(no subject)

[torkell]

Today I discovered the following:

If the KVM isn't set to my Redhat Linux desktop when it starts, then it misdetects the monitor and decides that it is only capable of 800x600. Not unreasonable, but rather annoying.

KDE does not have an equivalent of the Windows "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" checkbox. Instead KDE only shows modes that it thinks the monitor is capable of, and provides no way to override this in KDE's desktop properties.

Using the display properties to explicitly force the monitor type to "LCD, 1280x1024" requires logging out and back in.

Changing the resolution using the same program requires logging out and back in.


Yes, I have ranted about similar before. Except this time I wasn't running an unusual multi-monitor setup and I wasn't running from a LiveCD.

Comments

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

See, it's trying to be helpful! And sucking terribly.

KVMs sometimes store the DDC information and transmit it to any client that asks for it, but some are just crap. Like one of our extenders that doesn't transmit the DDC stuff at all, and another that screws up the timings from each of the clients so the LCD monitor displays every single client in a different location with different clipping.

I'm surprised KDE doesn't let you adjust things on the fly - KDE seems from the outside to have been written by people more competent than the gnome camp. But I really do prefer to do things from config files.

[torkell]

The KVM is a Belkin. You may now point and laugh.

So far I've also discovered that it can only process change-system hotkeys when the system it's currently connected to is processing keyboard events, it appears to reinit the mouse on every switch, it doesn't manage keyboard repeat and mouse acceleration, and it's incapable of being hotplugged.

I do wonder how they managed to make it suck so much, as the KVM I have at home handles all of the above perfectly (maintains keyboard and mouse state, does not rely on host to process keyboard events, fully hotpluggable, has a reset button!) and only suffers from having Ctrl as the hotkey. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if it solves the DDC problem by not implementing it (though a half-decent system should handle that situation...)

[torkell]

Oh, I think KDE's own resolution changer can switch resolution on-the-fly (I had it start at 1024x768 instead of 1280x1024 before, and was able to correct that without logging out). Unfortuantly KDE's own changer is incapable of setting resolutions that it doesn't think are supported (or if it is, it requires mucking about with command-line tools - I should not need to use a command prompt to do basic system configuration)

[link077.livejournal.com]

I suspect the problem is that available resolutions are defined when X actually starts. It's not a KDE-specific issue. A workaround might be to manually define the resolutions you want to use, rather than having it autodetect.

"I should not need to use a command prompt to do basic system configuration"
I don't disagree, but Linux distributions just aren't quite there yet. Things are improving though! When I first started using Linux, GUI configuration tools (at least ones that worked properly) were the exception rather than the norm.