On Friday 10 August 2001 01:15 pm, you wrote:
>
> Hmmm, perhaps time to take a couple steps back and look at the issue from a
> fresh angle.
>
> vi is just as newbie-vicious as emacs, with its two modes and such.
>
> Should we be looking at a minimal install for a newbie or should we be
> installing a "useful set"? I think the latter, if we can agree on what a
> useful set would be. But we will obviously lack such agreement.
>
> We have this integrated menu structure, and it describes needs.... If we
> modified the database for menus and added a needslevel= to it so that this
> worked out to a number that is a power of a single prime. Let's say we use
> 3, 5, 7, 11
>
> For each prime number we could define levels lets say up to the fourth
> power.
>
> Each person interested in this takes a track and announces a territory...
>
> Like Python-based simple newbie apps, cooledit, etc. could be a territory.
> Motif-like tools could be a territory (Xfce, Nedit, etc)
>
> This is set up in 4 levels corresponding to needslevel=7, 49, 343, 2401,
> for example using the 7s track.
>
> In the needslevel=2401, you put exactly one editor, one filemanager, one
> web browser, one email program. Groups agree which to choose based
> on the criteria of compatibility with other packages and ease of use.
>
> Then if a user is set up with menulevel=2401 or any multiple of 2401,
> this menu manager revision will show him the needslevel=2401 group. He
> will also see it (and other items) if his level is any multiple of 343
> except a multiple of 2401, and still more if it is some multiple of 49 but
> not a multiple of 343, and everything the 7s group chose if his menulevel
> is 7 or any non-7 multiple of 7.
>
> So a newbie gets a selection made by folks who sincerely believe that is
> his best choice, and he can see more by modifying his level, when he is
> ready.
>
> And an expert can choose menulevel 1 which shows everything installed
>
> And mixes from the selection groups are possible. Newbie selections from
> the 3s group and the 5's group are at menulevel=50625 in some yet-to-be
> named resource file in the user's home.
>
> What is the advantage?
>
> Well, you can proceed without agreement and let user choice be the arbiter.
> You don't _need_ to have a minimal install to serve a newbie. Disk space
> is continuing to cheapen. Basically you can have many users on the _same_
> system, with the _same_ installed packages and totally disjoint menus.
>
> Then who should the minimum install be for?
>
> For the experts, who want to roll their own, and then it is simply a
> convenience feature.
>
> And for people adjusting systems for newbie users, what is herein proposed
> is a low-inertia feature set. The feature set can be changed almost
> trivially without having to worry about installing--everything is already
> installed, all it has to be is "activated".
>
> And then of course we have needslevel=13
>
> editor=emacs
> email=emacs
> browser=Xemacs
> shell=eshell
> Windowmanager=Xemacs
>
> ...it works.-)
>
> All kidding aside, the main thing blocking a "simple" newbie environment is
> the task of defining it. I have demonstrated here that a method exists to
> accommodate multiple definitions with very minor modifications to existing
> structure. So how about making a definition?
>
> If you really want to try, I would recommend recruiting a group to do this
> and setting up a project on sourceforge. If that actually happens, I will
> volunteer my expertise in consensus-building tools to the project.
>
> Civileme
The elegance of your dissertation is awe inspiring!!!!!!!
JoAnne
--
Founding member of AILLING
**Acronymically Impaired Linux Lovers Increasing Needed Grumbling**
