"Screen Resolution" does not gracefully recover from bad choices
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gnome-control-center (Ubuntu) |
New
|
Undecided
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
Issue: When changing screen refresh rate within "System --> Preferences --> Screen Resolution" (on the top bar) selection of an invalid refresh rate for the monitor being used results in an unusable system.
What should happen is this: After a resolution is selected and the user applies it, there should be a (relatively) short period of time displaying the new resolution with a confirmation dialog - similar to the M$ "Do you want to keep this new resolution?" dialog. If no response is received after the (short) time-out interval, the screen resolution and refresh rate should revert to the resolution and refresh rate in use prior to the change.
The logic should be something like this:
user selects new resolution;
user selects "apply"
Ubuntu saves original display parameters in a temp location.
Ubuntu applies the new parameters to the display, and posts a "do you want to keep this new screen configuration" (or whatever) dialog. [yes] [no]
(Dialog parameters: Default selection = "no". Dialog timeout = 15 seconds. Timeout auto-responds "no" if triggered)
Case selection_dialog:
selection_dialog == "yes"
{
Commit new resolution data to wherever it is normally stored;
Clear saved resolution data;
Dismiss dialog;
End;
}
selection_dialog != "yes"
dialog_timeout == TRUE
anything else happens
{
Restore saved display parameters and update display;
Clear saved resolution data;
Dismiss dialog;
End;
}
esac
Note:
1. Stored resolution and refresh parameters applied at system startup are NOT committed until AFTER a positive dialog response.
(a) If the user "bombs" the system manually, or the selection forces a system reboot, or whatever - the user gets the original resolution parameters back.
2. Making the default action "no" allows the user - even if the display is un-usable - to hit the enter key and restore the original display immediately.
3. Making *anything* other than a positively asserted "yes" response restore the original parameters makes the system virtually bullet-proof regarding display parameter selection.
System:
AMD K6-2 - 400 (mhz) with 398 meg ram and an ATI Radeon video card (with TV out) (I do not believe these are critical to the bug)
Video and mouse travel to my workstation through a Belkin OmniView SE 4-port KVM as Port 3 (also assume non-critical)
Monitor is a ViewSonic A75F (potentially critical)
Resolution attempted is 1024x768 at 87hz refresh (which is - apparently! - invalid for this monitor / video card)
O/S is Ubuntu 8.10 as initially installed on this system prior to any updates being applied.
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Configure a baseline Ubuntu 8.10 system using a monitor with known capabilities and limits.
(Choices in this report are for the A75F, pick appropriate choices for your monitor)
2. Login and wait for the "normal" desktop to appear and finish building. (wait until "quiet hard drive")
3. From the top menu bar on the screen select:
(a) "System"
(b) Then "Preferences"
(c) Then "Screen Resolution"
4. Select a screen resolution and refresh rate that is **not displayable** by your system hardware.
(i.e. Results in either a blank screen, an "Out Of Limit" message, or a hopelessly garbled screen image.)
Expected Result: (desired result)
After a short period of inactivity, the screen automatically restores itself to the configuration it was in prior to the change.
If the system is manually reset, or spontaneously reboots, prior to the timeout interval, upon restart the original configuration prior to change is restored.
Actual Result:
The system remains in the unusable display state.
Rebooting the system results in the system returning to the unusable display state with no apparent way to recover.
Attempting to use the "recovery mode" boot option does not provide a method for returning the display to a "sane" condition.
Note that there is an "attempt to fix X-server" or such like in the recovery menu, but it does not help.
Requested changes:
1. Implement the display time-out feature as noted above.
2. Add an item to the recovery menu that allows the user to reset the display parameters to a sane value, (say 800x600, 60hz).
3. (Optional) Add, as one of the boot choices, an option that boots normally except it changes the screen resolution to something sane.
Note that simply passing " -- bestResolution" does not work well, since the user gets the un-desired resolution first.
Jim H.
| Ben Nieman (thespy0) wrote | #1 |
| pak33m (pak33m) wrote | #2 |
| Jim (JR) Harris (jimrh) wrote | #3 |
Which version of Ubuntu are you using?