Software Bashing » configuration hell

X11 woes

fboender — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:33:39 +0000

I saw a post on problems with xrandr and that reminded me that I still had some ranting to do on X11 under Ubuntu. For some reason, I have no idea why, my system keeps insisting on resetting my Virtual Desktop size to 2432 by 1024 pixels. My external monitor is 1680×1050, so that won't fit. Consequently, I've had to change the Virtual Desktop size manually in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and had to chattr +i it so it couldn't be modified by god himself. I shouldn't have to do that, as I've got more than enough video memory for a way larger Virtual Desktop size, and I don't like it when my custom settings get overridden.

Also, I can't use my external monitor without running this script:

xrandr --newmode "1680x1050_60.00"  147.14  1680 1784 1968 2256  1050 1051 1054 1087  -HSync +Vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA 1680x1050_60.00
xrandr --output VGA --mode 1680x1050_60.00

Pretty annoying. The Display configuration in Ubuntu (System -> Preferences -> Display) also doesn't list my external monitor's native resolution, even when I boot up my laptop with the external screen attached and set as the main display (by pressing the 'Switch to external monitor' button-thingamajiggy on my laptop). Probably a BIOS issue, but it would be nice if it would simply let me add a new mode by entering a resolution.

Hopefully 2010 will be the year of Linux on the desktop. 2009 sure ain't.

Transmit your hate to me

fboender — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 06:42:49 +0000

I'm trying to set up a torrent download web interface using Transmission-daemon. It's running on my internal network, so I require no authentication. Simple enough, right? Just edit the configuration file and turn authentication off:

/etc/transmission-daemon# cat settings.json | grep rpc-
 "rpc-authentication-required": 0,
 "rpc-enabled": 1,
 "rpc-password": "",
 "rpc-port": 9091,
 "rpc-username": "",
 "rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1,192.168.1.*",
 "rpc-whitelist-enabled": 1,
/etc/transmission-daemon# /etc/init.d/transmission-daemon start
* Starting bittorrent daemon transmission-daemon                [ OK ]

Yet still:

I've tried everything to turn authentication off, yet it still appears. Extremely annoying.

Also, if Transmission is already running, and you modify the configuration file, it will be overridden when Transmission is stopped. What the hell? Transmission should just watch the configuration file and reload it when it changes on disk. That way you can edit the configuration both on disk and in the user interface.

Gnome-terminal treating me like a dumbass

averstegen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:03:59 +0000

Pretty soon after upgrading Ubuntu to 9.04 I was faced with this:

Pretty annoying, right?
The first time it was actually kind of cute, but after about once I started to look for a way to turn it off.

Guess what? There is none!

I don't know if this happened upstream or downstream, but come on guys… do you really think terminal users want this?

My gradually growing, active dislike for Ubuntu is turning into hate.

Update
Smart-ass solution for a dumb-ass problem:

I already hated gconf, but at least it can fix this shit.