Maybe a tiny floppy app, that can probe a windows system and give a report
of what is likely to work with linux and what isn't ...
then give heaps of the disks to mandrake resellers, so people can try one in
thier computers before buying the winlinux distro....
just a thought, or you could make the same file downloadable on lotsa we
sites..
would be handy to have a windows app that queries windows
"system/device-manager" to look for compliant/non compliant devices and
print a little report to screen...
thats something that even more experianced linux users would find handy
sometimes..
just more of my inane thoughts.. my apologies.. :-)
regards
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of David E. Fox
Sent: Monday, 2 July 2001 2:54 AM
To: Randy Kramer
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [newbie] curious .... My last comment on the subject..
Great suggestion for Mandrake.
> Include Samba server and client, pre-setup to easily allow enabling of
> file and printer sharing, in both directions.
Oh yes. Many will want that.
> - Makes printing "Just work" (including to a shared remote printer on a
> Windows box)
>
> - Makes sound "Just work"
>
> - Makes CD burner "Just work" (including easy selection of DAO option --
> maybe the default for audio CDs)
OK for printing and sound - go for CUPS. Personally sond & printing have
worked out of the box for me, others' mileages may vary, of course. I don't
have a CD burner, but I do know there are a few different programs that
do this task differently, perhaps equally well, I don't know. But pick
one, and roll its code into Konqueror, and let people burn CD's from inside
the file manager. After all, you work with disks / floppies the same way,
why should CD's be different?
> - Provides good looking fonts (for any hardware) by default, allows easy
> selection of good looking alternates
I agree in principle, but many good fonts are copyrighted, and the free
ones don't always look too good. I've been to a few free sites and they
have some interesting fonts there, but not ones you would want to use in
business correspondence. (Personally, 99% of my 'formal' correspondence is
done in either Palatino or New Century Schoolbook, and the major WPs that
I use provide those fonts.) I figure most people on Windows just use Arial
because it's the default, but it doesn't look too good either :).
And why provide so many conflicting fonts - I mean, there's 100dpi, 75dpi,
unscaled fonts, scaleable fonts, Cyrillic fonts, etc. I know they have their
uses, but they probably don't all need to be included in a scaled-down
'newbie' distribution.
And while we're on the subject of fonts, how about documentation? The
current thing seems to be to provide it in a slew of differing formats -
I mean there's DVI howtos, PS howtos, html howtos, info-based documentation
(that requires 'info', natch), man pages, DocBook stuff, etc., etc. It
would be nice if all this stuff could all be in the same format, and
generated on the fly when needed (I've always thought the idea of
separating man and cat pages, and deleting unused cat pages since they
could always be reconstructed was a good way of doing things).
> - Prominently displays list of hardware that works / does not work "on
> the box" (or booklet attached to box but readable before buying) (tough
> to do).
You might need a rather large booklet actually. :) But if you look at
the lists, there are a lot of questions about such and such a thing, like
Winmodems, wondering if or whether these will be supported. Having a
bright red sticker on the box "warning: doesn't work with Winmodems"
may be helpful, and it may not be. It might be better to have a few known
working configurations, and steer the person in the direction of those
configurations. (Scenario: user goes into computer store, gets a copy of
this distribution. On the back cover is a suggested list of components -
user goes around the store with a shopping cart, picks up the components,
and takes it over to the service counter to be assembled.) The way to
beat MS at their own game is to just not buy branded 'assembled'
computer systems. After all, people have for a long time bought
stereo components.
> - Starts (Free)Civ for a local single player game with one command
> (which starts client and server, starts game, and has a "more about
> FreeCiv" button that briefly explains that "Civ on Linux includes a
the hell with that -- I want Monopoly! :)
Actually I was at my mom's house playing Parker Brothers' monopoly on
a windows box yesterday -- it can be played either single player (with
computerized opponents) or it can be quickly configured (separate menu
option) to play multiplayer over the internet. And it's done as a single
component, not (perhaps) haphazardly with different binaries with different
options, depending on how you want to play.
> Randy Kramer
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David E. Fox Thanks for letting me
[EMAIL PROTECTED] change magnetic patterns
[EMAIL PROTECTED] on your hard disk.
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