On 5/21/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Conrad Knauer</b> <<a href="mailto:atheoi@gmail.com">atheoi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
On 5/20/06, Carlos Ribeiro <<a href="mailto:carribeiro@gmail.com">carribeiro@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br>> 4. My biggest complaint is something that many people don't value... the screensaver. The switch to gnome-screensaver means that I can't preview or configure screensavers. I miss part of the fun factor. I noticed it because I'm used to checking the 'ant-spotlight' screensaver to see how many FPS am I getting after an upgrade (important also so I can check if the driver is performing as expected, etc.). The solution was to remove the gnome-screensaver and to install the xscreensaver, so I could check it.
<br><br>The lack of configuration annoyed me too; see<br><a href="https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screensaver/+bug/22007">https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-screensaver/+bug/22007</a><br>
<br>BTW, the reason that gnome-screensaver doesn't have a configuration<br>ability is because the gnome developer in charge of it feels that "any<br>screensaver theme that requires configuration is inherently broken"!
<br>Seriously; this is a good example of what Linus Torvalds was talking<br>about when he parodied the mentality of Gnome developers as "users are<br>idiots, and are confused by functionality'"<br></blockquote></div>
<br>Being practical, what can be done about that? I checked it, and the problem was reported about five (!) months ago. It's not a trivial patch, it's new functionality that must be implemented. What can be done?<br><br>a) Implement the new functionality (effectively branching the development of gnome-screensaver, as upstream does not recognize this as a valid requirement). Will take a lot of time & cause a lot of noise;
<br><br>b) Scrap gnome-screensaver from the install in favor of xscreensaver (it would be the easiest think to do, but I fear it's too late now);<br><br>c) Instruct users (in a FAQ, for example) to remove the gnome-screensaver and install the 'old' xscreensaver. Biggest problem IMHO is that by doing it we need to remove some meta-packages: gnome and ubuntu-desktop, that depend on gnome-screensaver. This will probabluy make my life harder at some point in the future.
<br><br>It's a shame that, as we approach Dapper turning 'gold', there's still such things opened. This removes part of the fun, and of the flexibility, and is actually a *loss* of functionality that was previously present. Sigh.
<br><br>-- <br>Carlos Ribeiro<br>Consultoria em Projetos<br>blog: <a href="http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com">http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com</a><br>blog: <a href="http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com">http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com
</a><br>mail: <a href="mailto:carribeiro@gmail.com">carribeiro@gmail.com</a><br>mail: <a href="mailto:carribeiro@yahoo.com">carribeiro@yahoo.com</a><br><br>