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."

Comments

Linux has always had "safe mode".

[khasim]

Linux has always had "safe mode". You boot single user from the command line.

This is more "easy GUI re-configuration of X.org when X.org blows up".

Well ..... I guess you could consider it "safe mode" for X.org. But not for "Linux".

Re:Linux has always had "safe mode".

[bobetov]

Linux has always had "safe mode". You boot single user from the command line.

A command line driven OS is, to 99.999% of humanity, not an operating system. The OS is the metaphor. Dropping into a text-based mode might as well be powering down. In fact it's almost certainly worse, from a user's perspective - more confronting, confusing and frustrating.

It does no good to tell my Mom or my non-tech friend "Don't worry, your operating system is fine, it's just the GUI." They likely blew something up using the GUI. Trying to find which text file to edit, and how to edit text files, and how to navigate directories, all with a CLI, is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. If I break it in GUI, I need to be able to fix it in GUI, or it won't get fixed.

Stop being a part of the problem here. If X doesn't work, the OS is broken. This is a major improvement in Ubuntu overall, not just some minor fix to X.

Re:Linux has always had "safe mode".

[Da Web Guru]

How many PC clones were sold before windows 3.1 hit? How about the Apple II series? Millions. Did the people who bought these get amnesia in 1995?
No, they didn't, but we really aren't dealing with the same userbase. The number of computer users back then is significantly smaller and more computer savvy than the computer users of today.

Just because people don't know something doesn't mean they can't learn btw. Learning is good.
Well, if you don't want more people using linux, then force them to learn the command line. Seriously, the average computer user doesn't even have a clue (nor do they care) what the "black box with white letters" (i.e., a MSDOS prompt window) is, what it is for, or why they need it.

The vast majority of linux systems don't have X installed btw. They don't even have monitors or keyboards.
We are not talking about servers. That is a completely different (and significantly more knowledgeable) userbase. We are talking about desktop computers that "normal" people (i.e., people that don't eat, sleep, and dream about computers) will be using on a daily basis.

Most of the most advanced software for the platform does not require X at all.
Regardless of how advanced a piece of software is, if it doesn't run in a window or have an icon they can click on, then it does not exist to "normal" people.

It is attitudes like this that hold back the wide-spread adoption of Linux on the desktop.