Removed Feature Impact Quality of Ubuntu

[Grant Bowman]

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 9:04 AM, Jeremy Foshee
<jeremy.foshee at canonical.com> wrote:
> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 10:34:02AM -0400, Mackenzie Morgan wrote:
>> On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Michael Haney <thezorch at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > A GUI based solution to the monitor issue like what Ubuntu 7.04 had in
>> > the Screen Resolution window's Hardware tab is what is required.  The
>> > point is the Hardware tab should not have been removed and needs to be
>> > restored.  That is my argument.  Its removal resulted in consequences
>> > which were not properly explored.  Had a thorough study been done the
>> > development community would not have removed it due to the chaos for
>> > many users it would cause.
>>
>> It wasn't exactly removed. The entire tool was replaced with a
>> frontend for xrandr because X (as you've noticed) has changed
>> significantly on the backend.  Nobody has gotten around to adding that
>> functionality to the GUI for xrandr. Are you volunteering to write a
>> tool that lets you add modes through a GUI?  If not, this'd be a
>> feature request on GNOME Control Center.  This list is not a bug
>> tracker.
>>
> I'd also like to point out that Modesetting now occurs in the kernel and
> such a tool would have to take that into consideration as one would need
> to work with the kernel to change mode. This change occured fairly
> recently and, with the changes in DRM being backported into Lucid and
> subsequently being different in Maverick, one would need to consider
> these changes as well.

Hello Michael,

I sympathize with your frustration and I agree that a better solution
to this issue would benefit many Ubuntu installers.  Given how the
code bases have evolved this seems to be a tough problem.
Unfortunately I think ubuntu-qa is the wrong forum to get the answers
you seek.  These changes began upstream from the Ubuntu project.  What
is the right forum?  I don't know of any "silver bullet" type answer
to this issue.  There also might be different ways to get a) your
immediate configuration need addressed and b) a GUI tool for all users
developed.  Here are are some educated guesses.  I welcome others who
know more to correct me or provide more detail than I am currently
aware of.

I find that IRC is a great way to get questions answered.  There are
many relevant channels but #ubuntu, despite being very busy, often has
skilled people with good answers available.  Other channels require
more patience and persistence in getting a good response.  While the
quality of answer from an IRC channel depends on who might be
participating at that time, more than once I have used a "pastebin"
like http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/ to show some interested person on IRC
my configuration and get help in updating it to work with a new
configuration.  I recommend starting with IRC to address your
immediate configuration issue.  Mail lists can be useful as well.  If
there are user groups in your area you may find others that have had
similar problems that can help in the process of producing a better
solution.

You might consider joining some of the various resources of the
http://www.x.org and http://www.kernel.org project.  While these
resources are quite technical these are the most qualified people to
provide a real solution.  As has been indicated there have been some
substantial changes to the graphics system, both within x.org and with
Kernel Mode Settings (KMS) now in the kernel with more to come.

>From an Ubuntu project perspective, I believe joining the launchpad
team https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat and their mail list would be
the best way to work with the appropriate developers.  These people
may be able help you with issues that are Ubuntu specific.

Regarding failed monitor auto-detection, one procedure I have used
successfully is described by going to www.x.org, clicking FAQ then
ConfigurationHelp.  Here is a direct link.
http://www.x.org/wiki/ConfigurationHelp  This procedure uses the
current auto-detection code to write a fresh xorg.conf file which you
can carefully edit with your changes from previous versions.  These
files in my experience are well commented.  With some additional
research each change you require can be added in whatever new syntax
might be required for the particular version of "X" you are running.
Using an xorg.conf file from an older version of X may have
unpredictable results.  It sounds like this has stopped working for
you.

I hope some of this helps,

Grant Bowman
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CaliforniaTeam