-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 w9ya wrote: > On Friday 20 June 2003 03:18 am, Buchan Milne wrote: > >>In summary >>- -the fact that some people here find urpmi more convenient doens't mean >>we think newbies should use it, but it means we don't use rpmdrake much >>- -Windows isn't much better (it doesn't show me alternative media players >>like winamp when I click any "Add/remove programs" menu. Installing >>softare from the network is possible if you have an Active Directory >>domain, but each piece of software (that doesn't support MSI files) >>needs to be specially prepared for this. (BTW, this is why I think urpmi >>should have LDAP support ...). Software you uninstall sometimes doesn't >>get removed from the list of installed software. Software installation >>and uninstallation can be unpredictable. Not all software installs >>itself into the list of installed software (yes, even ones where you run >>a real setup.exe). >>- -It would be nice if by default rpmdrake would show software that is >>installed. IMHO, there should be an options dialog, which has things >>like "show installed software in searches". >> >>Is there any reason why installed software can not be under a seperate >>branch of the tree view? > > Any reason it can't be in the same program, from a user's perspective ? >
By "branch", I meant an entry in a tree, with more "branches" (subtrees) or "leaves" below it, so if you have strated rpmdrake in install mode: +Development +Graphical Environment +Server +Workstation +*Installed Packages* Or, possibly, uninstalled packages should only be show on search, in which case: +Development +Graphical Environment +Server +Workstation +Search results +-result1 +-result2 ++Installed software +-installed result1 This neatly gets around at least one of those problems, and shouldn't add too much complexity to the UI (though it might to the backend). Anyway, a UI review would probably want to look at other interfaces. ============================================================== rpmdrake 1.4 - ------------ ftp://mandrake.redbox.cz/Mandrake-old/8.2/i586/tutorial/SoftwareMgr/images/rpmdrake14.gif I think the big problem with the UI in rpmdrake 8.2 (the one in C) was that there was an "installed" tab, and an "installable" tab. Many people missed these, and had to be explained to how they could see which software was installed, and how to remove it. Also, the fact that you could select software for installation and uninstallation simultaneously (possibly unknowingly, and the UI subsequently hiding it from you) was a problem. Also, the details window was too small to use easily, even on a relatively large screen when maximised. Support for verifying files in an rpm easily was a nice feature though :-(. Synaptic - -------- http://distro.conectiva.com.br/prjs/synaptic/filter.jpg (I don't know how recent this is ...) Ok, even for a pretty advanced user, this is serisously complicated, and overly so (IMHO). The UI toolkit is also at odds with anything most users will be using most of the time (in terms of widgets, colours, themes etc). What is it? Motif? Athena? Red Hat - ------- http://www.redhat.com/img/linux_ss_per_install1.gif IMHO, way too simplistic, it is trying to be too much like the components of Windows 2000 Server, and is almost as bad at not allowing fine enough choices (though this may be a consequence of the RH packaging, for example requiring the server side of samba installed just to use the winbind authentication bits on a desktop in a windows domain). I don't see any version information, and I don't know if multiple sources can be used or if you can see any details on a package or search easily. SuSE - ---- I haven't used SuSE much, and can't find a screenshot now ... GnoRPM - ------ http://www.daa.com.au/~james/software/gnorpm/gnorpm-0.6.gif I endured much pain under GnoRPM on RH6.x and Mandrake 7.x. The only good thing it ever had going for it was displaying the icons stored in the RPM, but I haven't seen many RPMs with those in recent times ... Kpackage - -------- (I void kpackage, since it makes a mess of double-clicking on rpms to get gurpmi going, which is generally a better option): http://www.general.uwa.edu.au/u/toivo/kpackage/snapshot4.png The UI is more comples than rpmdrake 1.4, search capability is hidden behind icons that don't look too intuitive. Checkboxes to select packages to install is also a bit more intuitive than the KDE checkmark. ============================================================== BTW, if anything constructive is going to come from this, someone needs to put this somewhere where it won't be forgotten, either in a wiki of some description (cooker?) or in bugzilla (BTW, this is one of my issues with hugs discussions on cooker, they get lost if no-one takes the effort to document them, which is possibly why bugzilla or the cooker wiki is a better forum). Anyway, final comments on rpmdrake as it currently is: 1a)Could we have a toolbar, instead of the huge banner, from which we could have access to an options dialog box, and possibly to the sources manager (sure, rpmdrake would have to reload lists afterwards, tough). or 1b)Have a checkbox for "search in installed packages" Regards, Buchan - -- |--------------Another happy Mandrake Club member--------------| Buchan Milne Mechanical Engineer, Network Manager Cellphone * Work +27 82 472 2231 * +27 21 8828820x202 Stellenbosch Automotive Engineering http://www.cae.co.za GPG Key http://ranger.dnsalias.com/bgmilne.asc 1024D/60D204A7 2919 E232 5610 A038 87B1 72D6 AC92 BA50 60D2 04A7 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE+81G2rJK6UGDSBKcRAiFVAJ9sox57snqmfk8fy91N2FKR8G7hGwCgkW/d cFm4I4ir50n17PL3UEAxo6c= =HOST -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ****************************************************************** Please click on http://www.cae.co.za/disclaimer.htm to read our e-mail disclaimer or send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a copy. ******************************************************************
