David Douthitt wrote:
Hi David, nice to hear from you on this list.
I'd like to ask off the top, because I don't know
how you feel, but if a central-config-db is designed,
and a new package format is developed that interaces
with the db, would you use it in Oxygen?
If you considered making changes along the lines
of a central-db to eliminate redundancies and simplify
config/maintanence, what would you focus on in terms
of better formats?
I'm curious because of your extensive background in
programming languages and many years of experience.
When I designed my setup program, I thought about what would Adam
Average want to do? He wants to boot the disk, and be led through all he
needs. Someone said he needed a router - so he picks that. Each dialog
was designed to lead the uninformed individual along. If there was no
getting around the gear talk ("what's your IP?") it specifically
suggested asking for technical help.
The alternative suggested poses some problems. Suppose Eva Everybody
wants to set up something to go between her PC and her DSL. I can hear
the questions Eva might be asking:
"NIC? What's a nic? What's that card thing? Why do I need ntpdate?
What is it? Where do I get it? What's an IP?"
I'm not sure that my object oriented drag-and-drop setup gui is much
different from your setup program, in how it would handle Eva.
We might do the same thing. Start by choosing "router" or maybe "firewall"
and have dialogs appear to explain the icons you need to drag in.
Both of our setup ideas should assume minimal knowledge, I would hope.
How about the amount of knowledge it takes to setup most ISP connections.
They need at least the crucial 5 pieces of info,
dhcp
static
1 IP address
2 netmask
3 primary dns
4 secondary dns
5 default route
using PPP or PPPoE?
Ok, maybe not 5 if they have dhcp.
But if Eva can get to the point where she has enough hardware to
build Oxygen or other LEAF version, she better know what a NIC is.
I mean she needs 2 of them in the LEAF. She's not going to get 2
nics in a computer unless she puts one or two in there. And at that
point, well, let's give her enough credit to know what one is.
And as far as the ntpdate thing, the Icon would be a clock,
and the tooltip text might be:
__________________________________________________________________
| |
| "Automatic time synchronization -- [software] |
| If your LEAF is connected to the Internet, you |
| can drag this icon onto the computer image below |
| so that your LEAF automatically keeps it's clock |
| synchronized with the correct time. |
| |
| Details |
| * This clock icon represents the ntpdate package, |
| who's URL is here: http://www.ntpdate.stuff/ |
| who's docs are here: http://leaf.sf.net/pub/doc/blah |
| |
| Requirements |
| * To use this piece of software, you need to be |
| able to provide it with the IP address of the |
| nearest public master clock. The closer that |
| clock is to you, the better. Find the nearest |
| public clock's address here, at |
| http://www.timeservers.here/ |
| or ask you ISP if they provide a time server. |
| Many do. |
| |
| More Help |
| * Send email to the leaf-user list here: |
| mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] |
|__________________________________________________________________|
And yes the tool tip text can be that long, and
can be written in HTML, if I made the app in Java.
I can set the display time so that the tip doesn't
disappear after 4 sec.
Did the writing of your setup program bog down
somewhat due to how hard it is to write a wizard
that will make a functional firewall given all
the myriad of network setups and protocols Eva
might have (pppoe, dhcp, etc)?
I was thinking that my pictorial representation
would be better, because Eva could click the
Help I'm Lost button, and it would flash up
6 graphics of how a LEAF box might be configured
to go between her DSL and her home computer.
She could simple click the one that most closely
matches her desires.
But of course my java app idea would not work
seemlessly between LEAF console and X desktop.
Your idea of just setting the DISPLAY variable
and to get the same thing in X is *impressive*.
My goals for Oxygen evolved into creating a floppy-based, network-based
Linux that was as UNIX-compatible as possible - no surprises for UNIX
admins.
My goals for the setup program was much different: create a
configuration set which was extremely flexible, extensible, and
compatible with X. If you specified a DISPLAY variable, you could use
and X display and answer the same questions there....
Biggest problem I had was trying to keep the quotes straight for using
dialog and Xdialog. Perhaps I should have used a different shell....?
It seems like the goal of lrcfg and acfg is to get
you to vi the correct file. I always thought that
was a shame.
Ok, I'm straying the thread, but I wanted to reply
to some of the ideas you mentioned.
Matt
-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.NET email is sponsored by:
SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See!
http://www.vasoftware.com
_______________________________________________
leaf-devel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/leaf-devel
