On Thu, 2006-12-21 at 15:42 -0500, Jason Tackaberry wrote: Very well considered.
My 2c on this is that a gtk/web/freevo based config could all use the same code path to generate config files. I think configuration of nvidia/ati/other cards and tv cards should for the most part be handle by the distribution. kudzu does a great job at detecting my hardware however there is one thing I can't think how to detect, lirc_serial this should be freevo handled mainly because it makes sense to have a UI for remote control configuration in the freevo ui and not over the web because of the interactive nature of remotes. Freevo should also handle configuration of channel lists this really needs a lot of contributed data to really make this idiot proof. Limiting supported hardware is fair, however we'd have to be careful to follow popular hardware and well supported drivers rather than obscure devices which we tracked down from some frankenhardware shop. Either way for what is required in the freevo ui, I'll look into bodging together a class structure for this kaa.canvas could be added later. The most interesting thing for me would be the remote control config ui. k, > On Thu, 2006-12-21 at 11:04 +0100, Dirk Meyer wrote: > > The problem is that if I write this, it is only used once for each > > user. IMHO there are more important tasks to do right now that effects > > the daily use. > > Quite true. But a discussion can't hurt anything. > > >From what I can see, there are 4 aspects to the HTPC installation > problem: > > 1. Base OS. Solved problem. > 2. Third party driver installation for user's hardware (e.g. ivtv > driver, nvidia binary driver, lirc driver, etc.) > 3. Software installation (freevo, kaa, and all the dependencies for > that hardware setup). > 4. Software configuration. > > #2 is the hardest of these problems to solve, both in terms of a user > manually doing this and automating it. Is this a domain freevo should > or wants to get into? Certainly #2 contributes to a large portion of > user's installation difficulties. > > #3 is fairly straightforward depending on the distribution. For Fedora, > I'd like to see it work like this: > > rpm -ivh http://freevo.org/freevo-release.rpm > yum install freevo > > (This requires the official freevo fedora repo to package evas, imlib2, > and no doubt several others, as well as a dependency on the livna > repository for things like xine-lib, libdvdread, etc.) > > I want to see as much work out-of-the-box as possible. I think this > process should create a freevo user, and drop a couple startup scripts > in /etc/init.d. Because after yum install, in order to solve #4, I > think it should work like this: > > service freevo-webserver start > > On first-run it would find a free port (starting at 8080 say). Now the > web service should be the primary interface to configure freevo. > > I think a web front-end for configuration is probably the best bet. > There are only five possibilities I can think of for this: > > I. Hand editing config files only > II. gtk (or whatever) based GUI > III. Text-based UI > IV. UI within freevo itself for configuration > V. Web-based UI > > The problem with (i) is that it sucks for the user, even if it's easiest > for us. The problem with (ii) is that it requires an X server running > in order to configure it. The problem with (iv) is that this precludes > offering a UI for configuring hardware components needed to get the > freevo UI started (video driver, tv card, remote control, etc.). (iii) > is practical but I think would be harder to develop and less > user-friendly than (iv). The biggest problem with (iv) is that a lot of > the hardware config needs root privileges, but that is an obstacle that > can be overcome. > > Freevo should still offer an in-app UI for configuration for several > things, I think, in order to accommodate standalone STBs that are > preinstalled to work with the given hardware. But the scope of this UI > can't and shouldn't be as large as a web-based configuration. > > I also think that we should should keep our goals in terms of supported > hardware realistic, because to try so support a huge array of hardware > means that the experience is probably going to suck even for common > hardware. For MeBox (which will probably never get done) I had always > imagined requiring an ivtv-based card, an nvidia card, running in X. > Hackers could make it go in other configurations, but I would not make > any effort to accommodate those configurations in development. > > Now, Freevo's heritage has always -- and AFAIK will continue -- to > support a broader configuration. But I still think it's sensible to > limit things to a strict hardware compatibility list. These are the > analog TV cards that are supported; these are the DVB cards supported; > these are the video cards and drivers supported if you use X, and these > if you use directfb. And a UI for configuration should not attempt to > accommodate every possible hardware install because that > over-complicates things for everyone. And for those users who want to > make Freevo work with hardware that isn't explicitly listed as > supported, they can probably do it, but they'll be editing config files > and compiling kernel modules and doing the usual 4-day sleepless linux > hacking ritual associated with that task. > > So those are my thoughts on how we ought to handle this problem. > > Jason. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT > Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your > opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash > http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV > _______________________________________________ > Freevo-users mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freevo-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. 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