Re: Time for some Clarity (KDE, Qt, Open Source...)
Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu> writes:
> robert havoc pennington <rhpennin@midway.uchicago.edu> writes:
>
> > > A easy to set up X windows system. When setting up the display the
> > > system will automatically get the appropriate server with out the need
> > > of the user having to chose which one.
>
> > All the user has to do is refer to their computer's documentation and tell
> > xf86config what kind of card they have. As I understand it this is
> > basically the best that can be done, due to hardware limitations, without
> > limiting users to cruddy 640x480 standard VGA modes.
>
> This can and should be fixed. I should not have to type the name of
> my video card when the name already appears in /proc/pci.
> Not all video cards are PCI based. What about ISA and AGP and
> non-Intel buses?
The user will be prompted if the program can't detect the card. This
is how Red Hat's install program does it.
The UltraPenguin install program does a similar thing. (I've
contributed a patch to fix CG14 detection.) It's pretty easy to do on
the Sparc, just walk through the OpenProm tree, exposed by the kernel,
and pick out the video devices. (Sparcs can be multiheaded.) One
nice advantage to non-Intel busses is that they tend to provide
mechanisms like this, and you have fewer cards to deal with.
Actually, I think the XF86Setup program does PCI detection too, but
that last time I checked, Red Hat used their own config code because
they have to install the server package after they figure out which
one the user needs.
I assume the people working on our install disks check out Red Hat
(and other dists) from time to time. I am impressed with the progress
made in Hamm (with the predefined package selections and other
niceties).
Steve
dunham@cps.msu.edu
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