-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Rob wrote: > On Wednesday 01 October 2003 10:19, Buchan Milne wrote: > >>What do you need a "graphical database" for? Do you mean >>screenshots? Do you know how big a set of screenshots would be >>for all the applications in contrib? In some cases a single >>screenshot could be larger than the whole package!! IMHO you >>only need this if you are actually *selling* applications >>(like Lindows). It may be worthwhile for the proprietary stuff >>in MandrakeClub, but quite pointless for contrib, especially >>considering the rate at which screenshots get obsoleted ... > > > That's funny, I was thinking of starting up a "drakshots" site > and slowly building up a collection of screenshots to be added > to some future urpmi manager. I don't think you need to have a > screenshot for every package, not even the graphical ones > (Lindows certainly doesn't, nor do sites like freshmeat), nor do > I think you need to exclude cooker or plf apps. Maybe the > answer is to have the urpmi manager only retrieve the screenshot > from some website if the user is connected to the net at the > time and views the description for longer than a couple seconds > (to reduce load on the server for when a user scrolls through > the list.) I'm thinking something like > > package-name/ > screenshot1.png (default screenshot for package) > 1.01/ (directory containing screenshots from specific version) > > and having the program tell the site what package and version > it's looking for, and deliver the most recent screenshot that's > older than the package, or the default screenshot (probably the > most recent) if there is none.
How about instead the package provides a url in the description for each package? If rpmdrake supports launching a browser on a url, then it's no problem. Ideally this would be something like the screenshot page for this app on freshmeat. Keeping track of the latest screenshots is not something we want to do. > > I think Mandrake *is* selling the wide variety of packages you > can install with one click, just not as a separate service from > the distribution itself. Which is why they don't need to do this. The user can install the program with less effort than it would take to see the screenshot. > My partner George (who has been using > Linux for a little over a year now) laments that there's nowhere > to go like those Windows shareware sites to find new software > for Linux. Funny, that's one thing I am glad I don't need now. Everything I have wanted (besides large apps which weren't package yet) is available in one place, the rest can be found at freshmeat. > I tell him about rpmdrake, but without screenshots > most packages don't mean anything to him. I would tell him > about the freshmeat kind of sites, but George thinks console > windows are error messages, as most ex-Windows-users do, and > will not be downloading and compiling any tarballs. Why does freshmeat mean he needs to compile something? If I find something on freshmeat, the first thing I do is check if there is a package in Mandrake. In all likelihood, there is. > That is the > kind of user who needs screenshots, and that's the kind of user > Mandrake could steal back from Lindows if rpmdrake had some > screenshots. Sure, but I don't see why we need to dump packages to have screenshots available in the distro. And if we can assume the user is connected, they can install the software and try it out just as easily as seeing the screenshot. > I wasn't going to say anything till I've actually written the > code for drakshots (nor have I registered the domain) but then I > saw this post by accident and had to respond. I'm pretty > serious about it, and if someone decides Mandrake's software > installation tools will never have screenshots, I'll be writing > my own urpmi frontend that does. I just don't think it's feasible to maintain screenshots for 3000 packages. Leverage the information that is already out there, and the screenshots maintained by the authors or other sites (like freshmeat). 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/euzZrJK6UGDSBKcRAjHIAJ9GaWwdkpmbl33ct533X9Y56tB22wCgllfn q4KMDLLGV3sCCawnJKy6Y44= =Gszm -----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. *****************************************************************
