xorg.conf evolution (was Re: [Leaplist] mouse)

Mon Mar 22 10:21:11 EDT 2010

Yes, that has been both a good point and a bad one with me. Really
simplified my xorg.conf, but I lost some capabilities along the way. Chief
and most grievous among them was the loss of xinerama across video cards
from nvidia (I had a GeForce 7900 GTX and a GeForce GTX 260, both of which
were able to run with xinerama and opengl across 4 screens).

Xorg 1.3 worked, but had major issues (you had to list the screens in
exactly the "wrong" order to fool it into working properly (ie, screen 1,
0, 2, 3 vs 0, 1, 2, 3). Using LeftOf and RightOf across video cards in
this case was usually ignored or not followed properly). Xorg 1.5
completely lost the ability to span graphic cards with xinerama and opengl
enabled... to the point where I eventually ripped out the 7900 and two
monitors, deciding that linux was no longer capable of working in that
configuration (granted, windows never was). Being a gentoo user, when the
portage tree simply stopped carrying 1.3 and other packages started
depending on 1.5 or higher, the maintenance costs of remaining on 1.3
became too much to bear. (For a while, I maintained a local tree with 1.3
ebuilds and its dependencies, but eventually I couldn't keep other
packages up to date due to dependencies on 1.5).

I kinda liked that setup, I had two 19" 4:3 (1280x1024, cheap) monitors on
the ends, and two 22" 16:10 (1680x1050) monitors in the center, all
arranged in an arc in front of me (the 260 handled the big monitors in the
center, the 7900 handled the small monitors on the edge, and the primary
"screen" where fullscreen OGL apps appeared on was on the left 22").
On Sat, March 20, 2010 3:20 pm, Bryan J Smith wrote:
> Yep, the xorg.conf hardware and most other sections are for
> overriding autodetection/defaults.  All and I mean 100% of the
> X configuration issues I've solved for people in the last 2 years
> has been to generate a new xorg.conf and comment out whole
> sections.
>
> Although one user was really thick and I took about 3 weeks
> to convince him on one list.  ;)
>
> --
> Bryan J Smith - mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin Korb <kmk at sanitarium.net>
> Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:15:21
> To: This is the Leap Main List<leaplist at leap-cf.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leaplist] mouse
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Even the hard distros auto-detect mice now.  The standard setup for X
> now is to not specify at all unless the device is an unusual one.
> Specifying generic input devices in xorg.conf is discouraged (and tends
> to not even work).
>
> In fact even connecting a second keyboard and/or mouse usually just
> works.
>
> On 03/20/10 15:08, Bryan J Smith wrote:
>> Reconfiguration isn't necessary. Nearly all distros auto-detect
>> dynamically. It's been like this since before the X.org chnage.
>>
>> Most logitech mice accept the PS/2 to USB adapter. There
>> are only a few that do not.
>>
>> As I mentioned, I only buy in bulk.  About 3-4 years ago I bought
>> a whole dozen of the Logitech Ultra-X, which was an OEM/
>> after-market model that most people have never heard of.
>> It's the absolute best tracking LED optical I've ever used, and
>> almost as good as a laser.  My price? $40 for the whole lot, shipped.
>> And that included the adapters with the mouse.
>>
>> I have some inexpensive Belkin wireless units as well that I bought
>> for $8/each in quantity, although I'm not a big fan of the tracking.
>>
>> To this day I still use the Ultra-X wired ones, even on planes
>> (especially since you're not supposed to use wireless devices
>> on aircraft, even on the ones that allow WLAN).
>>
>> --
>> Bryan J Smith - mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org
>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith
>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jim Hartley <xjimh at cfl.rr.com>
>> Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:52:02
>> To: This is the Leap Main List<leaplist at leap-cf.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Leaplist] mouse
>>
>> If you don't really need it, why pay for wireless? You can get a wired
>> USB mouse at Office depot for $10-12.
>>
>> I had to buy a mouse last week, my old one, one of the last of the
>> "rubber ball" ones, had the rollers so grunked up I couldn't get them
>> clean ... ALL the new ones are optical. Unfortunately ALMOST ALL of the
>> new ones are USB, and I didn't want to have to reconfigure, I just
>> wanted to plug in a replacement and have the computer not notice (yeah,
>> I was being lazy, but it worked).
>>
>> You'd think they'd figure out that a lot of old PS/2 mice are dying and
>> stock more replacements, but no, the damn stores only want to carry the
>> latest and greatest. The idiot salesman told me they had NO PS/2 mice,
>> I'd have to try to find it on-line. He was wrong, there were a couple
>> with adapters, but I'm ashamed to admit what brand I had to buy to get
>> that. With the adapter so it could advertise "USB/PS2" on the box it was
>> about $21.
>>
>> Jim Hartley
>>
>>
>> Tom Foster wrote:
>>> howdy guys,
>>>
>>> Where can I get a good but relatively inexpensive small wireless
>>> mouse?  I just saw one yesterday that tempted me,with a little
>>> stubby usb thing, but it cost 40 bucks.  Since I don't really need a
>>> mouse, that's too much to pay.  Any suggestions?
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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>> http://lists.leap-cf.org/mailman/listinfo/leaplist
>
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> 	Kevin Korb			Phone:    (407) 252-6853
> 	Systems Administrator		Internet:
> 	FutureQuest, Inc.		Kevin at FutureQuest.net  (work)
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