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Re: x configuration process



msw@cox.net wrote:

On Thu, Apr 29, 2004 at 08:30:17PM -0700, Nick Urban wrote:
Why does X not attempt to configure itself automatically before asking the user questions?

Depends on whether discover and friends are installed or not.

Okay, well I'm pretty sure discover and friends are installed by default, and I was still prompted with questions during my sarge install. For some things I was given the option of auto-detection, but with the values it came up with for my monitor config, I seemed to be limited more than I should have been.

The debconf configurator asks lots of questions that many users don't understand or care about. If the user does care, they can always just run `XFree86 -configure' and do some manual editing.

Oh, and doing it that way subjects clueless users to LESS intimidating
questions.  Not.  Branden's configuration method is pretty moron-friendly.

The point I was trying to make is that there are basically two classes of users, those who know how to set up X and those who don't. The former don't need the debconf interface, and the latter don't understand it. I'm not suggesting that those who don't understand debconf would understand XF86Config.

In any case, the system should at least try to autodetect everything and only prompt the user if it fails... is this currently what it does?

Does X it normally autoconfigure when working correctly, or is this a
bigger problem. If it is, can we just steal knoppix autoconfigure system?

Please, no... can we have something that works, instead?

All I know is that in my testing, it always worked with no hassles.
In what way does knoppix autodetection not work?

I'm not writing just to complain. There seem to be autodetection schemes out there that work, and I'd like to help Debian make use of them if possible.

Nick




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