Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 17:10:58 +0100 From: Stuart Henderson <stuart@internationalschool.co.uk> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: Brett Taylor <brett@peloton.physics.montana.edu>, Phillip Salzman <advocacy@saten.dyn.ml.org>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Desktop OS Message-ID: <356C3B12.F8BA4024@internationalschool.co.uk> References: <25309.896221313@time.cdrom.com>
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Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > > OK, glad to hear it. First on your TODO list will be to work out how > to auto-detect the user's video card, mouse and monitor hardware so > that we can have a reasonable chance of even GETTING Joe User into X, > much less up with a terrific desktop. I haven't got any suggestions for mouse (other than use 'protocol "auto"' in the XF config file or use /dev/sysmouse and moused), although that probably is much less of a problem the video cards. A keycommand in XF86Setup to cycle through the popular mouse types and ports would make things easier, for most people looking at /dev/sysmouse, /dev/cuaa* with MS then Mouse Systems, /dev/psm0 and /dev/mse0 if enabled with relevant protocols etc.etc. 'if your mouse works properly then click here [ ] otherwise press space and try again' Maybe something can be done with OpenBSD's pcvt which detects at least some video cards - presumably it must be quite stable as it's in the standard bootup sequence. Perhaps with a lookup against a database for the preferred X server? Do many people installing FBSD really not know what type of video card they have? I think it's more of a problem to know exactly what card it is and it still wedges the system solid when you try to start in 24bpp mode which happens on a few occasions :-] There is already a database of monitor capabilities in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/doc/Monitors but XF86Setup doesn't know about it. It would be nicer if it worked like the video card selection screen that's already there, that would be relevant to all XFree users not just FreeBSD one though, so fixes like this need to go into the base X distribution.. Putting Greg's desktop setup scripts (on the cdrom) onto the ftp site and drawing attention to them (handbook/FAQ) might be nice, I remember having trouble finding the correct file to exec the window manager from when I installed it. I'm sure many people will miss them on the CD. Stuart To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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