On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 1:54 PM, Scott Kitterman <ubu...@kitterman.com> wrote: > On Thursday, March 17, 2011 10:01:51 pm Dustin Kirkland wrote: >> Howdy Ubuntu-devel and Ubuntu-server, >> >> We just uploaded a couple of small patches a week ahead of >> UserInterfaceFreeze to five packages that affect the console tty and >> vt interface. We're hoping you can help test this on your hardware >> and let us know if you find any adverse affects (please subscribe me >> to the bug reports, if you do!) :-) >> >> The end goals were (Bug #730672): >> 1) Improve the virtual terminal color palette >> 2) Modernize the visual experience on Ubuntu servers >> >> To solve (1), we wrote a small C program that you should now find in >> /sbin/setvtrgb. You can refer to the manpage for the full >> documentation. It's a handy utility that reads a set of well-formed >> RGB values from file and then uses an ioctl to dynamically apply them >> to all consoles. This utility is currently provided in the kbd >> package, and I'm working on getting that upstream into Debian. >> >> The default colors used by the Linux kernel are quite simply the >> traditional 16 VGA colors, which you can find at: >> * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#Colors >> >> While perhaps mathematically symmetric, some of those colors are a >> pretty hard on the eyes. The Ubuntu Design Team has put quite a bit >> of effort into selecting a distinctive color scheme for the Ubuntu >> Desktop, and they have now carefully selected an 16 color palette for >> server consoles too! >> >> So the next three pieces of (1) are solved by a series of uploads to: >> * console-setup -- add a conffile at /etc/vtrgb (so that you can >> customize your own console colors, if you don't like the ones Ubuntu >> provides!), and an upstart job that applies them on boot with >> 'setvtrgb /etc/vtrgb' >> * rootskel -- call 'setvtrgb /etc/vtrgb' early in the Server and >> Alternate installer for its virtual terminals >> * bogl -- update the colors in the bterm palette used by >> debian-installer (it happens to hard code them) >> >> After upgrading your local system's kbd and console-setup packages, >> you should now have a crisp, new, clean color scheme in your tty. >> There should be no affect whatsoever in [X, Gnome, KDE, XFCE, >> gnome-terminal, konsole] or even SSH sessions to your server. >> However, if you drop to a command prompt with ctrl-alt-F1, you should >> see a nice difference. Note that if for some reason perhaps you >> prefer the legacy VGA colors, you can revert the change simply with: >> $ sudo setvtrgb vga >> And if you want to make that permanent, follow with: >> $ cat /sys/module/vt/parameters/default_{red,grn,blu} | sudo tee >> /etc/vtrgb >> >> And as soon as the daily cdimage builder picks up the changes to >> rootskel and bogl (within a day or two?), you should see the same >> color improvements in the Natty Server and Alternate installer >> screens. >> >> Now to address (2), we've made one minor change to the newt library, >> which defines the color scheme for most curses-based utilities -- most >> importantly, debconf and in turn, the debian-installer. If you've >> ever installed an Ubuntu server, and in staring at the screen thought, >> "That blue sure looks a lot like MS-DOS circa 1988," we're right there >> with you. So we've swapped that aged "Microsoft blue" out for some >> modern "Ubuntu aubergine"! >> >> So what does all of this look like? Here are some screen shots! >> * On the console >> * before: http://bit.ly/fvm16s >> * after: http://bit.ly/dRF9yi >> * And in the installer >> * msdos6: http://bit.ly/gyQgJL >> * before: http://bit.ly/i1cc5Q >> * after: http://bit.ly/hRLDDI >> >> Spiffy, huh? Thanks to everyone who help spread some Aubergine-love >> to Ubuntu Server folks! > > So now every Ubuntu flavor gets Aubergine even though that's not their color > scheme?
Until now, Ubuntu and all Ubuntu flavors have inherited a color scheme wasn't theirs either, actually. > How do we over-ride this for Kubuntu (there have been complaints on #kubuntu- > devel today)? I filed and fixed Bug: #730672, on your behalf. The newt library can now read its palette from a configuration file, which is installed using update-alternatives. + update-alternatives --install /etc/newt/palette newt-palette /usr/share/newt/palette.ubuntu 50 + update-alternatives --install /etc/newt/palette newt-palette /usr/share/newt/palette 20 Furthermore, the console-setup package now also installs its color scheme using update-alternatives as well. + update-alternatives --install /etc/vtrgb vtrgb /usr/share/console-setup/vtrgb 50 Other packages can install palettes and different color schemes at different priorities. -- :-Dustin Dustin Kirkland Ubuntu Core Developer -- ubuntu-devel mailing list ubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel