Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
Herbert Xu writes: Sure, the user should be able to customise things if they want to. But if you don't have a pretty default, people will simply say that Debian looks ugly! First make it work. Then make it work right. Then make it work really well. Then, if you have time and it doesn't break anything, make it pretty. I've never seen anything on a computer screen I would call pretty. Doesn't bother me: I prefer functional. Have you ever seen the phrase form follows function? Make it work well, and it will look good. John Hasler [EMAIL PROTECTED] (John Hasler) Dancing Horse Hill Elmwood, WI -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
Stephen Early wrote:
One of the good things, in my opinion, about Debian is that it
provides packages that are set up sensibly with 'normal' defaults. I
don't want to start doing anything fancy just to look pretty; other
distributions have tried this, and it occasionally causes confusion
and problems. It's more a philisophical issue than a technical one,
really - people should be able to configure their systems however they
like, without having to undo all sorts of distribution-specific gunk
first.
Sure, the user should be able to customise things if
they want to. But if you don't have a pretty default,
people will simply say that Debian looks ugly!
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Debian GNU/Linux 1.1 is out! { http://www.debian.org/ }
Email: Herbert Xu ~{PmVHI~} [EMAIL PROTECTED]
{ http://greathan.apana.org.au/~herbert/ }
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Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
If you want the login screen to look pretty, just grab a copy of XBanner from http://chaos.fullerton.edu , the XBanner home page. A Debian package is available. -- Stephen Pitts [EMAIL PROTECTED] Proudly running Debian GNU/Linux 1.1 on an Intel Pentium 150 Send a message with Send PGP Key in the subject to get my PGP key. Visit http://www.onekey.com for OneKey: The Smart Search Engine! pgpV022eM7RWq.pgp Description: PGP signature
XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
Bill Bumgarner writes: 1) XF86Setup doesn't provide for resolutions beyond 1280x1024 [though it does a nice job of ensuring that the server chooses the HIGHEST available resolution]. Resolutions beyond 1280x1024 are not yet a common case. I suspect that most people using higher resolutions will want to tailor them for their monitors anyway. You ought to be able to do this using xvidtune. If you can come up with a patch to make XF86Setup provide higher resolutions, unidiffs are gratefully accepted... 2) There is no option to automatically start the server using other than an 8 bit mode. While the configuration information is correctly created for 15, 16, 24, and 32 bpp modes, one must edit /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers by hand and add '-bpp 16' [or whatever]. I suppose I _could_ add a prompt for this in the postinst scripts. On the other hand, editing configuration files is not difficult. The default background used under XDM is disgusting-- it is pretty much gurantees to cause aliasing on any monitor at higher resolutions... whoever decided that that particularly multi-pixel carpet-like pattern should be the X standard should be shot. It makes a really good test pattern, though. When you're setting up your monitor it's ideal. A solid background for the login screen is probably desirable. As you mention in your other message, it could be achieved with a line in /etc/X11/config and a section in the Xsetup file. I'm quite reluctant to edit these files without good cause, though, because whenever I do it makes dpkg scream about conffiles to all the people who have customised them. If it isn't broken, don't fix it etc. We really ought to add a more pleasant default background color for user's and for the xdm window. As well, we should customize the login panel to provide a more pleasant and attractive debianized experience. One of the good things, in my opinion, about Debian is that it provides packages that are set up sensibly with 'normal' defaults. I don't want to start doing anything fancy just to look pretty; other distributions have tried this, and it occasionally causes confusion and problems. It's more a philisophical issue than a technical one, really - people should be able to configure their systems however they like, without having to undo all sorts of distribution-specific gunk first. Steve Early -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
Stephen Early [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: One of the good things, in my opinion, about Debian is that it provides packages that are set up sensibly with 'normal' defaults. I don't want to start doing anything fancy just to look pretty; other distributions have tried this, and it occasionally causes confusion and problems. It's more a philisophical issue than a technical one, really - people should be able to configure their systems however they like, without having to undo all sorts of distribution-specific gunk first. I can see the argument for not wanting everyone to have to deal with dpkg yelling about updated conf files, but that'll only happen once, people can say N which is the default, and I do think the grey is pretty ugly. There is something to be said for making the system look nice from the start when it doesn't cost too much. Though I don't really care about this stuff, fixing it would probably be good PR. -- Rob -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports
Actually-- I think /etc/X11/Xresources or /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources contains the xrdb compatible database of resources used at login. One can change the contents of that file to completely customize the look-and-feel of the login panel without having to modify any of the startup stuff... When I get a chance, I'll create a better configuration post if for net.community.review. b.bum Begin forwarded message: From agent Thu Nov 14 02: 10:08 1996 Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 10:17:35 +0200 (IST) From: Marc A. Volovic [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Bill Bumgarner [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org, debian-devel@lists.debian.org Subject: Re: XFree86 3.2 Initial Reports In-Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII On Wed, 13 Nov 1996, Bill Bumgarner wrote: I grabbed the XFree86 3.2 packages from master and took 'em for a test spin; it is quite an improvement over 3.1.2g -- and it works with most debian packages already? The default background used under XDM is disgusting-- it is pretty much gurantees to cause aliasing on any monitor at higher resolutions... whoever decided that that particularly multi-pixel carpet-like pattern should be the X standard should be shot. How about: ---/etc/X11/config allow-user-xsession allow-failsafe modify-xdm-background xdm-background-colour darksalmon xdm-start-server start-xdm ---/etc/X11/config ---/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 #!/bin/sh # $XConsortium: Xsetup_0,v 1.3 93/09/28 14:30:31 gildea Exp $ if grep -q ^run-xconsole /etc/X11/config then xconsole -geometry 480x130-0-0 -daemon -notify -verbose -fn fixed \ -exitOnFail -file /dev/xconsole fi if grep -q ^modify-xdm-background /etc/X11/config then XDMBGCOLOUR=`grep ^xdm-background-colour /etc/X11/config | cut -f2 -d ` if ! xsetroot -solid $XDMBGCOLOUR then xsetroot -solid cornflowerblue fi fi ---/etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup_0 ---MAV (finger for PGP signature block) My opinions are my own and only my own. Standard disclaimer applies. Marc A. Volovic ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Linguists do it cunningly -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
