On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Paulo J. S. Silva
<pjssilva@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Em Ter, 2009-07-07 às 13:49 +0200, Martín Soto escreveu:
> Also, future versions of X/Gnome wil automatically offer a
> configuration box as soon as you plug in a monitor. We can consider
> asking the user once at that point if this is a projector. The UI for
> doing this would have to be very well thought, but I guess this could
> work if done properly.
I don't see how this guessing can be reliable. I usually use my laptop
in an external monitor to save my back some pain, but I want my
notifications in that case.
A regular monitor and a video projector are different devices, and their EDID data [1] is likely to be different enough that we can indeed distinguish among them. EDID is not 100% foolproof however. Some devices report partially wrong data, for example. It can also happen that the EDID chip gets damaged and stops working at some point, even if the monitor continues to operate. But, all in all, this may be a workable solution.
And the idea of asking "always" when you plug in an external monitor is
a bad one. As I said I plug one everyday, I don't want to answer the
same question everyday. However I give presentations once a month. It is
much more reasonable to me to turn on the "don't notify me" mode at that
moment.
The system can remember devices you have used, based on their EDID data. If you always use the same (type of) device, you would only have to answer the question once. Also, if your projector has completely broken EDID, you'll have to think of disabling notifications every time you use it, anyway. Wouldn't it be better to be reminded of that when you plug it in?
M. S.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_display_identification_data