No More xorg.conf files?

scorp123 · Post by **scorp123** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:10 am

Could you please elaborate what you want / need? If this is a suggestion, could you please go into more details what your suggestion is about??

scorp123 · Post by **scorp123** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:56 pm

D1Wayne wrote: Recently read article
http://community.linux.com/article.pl?s ... 13/2112259

This was a suggestion. Do what ever is needed to rid us of xorg.conf headaches please!

Ah OK

Nice article, BTW

D1Wayne wrote: Prior to last night's clean install of Bianca + Updates
Nvidia 6150 + Dell 990 monitor were not a problem,
now after clean install, re-booting, after updates re-booted, stuck at 1280x1024 85hz, xorg.conf lost VertRefresh and HorizSync.

You have to keep in mind that both NVidia and ATI drivers are more or less closed source right now. They depend on closed source kernel modules which more or less need to be re-compiled and re-installed, especially if an update has touched the Linux Kernel or any core X.org components

It's a pain in the a......

I know.

That's why some witty people created the envy program. It should usually fix those video driver issues auto-magically.

D1Wayne wrote: It seems as if an ant passes wind on the rings of Saturn xorg dies this has been a recurring problem on at least 6 machines in the last 4 years, (and primary reason I keep returning to XP)

Well, as I said above. It would be easier if Nvidia and ATI opened up their video drivers and released them as Open Source, just as everybody else did, e.g. Matrox, Intel, many others. As I said above: As soon as an update touches the kernel or some core X.org components the previously installed Nvidia and/or ATI drivers stop working and most likely need to be installed in some way again.

I for example always use NVidia cards in my Linux desktop systems. Despite the drivers being closed source and updates being such a pain their cards are pretty much the best ones you can have for Linux.

D1Wayne wrote: Ubuntu Herd 5 no problems, then 2.16.20.15 video problems started, so I tried Linux Mint. Now same type of problems.

Did you update the kernel or some X.org components? There you go

D1Wayne wrote: Of course this could be a Nvidia problem of Dell 990 issue, but xorg.conf always seems to be the root problem

It's just a config file

The real problem are stubborn companies such as ATI and Nvidia on one side and some stubborn Linux kernel developers who refuse to include some sort of an "API" (a programming interface) so that closed-source drivers could hook into the Linux kernel, regardless of the kernel version or any updates taking place or not.

The main problem here is not even a technical one but rather a philosophical and legal one: The "GNU General Public License", GPL.

The Linux kernel was released under the GPL. Any "derived" piece of software from it must therefore also be GPL. It is therefore quite problematic if a closed-source driver hooks into the Linux kernel: By most this is seen as a violation of the GPL; hence a violation of the same freedeom that makes Linux and its redistribution possible in the first place.

And so Nvidia and ATI will not open source their drivers and Linus Torvalds & Co. won't create such an API in the kernel to appease such companies (because if they start with this where would this stop?).

That is the core of the problem

scorp123 · Post by **scorp123** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:18 am

D1Wayne wrote: So what I'm gleaning from your reply is that there are no Desktop distro for Linux that is ready for John Q. Public (and may never be), unless you disable all updates

Well, which OS is ????

You seem to forget that e.g. on Windows XP the "Service Pack 2" was a bad surprise too for many people when tons of stuff all of a sudden stopped to work.

I will not even mention Vi$ta here, which is nothing but just an updated XP with a new GUI. Result? Tons of stuff not working

I personally find SUSE's stuff working very very well. I installed it on my wife's machine (toooootal noob !!!!) and we never have troubles with it, updates or not. SUSE's update mechanism takes care of everything, even the NVidia drivers

I could imagine that if you stick to certain procedures and "Do's" and "Dont's" the update on other distros (Ubuntu, Fedora, Linspire, Xandros ....) could be equally smooth.

But I agree with you that all this should be easier and less prone to such unneeded hassles ...

hairy_Palms · Post by **hairy_Palms** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 6:40 am

Ubuntu Herd 5 no problems, then 2.16.20.15 video problems started, so I tried Linux Mint.

i feel should also point out herd 5 was an Alpha release.so you cant expect things not to break.
whilest im cautiously hopeful about xorg 7.3 i hope that they provide a way to fix the xserver when it doesnt work, because it will, nothings 100% perfect, and dpkg-reconfigure doesnt do everything.

hairy_Palms · Post by **hairy_Palms** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:00 pm

I personally find SUSE's stuff working very very well. I installed it on my wife's machine (toooootal noob !!!!) and we never have troubles with it, updates or not. SUSE's update mechanism takes care of everything, even the NVidia drivers

i agree, if suse and rpm wasnt so bloody slow it mightve been my primary desktop too.

scorp123 · Post by **scorp123** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 5:52 pm

hairy_Palms wrote:i agree, if suse and rpm wasnt so bloody slow

Well, compared to "apt" everything seems slow ... I only use "yast" for system config stuff and let "smart" handle the packages. "smart install something" is still slower than "apt-get install something" but it's waaaaay faster than Fedora's "yum" ...

Boo · Post by **Boo** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:12 pm

Ah Hmm!!

YUM stands for Yellow dog Update Manager.

Give credit where credit is due: Thanks Yellow dog for fixing up redhats rpm mess.

Redhat/fedora ditched up2date for YUM because it is so cool for rpms.
Yes slow but it works.

And do not forget Yellow Dog runs on PS3.

hairy_Palms · Post by **hairy_Palms** » Sat May 12, 2007 8:17 am

so does ubuntu, and therefore i asssume mint