X Configuration Modification.

[Sebastian Kügler]

Hi William,

On Thursday 28 July 2005 17:00, William Robinson wrote:
> I am just emailing to see if anyone else has had an interest in this. I
> have already spoken to Daniel Stone on IRC briefly. If anyone else has
> made a start on this, I would like to know.  I don't want to tread on
> anyone's toes. I would invite anyone to join me with any expectations,
> ideas, or any kind of support.
>
> I have started by using the libxf86config.a functions to parse the
> current configuration file. I have made a C++/libgnomeuimm based
> application, using glade for the design. I already have a subversion
> repository active on my home machine for the development of this. Of
> course, everything could change at this point, I have a few days off, so
> I will try and do as much of this as I can now.

Actually, we're working on a configuration tool for XFree86 and Xorg.

Scope of our project is:
- We're expecting that the installer of the system could get a basical 
  graphical setup running (we're building a GUI tool, so we're relying on X 
  already running and a working KDE installation, more or less).
- Our tool (displayconfig) will help the user to:
	* Setup and switch resolutions (xrandr)
	* Adjust color RGB / gamma profiles
	* Adjust powermanagement settings (dpms)
	* fine tune the $xorg.conf file WRT video card driver, monitor settings 
	  (refresh rate, for example)
	* Make sure the proposed configuration will work and will not leave the user 
          with an X server that doesn't start anymore
	* Make dualhead configuration (xinerama, twinview, [...]) possible

The most tricky part we're still facing is getting to know the hardware 
topology. Things like
- How many displays are connected to the graphics card?
- How many displays *can_be* connected to the graphics card?
are the tricky parts we're facing.

We're doing all that in python, using PyKDE/PyQt for the GUI. displayconfig is 
supposed to be a kcontrol module but can also be used as a standalone tool.

The things we're already having working are:
	* color adjustment
	* powermanagement
	* resolution switching
	* reading and writing of configuration
	* testing of configuration
	* basic detection of VGA
	* basic detection of display capabilities
	* GUI

That's about the status of guidance's [0] displayconfig, might be interesting 
for you. It might at the very least be reasonable to keep in touch about all 
that stuff to help each other, and maybe join forces whereever it seems 
possible. It's quite tricky overall and the more you're getting into it, the 
trickier it gets (only think about how different drivers solve the dualhead 
thing and that multiplied with the possibilities of autodetection of the 
hardware ...). It's quite creepy altogether.

Here are a couple of links which might be interesting for you:

[0] http://www.simonzone.com/software/guidance/
... and some blogging of mine:
- http://vizzzion.org/?blogentry=519
- http://vizzzion.org/?blogentry=506

If you'd like to have a look at the code, be sure to get a recent svn checkout 
since it's all very much in flux and the latest beta/alpha release has seen 
quite some work since tarballing it. (svn://vizzzion.org/guidance/trunk).

(I'll be off-onlinity for about a week, so expect some latency from my side 
but don't hesitate to contact me / us (us = simon (who's CC'ed) + sebas)).

Cheers,
-- 
sebas

 http://www.kde.nl | http://vizZzion.org |  GPG Key ID: 9119 0EF9 
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