Desktop/Whiteboards/HardwareHandling

Hardware Handling

This page is an attempt to write down expected behaviors of the desktop wrt. to common hardware. Having this specified at some level of detail will help with both QA and development.

Keyboard

• Media keys: play, stop, forward, back
  • These should trigger the corresponding action in the currently open media player (rhythmbox or totem). If more than one media player is open, control goes to the one that is currently focused. If no media player has the focus, control goes to the one that most recently had the focus.
  • expected X keysyms: XF86AudioPlay, XF86AudioStop, XF86AudioPrev, XF86AudioNext
• Power mgmt. keys: suspend, hibernate, power
  • The suspend button should suspend the laptop
  • The hibernate button should hibernate the laptop
  • The power button should bring up a shutdown dialog. When the laptop is suspended, pressing the power button should resume it.
  • These actions are controlled by GConf keys in /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons
  • expected X keysyms: XF86Sleep, XF86Suspend, XF86Hibernate
• Brightness up/down keys
  • should bring up an on-screen display and control the brightness
  • expected X keysyms XF86MonBrightnessUp, XF86MonBrightnessDown
• Display key (commonly Fn-F7)
  • Should cycle through display configurations (only interesting with multiple displays)
  • expected X keysym: XF86Display
• Lock screen key (Fn-F2)
  • should lock the screen
  • expected X keysym: XF86ScreenSaver
• forward/back keys
  • should do forward/back in web browsers
  • expected X keysym: XF86Forward, XF86Back
• num lock key
  • the num lock setting should persist across logout/login (is that true ?)
• regular keys
  • TBD

Mouse

• Trackpoint ('nipple')
  • It should just work. Some laptops don't allow to use the trackpoint/touchpad and an external mouse at the same time, though.
• Touchpad
  • Edge scrolling should be on by default on touchpads that support it
  • Optionally, the touchpad can be disabled while using the keyboard. This is not turned on by default
  • The touchpad can be configured in the mouse capplet
• Left-handedness
  • Toggling handedness of the mouse should swap left/right buttons, but not affect touchpads
  • This can be configured in the mouse capplet
• Acceleration
  • TBD

Display

• Resolution
  • The monitor should come up in the highest available resolution by default (really ?)
  • Can be configured in the display capplet
• Backlight
  • should get turned off after 10 minutes of idleness. This timeout can be configured in the power management preferences
  • should get turned on after resume
• 3D
  • is expected to work on some hardware (need a list here)
  • if hw-accelerated 3D is not available, the desktop effects capplet will refuse to turn desktop effects on
• External monitors
  • When an external monitor is plugging in, it should be detected and turned on (need details about supported hardware)
  • When booting with multipl monitors, the default configuration is to place the monitors in a horizontal configuration (not cloning)
  • The Fn-F7 key cycles between supported configurations (need details about the configurations)
  • Placement, rotation and resolution of monitors can be configured in the display capplet

Power Management

• Closing the lid should trigger a suspend (always ?)
• Critically low battery should trigger a shutdown (after a warning message)
• Battery monitoring
  • Statusicon should display usefully accurate information about charge level and estimated battery life
  • When becoming critically low, a warning should be displayed
• suspend/power button handling: see the keyboard section
• brightness control
  • for brightness keys, see the keyboard section
  • when on battery, the system should lower the brightness on its own (more detail needed)
• docking
  • TBD

Networking

• wireless
  • when wireless networks are available, but none has been configured to be automatically connected, you should get an information that networks are available
• wired
  • a wired connection should be brought up by default, when logging in
• broadband modem
  • TBD

Sound

• The volume level should be 'reasonable' out of the box
• A 'system-ready' sound is played when reaching the login screen after boot
• A login sound is played when logging in
• Media applications like rythmbox and totem should play sound without problems
• Multiple applications can play sound at the same time, and the sound capplet lets you control their relative volume
• Headphones
  • TBD
• Microphone
  • TBD

Removable media

• Audio CDs
  • TBD
• Video DVDs
  • TBD
• Data CDs
  • TBD
• USB sticks
  • TBD
• Empty CDs
  • TBD

Other Peripherals

• Cameras
  • TBD
• Printers
• TBD