Re: Gnome 3 vs scientists (ie., external monitor problem)

[Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam whitemice org>]

On Mon, 2011-05-30 at 11:20 -0400, Jan Skowron wrote: 
> I am writing to ask: which exact parameter of a graphics card decides
> about the maximal resolution card can handle in 3d accelerated mode
> (needed for Gnome 3)?
> I couldn't find this on the Gnome 3 web page. Could you add a link to
> such information in the FAQ section where talking about the graphics
> requirements?

It is currently problematic;  simply put - GNOME3 [specifically mutter?]
has issues with multiple displays.  

mutter does not support multiple X11 screens
<https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=648156>

If you have a reasonably current nVidia adapter you can get 'working'
multi-head using the nvidia-settings application using TwinView.  See my
report @
<http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-shell-list/2011-May/msg00549.html>

This issue is frustrating because it is nearly impossible to figure out
even what *should* work.  My previous laptop had an Intel 945GM video
adapter and suffered from just the issue you describe - it would
accelerate only up to the resolution of the internal display [how stupid
is that?]

Another issue I currently have is that the nvidia-settings app is too
rigid.  My projector will scale [from its native XGA] to match the
resolution of the internal display - but nvidia-settings will not do
that [the previous GNOME display widget worked fine].  I have to drop
the internal resolution to XGA [Ugh!] to get Mirror-Mode to work.

Diagnosing and working on these issues is extremely irritating and time
consuming.

> As a scientist I can tell that use of an external monitor with a
> laptop is essential to my work.

The same is true for development.

> When I am plugging the projector in
> before a lecture I am not rebooting my system of course. 

Rebooting should not be necessary anymore; I haven't had to do that for
years.  But getting the external display fired up can be challanging.

> But the
> resolution of the desktop suddenly increases from 1280 to grater than
> 2048px. This can create an unintended mess in Gnome 3 since, as I have
> heard, many (most) common graphics card does not have power to
> accelerate more than
> this. 

I'd imagine anything less than three years old should be fine with
accelerating those resolutions.  Higher end cards up to five years old
should also be OK.

> Plugging external monitor without reboot is a very common use
> case, and Gnome 3 cannot handle this

Yes, it can.  But the display management software is lacking in invoking that ability.

> correctly, so it would be nice to communicate this to users prior the
> installation or potential disappointment. Additionally it will not
> look good in the eyes of students -- potential future developers,
> contributors, supporters, .... or not.


GNOME3 is still in first-release;  people should just *expect* these
kinds of issues.  Otherwise, IMHO, they have no business using
first-release software.

> I would like to have a way to check if my graphics card can handle
> Gnome 3 on 2 displays, ie., with resolution grater than 2048px by
> 2048px.

What adapter do you have? [/sbin/lspci -v]