Touch Screen Issues
Hello all, I want to inquire about the state of touchscreen development in Ubuntu. I recently built a touch-screen-only system running Karmic and I'm generally happy with it (the OS is pretty heavy weight, lots of caching to disk, etc, but that is the way of things in this Aero-Aqua-world) but the touch screen support is lacking. I'm using xorg-input-evtouch. 1- No click and drag!! This is an absolute killer. Many UI features don't work at all without click and drag. What's worse, I *know* the capability is there because when I move a window using right-click-> move, or resize using right-click->resize, click and drag works (albeit awkwardly). 2- I have to start Xorg twice in order for the touchscreen calibration to load. I don't know why this is, but I suspect that the config settings (which are currently loaded in /etc/init.d) should be loaded from somewhere within the Xsession (doesn't X handle the touchscreen?). This problem is very bad because, when the touch screen doesn't work the first time, it is impossible to exit gnome. I have to restart gdm via ssh. I have to do this every time the computer boots. If I didn't have sshd running, I would not be able to use the system at all without a physical mouse. 3- I'm using onboard for my onscreen keyboard. It takes 5 seconds to start. Surely I could do with a bit more RAM in the machine (1GB not enough?) but is there some way for me to force it to stay in memory? 3a- it would be really nice, since it's so much trouble to move the onboard window (no click and drag), if onboard would show the text that's been typed so far in some kind of display space, since often onboard itself appears in front of the cursor location. 3b- onboard doesn't have a man page. Mostly I'm sending this post as a trial to see if I should file bugs for any of these. Thanks for your input. Thanks for making ubuntu. -Brandon -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Touch Screen Issues
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010, Erik Andersen wrote: I'm running Lucid on a touchscreen system and am not having many of the issues that you mention. I strongly recommend downloading Beta 1 and testing it, even as a Live CD, with your system. In particular, does click-and-drag work? I was considering buying a touch screen and am curious: Are different screens more or less driver supported as far as touch (like wireless devices) or is it pretty standard (like usb devices)? I've only tried this one. It's USB- I plugged it in and checked /var/log/messages to see what to google for. evtouch seems to be pretty common and works fine just by installing the ubuntu package. It's completely unusable before it's been calibrated-- it thinks "up" is "down" and the usable screen is only 1/2 size. So I ran the calibration program from the console. after that (and restart X) it works fine. -Brandon -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: too many virtual terminals by defaut
"Dear Mr. President. There are too many states nowadays. Please eliminate three. I am not a crackpot!" http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F16.html Why in the name of all that is good? My process list features 7 gettys, it's true, but they're utterly insignificant compared to the 194 other processes that come out of 'ps aux'. This includes over 60 system processes (denoted with square brackets). If you're worried about 'human readable' process lists, why not start with those? Moreover, some people actually use multiple consoles. For me, what you propose would be quite different from an 'enhancement.' IANAD, but it seems like you're inventing a problem that doesn't exist, then proposing something mildly offensive to fix it. -Brandon Jérôme Bouat wrote: > Hello, > > > I think that only 2 virtual terminals instead of 6 would be enough. > > I understand that most of the memory of the virtual terminals is shared. > However, it would decrease the number of processes (more human readable > process list, less processes context switch, ...). > > There is no small enhancement. > > > Regards. > -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Thoughts on quitting and window controls
Derek Broughton wrote: > John McCabe-Dansted wrote: > >> Maybe. But the paradigm isn't really that pressing the Close >> button minimizes the window to the systray. > > I beg to differ. Think as a user, not a developer. I submit that _users_ > do not generally understand a difference between minimizing to the tray or > the task bar - except that they know something minimized to the task bar is > taking up more space. > >> The paradigm is that closing a >> window closes that window *and* that closing a window never closes a >> service. > > Again, I disagree. Users think "close" and don't stop to think... > >> I think most people would be confused if e.g. clicking close on >> the main sound preferences dialog stopped the sound server. > > ...what closing a sound server means. I think most people are confused by > _any_ change to their system. [I'm confused by the fact that Firefox now > has the ability to hang my entire machine, which it only started to do with > the last upgrade] Yes, making the close button shut down a server and the > minimize button minimize to either the task bar or the system tray _would_ > be initially confusing but imo is more logical, and would be more intuitive. > I think it's unwise to try to imagine a 'typical' user. There are [apparently] a great many people who like the way mac handles the desktop environment- I have never been able to fathom it, but that's why I don't use it. (among other reasons :P ) Mac users and Windows users coming to Ubuntu will expect different things- but Ubuntu is something else entirely and shouldn't aspire to the whims of thoughtless windows and mac users. A 'thoughtful' ubuntu user will quickly realize that some programs don't exit when you close the window. There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes the change should happen on the other side of the display. For my part, I find the argument that "the close button on a window closes the window" compelling. By the same token, "minimize should minimize to the panel", where it can later be restored, remembering its position and size and other window-related things. these are window controls. Minimize to tray, where the window seems to disappear, breaks the windowing metaphor. As for the question of how to deal with applications that persist as services, it seems like it's a quarrel with the application and not with the desktop environment.Maybe they need to notify the user more clearly that they continue to run-- maybe the icons in the notification area can bounce up and down when their windows are closed :) (unless it infringes on a patent). Better, the user should be notified when the program *starts* that a service has been started as well. If it is controversial, as it seems to be with rhythmbox, it should be a preference setting. But don't change the law to fight a parking ticket. -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: lucid beta 2 : too long sleep delay of the screen by default
Felix Miata wrote: > On 2010/04/15 16:14 (GMT-0400) Jérôme Bouat composed: > >> The default sleep delay of the screen is set to 30 minutes when >> operating on mains. > >> I think it is too long because : > >> - Nowadays are the screens using mostly the lcd/led technology with fast >> resume. > >> - The cost of the energy will increase in the coming years (what ever >> the primary source is). > >> I think this default delay could be decreased to 10 or 15 minutes. For >> the few remaining CRT screens, only a few users would have to set their >> preferences. > > It should default to infinite, leaving users who want it to choose what suits > them best. Not too many things irritate me more than having the phone or some > other interruption while installing, and having the screen turn black before > I can turn the too short delay to something I can tolerate or make sure the > mouse &/or keyboard actually work. Perhaps you mean for the installer-- about which I agree-- but the OP was talking about standard operation, not installation. Also, the days of mouse/keyboard not working are fairly long gone :-) -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
