On Sat, 29 Apr 2000, Michael Polak wrote:
> Dne Wed, 3 May 2000 19:32:21 +0200 (MET DST), Bernie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>napsal:
>
> >> I know how to detect mouse driver...but I don't think this would help
> >> maany DOS users ...
>
> > Well, I assumed you could create a function on your own but I didn't have
> > much to do that morning. It probably took more time locating Ralh Browns
> > Interupt list than making the program <BG>.
> > I still think it would help people that have used Windows and want to try
> > Arachne if some sort of message was presented for them if there's no mouse
> > driver present. (With stub32 and LFNs you are trying to get some Windows
> > users are you not?)
>
> Not really... I am trying to let Windows-stuck webmasters to check their
> existing websites with Arachne for compatibility of HTML code and layout
> ;-) I have already given up "converting" Windows users long time ago -
> in fact, I have never started. I just want to help those, who are already
> willing to get rid of Windows - persuading those who prefere Windows is
> not my job. I just have to make sure, that there is enough
> Arachne-compiant web content available online for Arachne users.... and
> I mean mainly users of future versions of Arachne in cellphones, WebTVs
> and PDAs, because end users of Arachne on PCs will be always in
> minority, I am afraid.
>
> > A friend of mine ignored Arachne because "the mouse didn't work with it",
> > that he soon after got a new Pentium II (IIRC) and broke his old 486 might
> > have had something to do with it as well but he didn't know he needed a
> > mouse driver...
>
> It is written in system requirements. You are right I should display
> some warning message, maybe non-fatal warning screen simillar to
> "Disk full" - well, Clarence Verge will definitely complain about it,
> i will have to add checkbox "Don't display this message any more" ! ;)
>
> >> I will let SVGAlib to handle this for me in Linux....
>
> > Ok, but will an error screen pop up inside Arachne or what will happen?
>
> In Linux, Arachne's policy of being user-friendly will probably face
> hardest-ever challenge. I think gpm works automaticaly in most
> distributions, so I am not so much concerned about it - but I would like
> to allow Arachne users to configure PPP interface, if they provide root
> password to system. And THIS will be probably terribly hard... I never
> really succesfuly confgured pppd manualy - in fact, only PPP tool in
> Linux which works for me is kppp, both RedHat PPP dialer and linuxconf
> PPP setup and GNOME PPP tools don't do what I need from them, and I am
> not speaking about manual configuration - this worked for me only once,
> but when I moved to provider witch CHAP, I have run into troubles. I
> know I need file chap-secrets, simillar to PAP-secrets, but... ;)
>
> Maybe PPP configuration tool, which would be able to convert existing
> data from ARACHNE.CFG to files in /etc/ppp/ directory is most urgent
> Linux Arachne component. Maybe many users of existing DOS version will
> be disapointed, if they won't be allowed to import data from DOS
> ARACHNE.CFG... ok, there are still some differences, like pathnames and
> filenames, which will be different, but they will be probably
> non-configurable in Linux version anyway, and existing enviroment
> variables like "MAIL=/var/spool/mail/username" will be probably used
> instead...
What a horrible,horrible idea. I warn you now, if you in fact do
something as stupid as this under linux, you'll get flamed off the face
of the planet by Linux users/programers. There is absolutely *NO REASON*
for a WWW browser under a unix-like OS to screw around with *ANYTHING* on
a root user level if the person running it is not the owner of the
system.
Take a good look at software like mutt,pine,slrn and trn. You *DON'T*
see them messing around in /ect/ppp for *ANY* reason.
You don't need to screw around with *ANYTHING* in /ect/ppp either. It's
not designed or intended to be used in the fashion you are thinking
about using.
GET THIS STRAIGHT RIGHT NOW. LINUX/UNIX IS NOT DOS. PROGRAMS THAT RUN
UNDER LINUX/UNIX ARE NOT CONFIGURED LIKE DOS PROGRAMS FOR VERY
IMPORTANT REASONS.
There is *NO* reason on earth for the Linux version of Arachne to
let users configure PPP settings from within it. At the very least it
would be a *MAJOR* system security violation.
There are a number of stand-alone programs that configure PPP other
things andwhich are intended to be used by root only. There is no reason
for a software package like Arachne to offer this ability to a mere user
via a password prompt.
I suggest you subscribe to some newsgroups that deal with programing
under Linux/Unix before you go any futher and ask the people in
the newsgroups some serious questions about the issues involved in what
you are planning on doing here, because like I said before it's a
very,very bad idea.
