OK, so we all know that I have been eating my own dogfood (that is, using Linux on the desktop) for a while now. I even decided not to buy Leopard for my Mac Mini. And, for the most part, I've been happy. I've been able to do everything I need to do, and do it well.
But there have been a few snags along this road, and I hit a very big one yesterday. I got this brand new, wonderful LCD monitor - 22", high contrast, 1680x1050 resolution - I was happy. I thought I'd be a pig in sh*t - I have been living with an ancient, ancient 15" LCD with dying pixels for a while.
But Nooooooooo. No happiness for me. None. I spent 3 hours struggling with the Nvidia drivers (that's the on-board video that my motherboard has) and my xorg configurations still don't work. (X Windows and xorg - the current software implementation of X Windows - is the way that Linux displays the graphical user interface.)
Every combination of a new version of xorg.conf leads me down a garden path to nowhere. I downloaded the brand-spanking new nvidia drivers, so that I'd be ready to deal with such a high resolution. No go. At this point, I still have to futz with the configs every time I start up, and it still isn't right. I'll send off queries to the right mailing lists and forums, and probably eventually get it all worked out. But plugging in a new monitor just should not be this hard.
X Windows has always been the bane of my existence. I really have come to think that xorg has it in for me. My refrain about it has always been "I hatesssss xorg, I hatesss it." Someone in an IRC channel last night who was trying to help me as I tore my hair out said "why does xorg suck so bad?"
With all of the amazing examples of really great free and open source software, here is an example of one that just isn't what it should be.
Why sometimes eating your own dogfood makes you want to throw up!
Submitted by mpm on
Comments
Michelle - Bless you for your
Submitted by Holly (not verified) on
Michelle - Bless you for your candor and wit. But please don't tear your hair out! I understand you just got a nice new cut! If it makes you feel any better - I feel your pain too. We are trying to eat our own dog food re: transparency and openness in social media. And it's hard. I'm also trying to eat my own dog food and model good behavior for my 2 yo all the time. That's also REALLY hard. I guess having values is just kind of tough. It would be easier if we didn't care!
I should have eaten my own
Submitted by Beth Kanter (not verified) on
I should have eaten my own dogfood. My windows just crashed and I had to reformat. I have a mirror program - did I use nooooo. I did have everything backed up . love this post!
Is it a very recent version
Submitted by Mackenzie (not verified) on
Is it a very recent version of X? Or rather, do you have xrandr? If so, try "xrandr --auto" from inside your crappy-res GUI.
It is the most recent version
Submitted by admin (not verified) on
It is the most recent version available for Ubuntu Gutsy (the distro I'm running now.)
I think, actually, the problem is more about the nvidia drivers, but xrandr is very good to know about. Thanks!
I have always found X to be
Submitted by Dustin J Mitchell (not verified) on
I have always found X to be the weak spot in the side of desktop Linux, too. But to be fair, it has good reason -- video card interfaces adhere to basically *no* standards, and most don't provide Linux drivers (nVidia being particularly well-known in that department). So it's an example of where proprietary lock-in really is crushing FOSS.
Someone donated a 1680x1050
Submitted by Brian (not verified) on
Someone donated a 1680x1050 LCD to Free IT Athens not long ago I hooked it up to a PC with an nvidia card and spent a while pulling my hair out when the proprietary driver just wouldn't work with what I thought was a reasonable xorg.conf. Switching to the open-source driver 'nv' immediately solved the problem!
[...] spending close to five
Submitted by Frustrations » ... (not verified) on
[...] spending close to five hours on the X windows/driver problem I vented about last week. I gave up. I attached the nice brand-spanking new monitor to my Mac Mini, and have been [...]
[...] using Linux on the
Submitted by Linux desktops?... (not verified) on
[...] using Linux on the desktop. I migrated to making it my primary desktop about a year ago. I have had varied problems, from issues of software integration, video problems, wireless issues … The list is getting [...]
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