longer and isn't going to be so easy for non-technical users who just hope to try out Ubuntu. (I would expect it to be unfortunately enough to put off some non-technical users).
So anything they can do to improve the graphical support is very good news. The more Ubuntu users the better.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
This was due to the default resolution being lower than required, for the window size of the install program. (So it wasn't possible to complete options in the installer windows and so continue with the install, using that program).
[alt+leftmousebutton] will allow you to drag the window around as needed from any part of that window. Should have been a tip during install. I found this out by accident.
"You are only young once, but you can be immature forever." -www.animemusicvideos.org
Well I know tons of people who use windows without opening internet explorer. But how many of them can actually remove it from their operating system? I can completely remove the GUI from my Linux without causing any problems unless I want to use a GUI. You should really think that through before using it again, it doesn't really make any sense.
The Farewell Tour II
I still don't understand why you keep referring to changing the protocol in the first place.
Because the protocol version number is "11", and the name "X11" includes the protocol version number. The X Window System (or just "X" for short) has been stable on version 11 of the protocol for a long time now.
The name "X12" implies a change in the protocol that is so serious that no existing X software will know how to talk to it (because all existing X software is X11 software).
They keep on changing the release revision; we are up to 7.2 now, as in "X11R7.2".
So now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
Take in computers that need repair, fix them using my bench and give the tower back to the customer knowing their system would automatically adjust itself to their display and input devices when they went home from win95b on. The fact that I STILL can't do that with Linux/X today is just pathetic.
The X.org guys are in fact working on that. The fact that we can't do it today is just legacy fallout from the poor way that the Xfree86 guys used to run things.
A short (and not polite) summary of the history of X:
-- X invented at a university. Runs quickly through version numbers but stabilises at 11.
-- X not generally available for free for years.
-- Some guys make a free version of X for the 386, and call it "Xfree86".
-- Xfree86 becomes the standard X for free OSes.
-- Xfree86 project management becomes an obvious problem.
-- Talented X developer Keith Packard starts talking to people about ways to improve Xfree86 project management.
-- Xfree86 lead developers accuse Keith Packard of trying to "subvert" Xfree86 management, and kick Keith Packard out of Xfree86. Keith Packard goes to X.org.
-- Xfree86 lead developers go completely insane, and change the licence for X to include onerous new "advertising" requirements.
-- The whole Free Software world, more or less simultaneously, abandons Xfree86, and X.org becomes the new standard X.
-- Xfree86 is now completely irrelevant.
-- X.org guys (including Keith Packard) revamp X to make it easier to work on, revamp dev protocols to make it easier to get things done, and start making cool stuff happen.
Feel free to look up X11, Xfree86, etc. on Wikipedia if you want to know more.