-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Eric Fernandez wrote: > Buchan Milne wrote:
>> Eric Fernandez 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 ... >> > Wow ! I think you misunderstood : I wrote "main" applications, most > important in every categories, not every one application in main and > contrib. A presentation of Xine, mplayer in multimedia, etc... I never > wrote "all applications in contrib". A lot of the useful ones are in contrib, many of the "main" ones are installed by default. > This would show new users the wide range of available softwares under > Linux. Why not combining with an table of Windows equivalent > applications, like on http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/ > What I am talking about comes from discussions with newbies on different > forums : hardware.fr but also mandrakeclub. After repeating hundred > times the same advices and guide, I guess I begin to have a clear idea > of what newbies miss and ask for. Firstly, had the users tried to soearch for the software in rpmdrake?? Secondly, yes, it might be an idea to have a table like this, or a link to a table like this *in the documentation*. But, at present, no-one would find it ... > > Anyway, this was not my main point. My main idea was not the database, > but a graphical tour of rpmdrake, configuring source, and software > search and management. Sure this is useful (although I thought rpmdrake was pretty easy to use?). Did you have to see a tutorial to use Windows "Add/Remove Software"? Why do new linux users just not use the software?? Anyway, I made a page for our local university, just because we have internal mirrors which aren't accessible from outside (so using http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/?minor=1 isn't feasible, and I never got urpmiweb to work sufficiently without it wanting to connect to the internet), and since internet access is expensive, user's don't want to go elsewhere for screenshots, so I just made a few available. (why does everything assume everyone has free internet access!!!!) http://www.sulug.sun.ac.za/distros/mandrake/mandrake.html >> rpmfind is also useless for the advanced user, who needs only urpmi. >> > agreed, except the presentation by categories on HTML pages is also > useful IMO. > >> I don't see why there should be any restrictions. Instead, the urpmi >> media should carry a description of the repository, and any repository >> which has legal problems would be required to stipulate those in the >> description. >> > I am not a jurist, but this may be a responsability problem for > Mandrakesoft to link to pages that offer links to... etc... "illegal" > softwares especially in the US with the DMCA. > There's a link to google isn't there? How difficult is it to find DMCA-offending material with google? Maybe we shouldn't link to any search engines in the default bookmarks? For instance: http://www.google.com/search?q=play%20dvd%20on%20linux (look at the first few entries) Wait, maybe we shouldn't install a web browser? But then people might still come to know of this software by email, let's remove the email clients too ... I am sure a disclaimer would be sufficient when running urpmi.setup. >> Does Mandrake advertise any other tools more? No. There simply isn't >> much advertising budget, but they are well documented all over. >> >> Does Debian advertise apt-get all the time? No. It's done by work of >> mouth. >> > Debian and Mandrake have not the same goals and the same public. > Mandrake is a company, it needs to make money, and this goes through > promotion and marketing. Word of mouth is generally not sufficient for a > company. > So, you have some funds for a large marketing budget? And word of mouth is often more successful than formal marketing and promotion ... >> The only way to counter this is for people to give better advice ... >> >> (BTW: ltmodem drivers can also be setup from Club in a similar way using >> drakconnect) >> > I agree. It is why a page about "3D with Nvidia" showing step by step > installation and configuration of drivers. > Almost every day on Mandrakeclub forum there is a post asking how to > install those drivers, or that they have a black screen, and newbies are > told each time to type XFdrake in the console. Of course, this should really be solved by better, comprehensive documentation, which is *really* easy to search on the Mandrake sites, and in Khelpcenter and Yelp. It's depressing trying to search for things like "display card" or similar in any of those tools ... 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/evMvrJK6UGDSBKcRAn5xAJ9tQH5eef67BWulM9ydpxKMlm0WIwCglPyf 28PxQsuVAjN5fkmxD9kFuIY= =bdAm -----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. *****************************************************************
