Hi,
I installed B3 today. This time everything was much better than before..
LM8.0 is really looking good now.. The default GNOME theme is really good and
now all the drak tools look much much better in KDE than ever before! thanks
for improving the looks!! (Someone please work on the DrakConf icon!!.. add
more colors please!!!)
I still have these requests/problems :
1. X was still not configured correctly on SGI Zx10 workstation (I sent the
specs in my last mail to cooker)
2. I just couldnt' get X to work
3. Installation shows only the first 2/3 of the screen fitting the entire
screen (the same as I had explained in the earlier mail)
4. X configuration dosn't ask me to test my settings.. I think the LM7.2 way
of handling X configuration was much better.. right now if the auto is not
able to do it right, then the user is totally screwed! (unless ofcourse he
starts afresh in expert mode.. but do u want newbies to do that?)
5. The system has 1.5GB.. but only 1.0GB was detected :(
6. Aurora was not started in the recommended mode.. I think it should be
started.. or read below for my alternative suggestion!
7. Quanta should be installed I think.. its a very useful application!
8. I could not run a program coz it said "libstdc++-libc6.1-2.so.3" not
found!.. I searched thru /usr/lib and found "libstdc++-libc6.1-2.so.2" and
simply linked this one to the previous one and the program ran.. Is this link
missing? Please check.
9. Can we have an RPM of the really cool lzo library included
pleassseeeeeeeee?? thanks!
10. The "info" in drakxservices should have a ligter background like the
tooltips.. eg. a light yellow backgroud..
11. In the ncurses interface for XFDrake, when you go to video card
selection, the size of the window for selection is too small.. thus at a time
u only see 4-5 cards and its a pain to scroll thru the entire list!
12. After installation, I wanted to change the bootup look.. so i clicked on
"start aurora" and it asked me for my CD :(.. won't it be better to have
those RPMs installed ;).. they won't take much space!
13. Won't it be better to have "setuptool" link to "DrakConf" rather than
"drakxservices"? Or even better, can we link "setup" (which is non-existant
program on any of the LM installation I have done to date) to "DrakConf"..
then "setuptool" retain its current link!
14. I still think the biggest bottleneck to the installtion is package
selection. I had outlined a very good way to replace the current scheme. I'll
first write the problems and then my solution.
problems:
a> A newbie will be totally confused reading the package names.. You cannot
expect normal people to know what "KDE" or "GNOME" is before they install
linux.. (afterwards ofcourse they'll know.. but our target here is newbies
right?.. for PROs it dosn't matter really.. they can handle any
installation!).
b> The help on each package group needs to be imporved.. for eg. the
"internet station" reads "mail/news programs like pine, mutt, tin etc.". Tell
me which newbie is going to use these mailers??? On one hand mandrake is
targetting newbies and on the other you have such cryptic help.. It should
all be re-written in simple english IMHO. Best way would be to catch a person
walking by your office and make him sit and tell what he feels..
c> By default, the "internet station" as you guys call it was not
selected.. and so were other of your "stations"!
d> If a newbie dosn't understand anything in the package selection, he'll
probably simply say ok.. and that'll lead to a horrible system (atleast the
way package group are selected right now.. some main package groups like
internet applications are themseleves left out!)
c> Why are obvious packages which should be included are made into package
groups.. the best example is "Configuration" group! Who dosn't want the
drak??? config tools? If someone dosn't then he is an expert and he can click
on advanced, individual package selection, and then remove those tools!
please keep these options away from newbiew.. just imagine a situtation where
a newbie dosn't select this package group by mistake.. he won't be able to do
a thing! Do you really want your users to reach this situation?
My solution:
The package selection page will read (NOTE : anything inside [] is a possible
tooltip)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What do you want to use your computer for :
(NOTE: If you do not understand these options, simply say OK below)
- Office work [word processing, spreadsheets etc.]
- Playing games [you will get lots of games like solitare, chess etc.]
- Multimedia [listen to songs, watch videos]
- Internet [browse the internet, write emails..]
- Scientific work [software for pertaining to chemistry, physics, mathematics
will be installed]
In addition, you might want to choose one or more of the following:
- Development [Compilers, IDEs, debuggers]
- Server [servers for web-hosting, mail etc.]
- Everything! [Install everything possible]
[OK] [DEFAULT] [ADVANCED]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first four will be selected by default.
The logic behind this type of package grouping is that applications like
"configuration tools" are a must and should not even be a choice in
"recommended" mode.. as it'll only add to the confusion for a new user.
Now lets use some AI (Artificial Intelligence).. you can very well expect
that everone knows what the first four mean! If someone doesn't even know
that much, he/she is better off clicking OK as the note will suggest him/her.
Anyone who does not know what "development", "server" mean, won't select
anything thats in the 2nd group.. and the installation can be totally
automated after this stage. These people are not the ones who are picky about
which desktop they like.. and in most probability (99%), they won't even know
about KDE or GNOME! Thus install both KDE and GNOME and maybe one of the
other real light-weight ones just incase he/she is low on memory.. set
default desktop to KDE. Also install the basic stuff thats needed for
compiling (what if h/w vendors start giving out opensource drivers and GUI
scripts like kinst to compile and install drivers? you being support of
opensource shld support OS drivers and hence every linux machine shld be able
to atleast compile a driver IMHO!). + now you could do other things that a
newbie would like (read eye-candy!).. like using the friendliest Aurora,
starting kautorun by default etc.
If someone does select either "development"/"server", then these are people
who defintely know a bit about computers. These are also the people who are
picky about what desktop env. they use.. and thus the next screen should give
them the choice of desktops and servers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please select the desktop environments to install
Default
- KDE *
- GNOME
- Others
Please select the development packages
- Standard non-gui tools [gcc, gdb, make, autoconf etc.]
- GUI tools [KDevelop, glade, ddd etc.]
- GUI building libraries [fltk, Qt, gtk etc.]
- Database [MySQL, ProtgresSQL etc.]
- Kernel development[kernel source etc.]
<comment>
the server selection could be removed if "server" was not selected in the
previous screen
</comment>
Please select which servers to install
Mail:
- Postfix
- Sendmail
Http:
- Apache
<comment>
whatever other servers ....
</comment>
[OK] [CANCEL] [ADVANCED]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMHO, the code of KDE and GNOME should always be installed.
[NOTE : I know there are people who do not like Qt being installed on their
machine and there are others who do not like Gtk.. but these are the people
who are really smart and they can click on "advanced", "select ind. packages"
and remove qt, gtk or whatever.. they can even do that after installing!.. so
they are taken care of (also consider the fact that _all_ other distributions
cater to these users.. while LM is not necessarily focussing on them).]
The reason for this is that if I want a minimal distribution for myself, and
I know I am always going to use GNOME, then i want GNOME, but I also do want
to be able to install and run KDE applications.. thus I would love to have
the core libraries of KDE installed. Afterall they arn't more than 20 odd
MBs.. and 20MB is nothign in todays world! [Also, I strongly feel that both
GNOME and KDE's core libraries should be part of LSB.. we need both GNOME and
KDE to survive to have a healthy competition and innovation going!]
Now, at this stage, LM can go and select the Aurora that came with LM7.2
since power users are likely to be more amused with that one rather than the
totally non-informative one!
Also IMHO, sshd should be installed but disabled by default in _all_
installations.. The reason being that if I want to do remote administration
of a box (say my parents', friend's etc.), I could simply ask him to start
the ssh service so that I could login.. This is a great feature of linux and
it should be there for every box. I know you can simply install the
ssh-server RPM.. but thats difficult compared to simply asking someone to
start sshd!
NOTE: For those who think that the above suggestions are M$-ish.. then please
think of it again.. they are simply trying to make the installation simple
for _anyone_. I am a power user, but I don't mind a really simple and
user-friendly and dumbed down installation as long as after installation, i
still get the full power of linux! Installation has always been the
bottleneck for linux and these suggestions will totally remove it!
sarang
PS: Please include my address while replying.. as I am not subscribed to
cooker.
--
===================================================================
Sarang Lakare
Department of Computer Science |Linux, MS-DOS and Windows ...
PhD Student |(also known as the Good,
SUNY Stony Brook, NY, USA | the Bad and the Ugly..)
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~lsarang |http://www.linux.com
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] |mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
