Linux Desktop Readiness Thread

[aysiu]

I've moved the posts about this thread to How best to handle "Linux is not ready for the desktop" threads

[julian67]

I don't doubt that more might be done than Ubuntu does - but I still say that no OS can do what you requested. The 'correct' settings for such things as colour depth and resolution cannot be determined by hard or software because the correct setting may change hourly or even more often, depending on the needs/wants of the user. today I want 1600x1200 @ 24 depth, later I may 800x600 @ 16 depth for maximum visibility of something. Thus my position that maximum can be detected, but correct can not.

Yes other OS's can do exactly this.

But firstly most other users only want maximum correct resolution and bit depth and correct screen size and nothing else. This is the obvious goal of the quick installer set up tool and indeed is all that is attempted in Ubuntu with my laptop's widescreen LCD. Only the maximum resolution is configured and there are none of the supported lower resolutions listed/configured. Debian/Ubuntu config tool unfortunately can't really even get this maximum config correct. Initially it appears it has done this but a closer look at xorg.conf shows it only does half the job. Fortunately this approach works more than half the time for more than half the people but it is not so good for many others.

Other distros do offer automated correct configuration for multiple supported resolutions and depths , so it is actually possible. Example: Ubuntu on my laptop only offers me only "1280 x 800" at depths 1,4,8,16,24. openSuse offers me all the resolutions supported by my hardware "1280x800" "1280x768" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480" at depths 8, 15, 16 and 24 and with a correct modeline written for each resolution.

So it is clear that at least one other distro can do exactly as you describe and automatically offer multiple correct configurations for the various resolutions supported by the hardware. I would be rather surprised if Mandriva could not do the same and I would expect Fedora to achieve something similar.

[prizrak]

Thanks for an informative response rather than a shrugging-it-off one. I like the information you provided about the beginning days of windows and linux. I upgraded because I had issues with Edgy, of course otherwise I wouldn't have upgraded. And I could have installed Dapper Drake but I assumed that just as it would be expected that the issues in Edgy would be fixed in Feisty, the issues in Dapper Drake were fixed in Edgy and certainly anyone would like to use a version with less bugs. Let me ask you this: If I use Dapper, wouldn't I be using older versions of drivers for my hardware? I am fine with that as long as it works nicely. I tried reading about Dapper Drake but I couldn't well figure out what the technicalities are which make it more stable and in what aspects.

Yes you would be using older drivers as well as older software. Stability comes from two things (mainly). One is that the software that is older generally has been better tested and more bugs have been fixed. The other thing is that it has a 3 year support cycle, That means that you will keep getting bug fixes and security updates for 3 years and won't have to upgrade to anything. It also means that your software environment doesn't actually change it simply gets fixed. Trade off of course means making due without the newest and prettiest features.

Also there is no shame in distro switching, some hardware configurations seem to work better with other distro's. For instance a friend of mine had issues with Ubuntu but OpenSuSE worked 100% out of the box for him. I don't want you to think that when people tell you to use something else they are being mean sometimes it's the only real solution (sad but true).

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by u.b.u.n.t.u View Post
It is generic. Similar to what thegreenman posted except to the GPU and it being Nvidia rather than ATI.

I spent hours over two days with various edits.

I got it to work with 1152x864 and 85Hz - locking it in. Then I went to install Nvidia to see Beryl for myself, rebooted and hey presto, back to 800x600 and 50Hz, completely bypassing the xorg.config file.

I will resign myself to XP till at least Gutsy Gibbon and assist the official Ubuntu team (I am in contact with one person) working on resolving this problem. It is known issue.

The mechanism of identification needs to be worked on.

Thanks to almost everyone who posted in reply

Hate to tell you this but this is an obvious case of user error. If you have the nVidia driver installed and enabled you also have nvidia-settings. That just happens to be an excellent GUI from nVidia themselves that will allow you to probe monitors (and believe me it can get what the max res is) and will allow you to set the resolution you want. It's simple and it's instant. Just because you don't know about something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[wog]

Under "Desktop Ready" I would add that an application is intuitive, easy to understand how to control and use, and the graphical interface looks sharp and/or pretty.

[aysiu]

Under "Desktop Ready" I would add that an application is intuitive, easy to understand how to control and use, and the graphical interface looks sharp and/or pretty.

I don't know any OS that fits that criteria.

[Brunellus]

Under "Desktop Ready" I would add that an application is intuitive, easy to understand how to control and use, and the graphical interface looks sharp and/or pretty.

none of which applied to MSFT for years--and yet they dominated the desktop.

Desktop readiness means that the application is on the desktop that most people have. That means pre-installation. MSFT played its cards right with IBM/Intel in the early days to achieve this.

[julian67]

It didn't used to just mean pre-installed. There was a real battle between office suites and productivity applications and web browsers.....even different shells. It wasn't at all unusual to be running word perfect and netscape navigator and you might see people running geoworks instead of the MS environment. I think most people know that MS is not in the competition to take second place and they use some dubious methods but it's better not to forget that MS office is the benchmark for office suites and they are not stupid and do get a lot of things right. If MS Office wasn't at minimum equal to or better than other office suites MS wouldn't stay in a monopoly position for long.

an application is intuitive, easy to understand how to control and use, and the graphical interface looks sharp and/or pretty.

Liferea? Totem? Epiphany? SoundJuicer? All those fit the description for me but I realise everyone has a different idea what is sharp/pretty, even functional.

[keith11]

Yes you would be using older drivers as well as older software. Stability comes from two things (mainly). One is that the software that is older generally has been better tested and more bugs have been fixed. The other thing is that it has a 3 year support cycle, That means that you will keep getting bug fixes and security updates for 3 years and won't have to upgrade to anything. It also means that your software environment doesn't actually change it simply gets fixed. Trade off of course means making due without the newest and prettiest features.

Also there is no shame in distro switching, some hardware configurations seem to work better with other distro's. For instance a friend of mine had issues with Ubuntu but OpenSuSE worked 100% out of the box for him. I don't want you to think that when people tell you to use something else they are being mean sometimes it's the only real solution (sad but true).

Yes I understand where you are coming from as far as switching is concerned. The way I look at a distro is how big and responsive community it has, what kind of documentation it has, what latest features they have, how stable the company which owns it is and how hard the developers work to incorporate the features which are very important for the end user. Based on all those I chose Kubuntu over OpenSuse. I have no plans to switch to any other OS except Kubuntu as most of my hardware works and more important I have a better feeling with Kubuntu that whatever problems I have they will be solved soon. Someone here suggested I use Gentoo (Porbably he was making fun of me......), like I could use Gentoo, yeah right.)

Keith.

Keith.

[prizrak]

ut it's better not to forget that MS office is the benchmark for office suites

If that's the case then OOo should have no problem whatsoever. Office 2007 sux horribly and has removed much of the functionality.