X11 Display Manager Sees Its First Update In Seven Years

[phoronix]

Phoronix: X11 Display Manager Sees Its First Update In Seven Years

For those wanting a nostalgic X11 experience this weekend, the X11 Display Manager (XDM) has seen its first release since 2011...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X11-Display-Manager-XDM-1.1.12

[dwagner]

Given that I do not need to share any desktop system with other people, xdm (as well as all other "display managers") provides no significant benefit over the console-based login prompt. Entering once my username/password after rebooting is not really something that software could make a big difference to. Thus I'll continue to have a simple script start my X server, without any eye-candy menu put before that. And likewise, "xlock", "xsecurelock" and "vlock" are all good enough for my screen locking requirements.

[schmidtbag]

The screen backlight went broken and it was in service for 5 weeks. I decided not to buy laptops with my own money ever again. They are portable toys.

Wait.... are you saying you avoid buying all laptops from any brand because of ONE bad experience with crappy 1980s backlight technology? That's like eating raw sushi from some random town in Kansas in the middle of summer, unsurprisingly getting food poisoning, and then swearing to never eat any kind of seafood ever again from anywhere strictly out of principle. If you're that easily deterred by 1 bad experience due to a very specific worst-case scenario, I can't imagine how many things in life you currently (and unnecessarily) avoid.

[schmidtbag]

My kid bought a HP celeron laptop in 2015, hinges went broken and after repairing them the back panel of the screen broke. This toy lasted 3 years.

Yeah, that is a toy. Your kid got one of the cheapest models on the market (and I know this because you said it's an HP with a Celeron) and probably picked it up by the display. You shouldn't pick up laptops by the display in general, but especially not cheap ones. I've seen low-end models get that same problem you described several times. That doesn't mean ALL laptops have that problem. Spend an extra couple hundred dollars on something that isn't made entirely of the cheapest binned parts placed in a thin plastic chassis and you'll get something with reasonable performance and can take a beating for years.
Have you not seen what a half-decent laptop looks like? It kinda just boggles my mind how you generalize laptops this much.

[schmidtbag]

My fujitsu siemens laptop was a durable business laptop, I bought and sold it for 50 euros. With a couple of hundred dollars you get a decent GPU card or a gaming monitor. It is stupid to pay hundred of dollars for computers with small and slow screens.

If performance is the only thing that matters to you then sure, get the GPU. But much of the expense in a decent laptop is having an all-in-one computer (including inputs and a display), a battery, and most importantly, portability. Most people who use a laptop for business purposes don't care about gaming performance, nor should they. To such people, the performance tradeoff is well worth the other benefits. If your job or lifestyle doesn't depend on portability, then a laptop is largely useless and a very poor choice to invest in. But for people on the go, buying a "decent GPU" is worthless to them.

The only laptops that are especially stupid to get are the ones made with cheap construction materials or centered around gaming.

[starshipeleven]

New laptops are expensive and with the same money you build a much better portable microATX PC that is easy to service and update.

Yeah, a portable microATX PC with a portable screen and a portable external battery to run both for 5-8 hours, and a hiking backpack to carry the 10-20 kg of this contraption around.

Just don't buy crappy laptops, that's all.

[nanonyme]

Given that I do not need to share any desktop system with other people, xdm (as well as all other "display managers") provides no significant benefit over the console-based login prompt. Entering once my username/password after rebooting is not really something that software could make a big difference to. Thus I'll continue to have a simple script start my X server, without any eye-candy menu put before that. And likewise, "xlock", "xsecurelock" and "vlock" are all good enough for my screen locking requirements.

Yeah, and if you want secure screen locking, it needs implementing on top of Wayland anyway. No matter what you implemented on top of X11, the locking system will not be void of race conditions that you can inject keyloggers with.

[aksdb]

I did wrote: Buying an expensive laptop with your own money is stupid. Companies buy laptops to their workers and that is fine. When you run your own business, you can buy your tools tax free. I did install redhat to a company laptop in 1996 and I was surprised how everything worked out of the box without installing any drivers.

So it's stupid buying a laptop as a student? (Because, you know, taking a computer with you while you study stuff about computers can be quite positive.)
And it's also stupid if you want a machine you can carry with you if you travel a lot? Or simply want something you can easily work with while sitting on the couch?
Dude, look beyond your own four walls please.

[starshipeleven]

Yes, students do not have enough money and every penny counts. Buy a used desktop gaming computer and a cheap used laptop if your really need a laptop.

Great, so you get 2 shitty PCs at the price of one decent laptop, which is still a price that most student can't afford anyway.

Amazing debianxfce advice as usual.

I you are broke (or not) look for used or refurbished businness laptops, you get good build quality at an affordable price.

[starshipeleven]

A used quadcore GTX970/RX580 desktop gaming computer will beat your expensive toy

No it won't, as it's not portable in any way, shape or form.
A student does not need high performance gaming hardware, he needs something he can carry around all day.

with 400-500$ (or less) spent in a used/refurb businness laptop you get a solid built device that is actually more powerful than new low-end crap you would find for the same money.

My kid bought a MX 150 laptop for 800 euros, really stupid for a student to do so. Other kid (student too) build a new desktop gaming PC and did pay 700 euros for gtx1070, really stupid too.

This is unsurprising, the father is not smart either.