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X.org configuration tool GUI written in GTK

glatzor.de — This needs to be put into gnome when it's finished!

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  • Darkhacker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29I think it is a step in the right direction and it looks beautiful. I'm not trashing the project in anyway as I think it looks like it could do a much better job managing display settings than anything currently available, however I still feel as though open drivers and auto-detection is the proper way of handling these issues in the long term. I think this tool should not be included to solve the current problem with graphics drivers in Linux, but rather because it is far more powerful and configurable than the limited display settings found in most distributions. I just wanted to point this out because some of the comments on the linked page seem to rally support for this as the solution to display issues with closed source drivers rather than as just another tool to change common settings with.
    • 98acura, on 10/12/2007, -7/+34Down, and none of the mirrors had a chance to grab it... "Digg.com, worlds best DDoS attack."
    • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4Agreed. Most distros (such as Fedora) get my monitor configured properly by default, but Ubuntu refuses to do so. Obviously it's not tough to do. As great as this tool might be, imagine how much better off we'd be if the Ubuntu devs (and others) put even half this much effort into simply integrating better detection? I shouldn't have to download a tool just to set up my monitor or mouse.
    • schoate09, on 10/12/2007, -7/+9How about a better CLI tool? Seriously, the odds of needing to configure x.org from within gnome are slim to none, but xorg-config sucks.
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21"How about a better CLI tool? Seriously, the odds of needing to configure x.org from within gnome are slim to none, but xorg-config sucks."

      What about this? Why don't we leave the tool in GNOME, then if the boot-up autodetection of the drivers doesn't work, nothing's working right, we do what other Operating Systems do, and run X with a VESA-compliant driver. This gets us to GNOME, where we can use the GUI tool to configure X, and then restart X. No command line configuration necessary.
    • OneAndOnlySnob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Nothing like using a GUI tool to fix your xwindows server when it's broken...

      xorg 7.3 will solve most x configuration problems anyway.
    • damentz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Why are we adding unnecessary steps by making it gui? If you are fixing your xorg installation, you are probably not in X.
  • shizeon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10This is nice. Can't wait till x.org can do dynamic configuration, then something like this will be even more needed.
    • h0ly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21That should happen with X.org 7.3, around May 2007. At least it's what the Road-map says:

      http://wiki.x.org/wiki/ChangesForX11R73

      And I can hardly wait :)
    • SmokedL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"This is nice. Can't wait till x.org can do dynamic configuration."

      Amen to that. Once you have that implemented correctly, the worst that an incorrect configuration change should be able to do to you is to kick you back to a low resolution generic driver. Just the fact that you would remain in a GUI environment with all the GUI tools available would make trouble shooting Xorg configuration problems orders of magnitude easier, especially for the less than knowledgeable user.

      No longer will a minor mistake setting up Xorg.conf or a binary driver leave the novice user with nothing but a prompt that they do not know how to use. Now they will get an informative error message and be returned to their original configuration. Add to that a GUI tool to perform the configuration, and the ease of configuring Xorg has made a quantum leap forwards.

      I consider this to be one of the most important developments of the last 5 years in terms of enabling less savvy users to switch to Linux, and in easing the pain of mistakes to those that already are using Linux.
    • Sicarul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@SmokedL:

      I quite guess this is because of this "Linux for home users" movement that is quite new to Linux, which is waaay cool, i can't wait to see if sometime in the future you could see distributions of free(as in freedom) systems everywhere(Yeah, i don't care if it's Linux, Haiku, GPL'ed Solaris, ReactOS, or whatever) =D
  • dainbramage559, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This has been long overdue. This plus bulletproof X in feisty.
    • TehDoctor, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Compiz or Beryl would be nice, too. Besides the eye candy and couple of usability things, it finally does a good job of bringing dashboard/gadgets/widgets to Linux with Screenlets. SuperKaramba and GDesklets pale in comparison.
    • Nerevar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I believe Compiz is going to be default in Feisty. You can just go into the menu and select "enable desktop effects" or something like that
  • DaveLam, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Long overdue INDEED!
  • patpi, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4There will be beter ways for configuring Xorg, Samba, etc ion linux in near future http://www.libelektra.org/Main_Page
    "Elektra is a universal hierarchical configuration store, with related goals like GConf and the Windows Registry.The whole point of it is to tie applications together, so that they can co-operate and share their user-preferences."

    just see this screenshot -> http://www.libelektra.org/Image:Kdbedit-signature.png

    libelektra.org
    • NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8ok thats just funny. There are going to be 80 different ways of configuring products, non of witch will work cooperatively. Sometimes its best to just work on the existing tools instead of making "Yet Another (insert tool)"
    • bruenig, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21Oh yes, there is nothing easier to configure than windows registry.

      /sarcasm
    • patpi, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7"Oh yes, there is nothing easier to configure than windows registry."
      Windows Registry is just WRONG IMPLEMENTATION of VERY GOOD IDEA. Project Elektra is going to be good implementation
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"Oh yes, there is nothing easier to configure than windows registry."

      Try out GConf, it literally is the best way to configure software that I've used in years. Rather than playing .conf file whackamole, you fire up gconf-editor and you change a few things around. Best yet, if you use the application whose settings you can change, you can actually see the changes not only in realtime, but fire up the preferences panel and there they are.

      While I agree that .conf files should be left in as a last resort (for example, for servers, fallback if the "registry" gets corrupted, etc), GConf (and KDE's implementation Elektra) are solving a huge number of problems that have been begging for a fix. The only disappointing thing about it is KDE and Gnome continue to use two different set of tools to do the exact same thing; a centralized Linux registry would be much better than KDE and Gnome both writing one.
    • jhuebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@patpl: "Windows Registry is just WRONG IMPLEMENTATION of VERY GOOD IDEA. Project Elektra is going to be good implementation"

      I always cringe when I see someone comment on what an app "is going to be". The reality is that it currently isn't a good implementation. Besides, the "perfect" configuration tool is a subjective thing.
  • AnteChronos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32The only problem is that the few times I've needed to edit my X.org config were those occasions where the X server wouldn't start, which would render the existence of a cool whizzbang GTK-based GUI configuration tool moot.
    • bejayel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1My thoughts exactly.

      There are very few times that i need to configure xorg from within gnome. Only when i change the mouse to work with my logitech g5.

      It would be awesome (since digg took the site down i dont even know what this does or looks like) if there was a drop down with a selection of mice, then the proper code was inserted, same for integrated video stuff, synaptics, support for multiple pointer devices, etc.

      I would use this for post configuration tweaking. As for actually configuring to make it work,

      X -configure

      does a pretty decent job thus far.
    • bigtomrodney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If it automatically launched in ncurses when there is no X server running like SUSE's YaST. That said I would rather see the upcoming dynamic X server that configures itself, and/or as an aside a fallback for to your previous configuration in the case you do set something up manually and it doesn't work.
    • rabidsnail, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It shouldn't be too hard to get it to run direct on framebuffer.
      http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gtk/gtk-framebuffer.html
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"The only problem is that the few times I've needed to edit my X.org config were those occasions where the X server wouldn't start"

      With a Bulletproof X configuration (one that _always_ universally falls back to VESA), you would virtually always get to a GUI, to where you can use a GUI configuration tool. It's a shame more people are working on things like Beryl than making X bulletproof.
    • Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"With a Bulletproof X configuration (one that _always_ universally falls back to VESA), you would virtually always get to a GUI, to where you can use a GUI configuration tool. It's a shame more people are working on things like Beryl than making X bulletproof."
      That will be available in 2 months (may) when xorg 7.3 is released
      http://wiki.x.org/wiki/ChangesForX11R73
  • AirRaven, on 10/12/2007, -7/+47You want to put a *CONFIGURATION* tool into GNOME?

    Are you out of your mind? Stop confusing the users!
    • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -8/+11Your comment is sort of ironic. While it's true that Gnome developers like the "keep it simple" way of doing things, I find that KDE users are generally unable to figure out how to configure Gnome at all. Gnome keeps the interface simple, but the underlying machine is quite powerful.
    • heavyal, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I think AirRaven was being sarcastic. It is well known that the GNOME developers hold strongly to the 'keep it simple, stupid' method of gui implementation. There are pros and cons to this approach but I personally find that I'd rather have to dig around in config files for special functionality rather than have it constantly overloading my interface as is the case with anything in KDE.
    • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3My comment was aimed more at the KDE crowd than the original poster. They constantly attack Gnome, suggesting that it's too simple and doesn't give them the functionality they need, when in all reality the problem is that they can't figure out how the "simple" desktop works. When I started using Gnome, I had all sorts of complaints, and almost all of them stemmed from me simply not knowing what I was doing.
    • sq377, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I miss gnome-screensaver being able to be configured :(
    • arjie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1sq377: Install xscreensaver then. Use what you like.
  • NinjaBoy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Here is the question, can it force X to use a resolution you know works? I hate the fact that i cant seem to get gnome to run at 720p on my hdtv. I have the resolution in my xorg.conf but gnome refuses to use it.

    Either way, this still rocks. Im always scared walking a new linux user through editing xorg.conf
    • coredump0x01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Resolution problems are usually caused by incorrect refresh rates specified in xorg.conf. After I specified the correct values for my monitor I was able to get the widescreen resolution. You need to find out what the refresh rate is and specify it in xorg.conf.
    • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1coredump is right, simply adding the proper frequencies should get your resolution problem fixed.

      http://othello.alma.edu/~07tmhopk/ubuntuhowto.html#resolution if you need any help with it.
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"You need to find out what the refresh rate is and specify it in xorg.conf."

      The sad part is, we have a protocol for doing this, built into recent monitors, only it doesn't always work right; DPMS (actually stands for Display Power Management System, but defines a lot more in its spec) tells the video car the monitor's horizontal and vertical refresh rates, but even for my HDTV it only reports half of the modes it actually supports (and only one of those modes is in 16:10, the native pixel format of the display, at 1/3rd the true resolution of the monitor). If the manufactures followed the standards, nobody would have these problems, things would Just Work (tm) out of the box. I've already decided I'll never buy from this company again because of their broken DPMS signals (and because the menus barely allow me to configure the monitor at all), and I'd advise anyone who finds the same about their monitor to do the same. We should embrace companies that work off standards and who comply with them, and vote with our dollars and pass over companies who don't.
    • democracysucks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@gemini

      If the monitor itself is the problem, how come some distrobutions configure it properly, while others do not? Certainly whatever is being done to detect the monitor in the "working" distros can be done in the "non-working" distros.
    • geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"If the monitor itself is the problem, how come some distrobutions configure it properly, while others do not? Certainly whatever is being done to detect the monitor in the "working" distros can be done in the "non-working" distros."

      Some distributions program the monitor correctly because they know about this incorrect signal the monitor's sending, and correct accordingly. Most everyone feeds their changes upstream, but because distros release at significantly different rates, some distros end up using old versions of X, some use newer versions where there's regressions, some simply guess. Other problems are RAMDAC configurations on the video cards themselves (as most newer video cards actually generate these video carrier signals using PLLs that have to be explicitly programmed), which can cause X to generate an incorrect signal, even if it read your DPMS correctly.

      Because of this huge variance between distributions, nobody can tell what will work, and what won't without simply trying it and feeding back information to the developers. There are dozens of pieces of code that have to work in concert to generate a stable image on your screen, and even one of those pieces failing can break the whole system. Having open and standardized hardware goes a long, long way towards helping this, but it's not the only issue at hand.
    • sterken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why is it that Windows seems to handle these problems so well? What is Windows doing that X isn't? I run Ubuntu on my desktop, but little things like this wear on me.

      I'm not trolling, it's a serious question. I hope one day that Ubuntu is easy enough to install/configure without diving into the command line. Personally, I'm ok with command line, but there is a huge number of users that aren't comfortable with it.
  • Ngai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Mirror:
    http://duggmirror.com//linux_unix/X_org_configuration_tool_GUI_written_in_GTK/plain.html

    Give it a second then press OK when it asks to disable the AJAX and CSS.
  • baalzebub, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4a gui config tool for X, who ever uses it better get it right the first time or you will be editing xorg.conf in the dark (CLI)
    • tech42er, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's not THAT difficult to edit it via CLI.
    • sirhomer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
      then fix problem
      then type "startx"
  • Athens101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Right, about the only time I mess with my xorg.conf is when I bork it config playing with something. Aside from changing NV to NVIDIA and RIVAFB to FGLRX I don't see why you would need to mess with the xorg.conf.

    Dunno guess I am just a nano loving nerd ;)
    • Philodox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't know if this is still the case, but I used to have to add resolutions for my monitor.
    • phatmikey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You also need to feck about with it to get your extra mouse buttons working. xorg.conf isn't just for the display.
    • vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I mess with my resolutions a lot...

      Custom timings for my HDTV's vga input to eliminate overscan.
      Switching between dual-screen, clone-screen when using the HDTV.
      Switching between dual-screen, single screen when docking/undocking laptop.

      These are things that are relatively easy in windows... It's been awhile since I used linux as a desktop, but it was basically impossible to switch between such modes without entirely restarting X.
    • cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@pahtmikey - Yes you do. I had to make quite a few changes to get my Intellimouse Explorer completely working. That mouse has since died, does anyone have a working configuration for an Apple Mighty Mouse? It would be much appreciated.
    • fdemmer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5there were times when nano users were not considered nerds, but quite the opposite... what has the world become...
  • DigitalJester, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Buried because this isn't the first GTK based X.org configuration. Good for Ubuntu, thats about it.
    • bejayel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Ubuntu isnt the only user base that uses gnome. I, for one, prefer gnome and i am a gentoo user.
    • phatmikey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Red Hat also uses Gnome by default, so does Novell. Let's try not to kick-off a flame war though.
  • RoboDonut, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10So, what's wrong with "nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf" again?
    • mrsticks, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13You must have a typo...
      That's "vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf".

      /half-sarcastic
    • wolferz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2When you think the average grandmother could figure that out then it will be safe to say there is no problem with it.
    • RoboDonut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@wolferz
      I don't think that the average grandmother could even use the GUI tool, or for that matter, understand what a resolution or refresh rate is. The average grandmother probably won't be messing with that stuff, she's going to ask her more tech-savvy relatives to do it for her. You only have to learn how to edit an xorg.conf once. After that, you can do a lot more by editing the file directly than any GUI tool would allow you to do.
    • DonCarcharo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3"So, what's wrong with "nano -w /etc/X11/xorg.conf" again?"

      That comment speaks volumes about what's wrong with the Linux community. You might as well have responded in German as far as the average desktop user is concerned.
    • DonCarcharo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Eh mod me down. I've edited my xorg.conf file many times in Ubuntu while dabbling with Beryl it's not like this is some unsubstantiated flame. The fact remains that this is not something the average user feels comfortable doing. Moreover the fact that when I asked for help on the topic everyone was like, "didn't you vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf" leads me to believe that the average Linux user assumes this answer should have come naturally to me.

      I realize that to capable Linux users it seems incredibly natural to use a CLI based text editor to configure conf files when tweaking any system level settings but the rest of the world likes control panels. Hard to believe but it's true.
    • Ademan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Amen mrsticks
  • spz104, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Great, I can't get X working, let me run this great GUI program... Wait all I see is a black screen... Can't connect to display? What's going on?
    • h0ly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Hmm, how about this: you are using a distro that allows X to crash into a safe-mode 800x600 resolution (eg: Ubuntu Feisty). Now open up this tool, edit your settings, and you're good to go.
  • rabidsnail, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Here's a mirror of the package: http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/admin/displayconfig-gtk
  • n0ydz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5What exactly is so special? SuSE has been doing this using SaX2 since Suse8.1
    http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:X_Server_Configuration_with_SaX2_(8.1_or_Higher)

    I don't really see the point in having a graphical tool for configuring X in the first place, it kind of defeats the point. And using a toolkit like GTK probably isn't the smartest decision, as some people prefer other frameworks.
    • h0ly, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Dude, it's Free Software. If you don't like it, don't use it.
      But if you want to know why a lot of people care, it's because it makes a lot of sense with Bullet-Proof-X:
      https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BulletProofX
    • n0ydz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That BulletProofX kind of sounds intriguing, except I can think of various laptops which will not boot to X regardless of what module the Xserver falls back to. I can pretty much guarantee that it won't be "bulletproof", but I suppose it will be a good start.
    • h0ly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Right, but then again, we are all waiting for the elegant answer (aka X.org 7.3)
      Until then, workarounds such as these are better than nothing.

      Update: BTW, "dude" is just there for a laugh, relax :)
    • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, it should support Lesstif, the only real widget set.
    • mrsteveman1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yea the opensuse system is nice, but thats a classic problem with these developers, someone implement a nice system and no one else wants to use it because THEY did it. Redundant development is annoying.

      Just because something is written in GTK means nothing, as youve seen in suse which can load its own Xorg to run the config. KDE people can run gtk too.

      And, remember there are other times you would want to configure Xorg, for instance switching between dual and single monitors. Those are the real problems, not initial config.

      When Xorg is able to switch screens while running we will require a system like this, Nvidia already has a configuration panel but thats not a good option, it needs to be part of the system and for all drivers.
    • n0ydz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My gripe about it being GTK, is that many people like to only use one toolkit, and don't like to muck up their system with the extra crap. I know many fellow Arch Linux users who run only GTK, and won't touch QT with a ten foot pole and vice versa. What they should've done is used a more generic toolkit, like Xarchiver does, or Xsmbrowser.
  • SimonGray, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Does anyone have a working link to some screen shots?
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This is great, i was just telling someone the other day about how much of a pain it is to try to edit the xorg all the time. I always seem to screw it up and then have to replace it, often. Still haven't figured out how to do dual monitor display with an ati. *wishes ubuntu had better dual monitor support* ive tried "big desktop" to no avail.
    • generalloy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2wait for x.org 7.3 for (Easy) dual monitor/projector support
  • Robotsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3..gee, and to think it only took over a decade....
  • fleabag, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3uh.. this has been around in fedora for a long time

    # system-config-display

    GG
    • NiX0n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it sucks. I can't tell you the number of times it's broken my config.
      Ubuntu's current display manager is none too awesome either.
  • stevenwagner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://community.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/13/2112259&from=rss

    "According to Packard, X.org 7.3 shouldn't even require an xorg.conf -- everything should be autodetected at run time. X.org will receive information about new devices dynamically from D-Bus."
    • sterken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can't imagine why you were buried (what's up with diggers and the bury button lately??), that looks awesome, aside from the binary drivers... which I am a little leery of.
  • pivovy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3vi is the best xorg configuration tool
  • teddyjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's the tool I've been waiting for :)
  • brainxs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Perfect! I've never paid so much attention to this before.
  •  

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