I promised sales pitch, here it is :-) > What concerns me though is just how it will impact users. It seems, at > least through talking with a colleague at work whom I managed to convert > to Linux a year ago that SynCE as it stands is a royal pig to install - > and I would have to agree with him.
I think I remember talking to this user on IRC. Ask him if he remembers Jc2k and say hi if he does. > Not only that, but after having to > get the latest SVN releases to start it up first requires the usual > compilation and installation, then odccm to be run as root, then > sync-engine to be started as a user, then partnerships to be made, then > OpenSync to compile/install/configure before you can actually just run a > sync! Hopefully the odccm and sync-engine issues can be sorted out with the HAL stuff. It looks like Mark might have a little bit of interest in the *dccm HAL part at least. Good packaging, which we have pretty much got for Gentoo/Debian/Ubuntu erase the installation woes. > I thought that a little, simple, ActiveSync-like GUI that resides in the > system tray would make life a bit easier, if not in the install then in > the configuration phase. I'm hoping that conduit will remove most of the configuration that currently exists. The only thing left will be partnerships, which we can be handle with a combination of standalone tools and automatically creating a partnership for conduit/opensync... > Conduit is a brilliant concept and looks very good, at least from the > video. But how 'useable' in a 'dummies guide' type of way is it? Is it > straightforward to install and configure? Will it alienate kde > users? :-) One of the dbus util scripts we will ship in time for next ubuntu will automatically detect any compatible device as you plug it in and ask you where you want to sync it. We also have a few GUI alternatives in the pipe works that present the information in different ways. I also plan to steal the IA/UI expert at work for a bit (Francois Jordan). His main area is the web but his thoughts on the desktop and its behavior are very insightful. It's a pure python app and needs a ./autogen.sh && make && make install. It is packaged for a few distros and will be a default install in Foresight and possibly Ubuntu Hardy+1. The core parts of it run without GTK, but we need someone to step up and make a Qt based front end for the dbus. Otherwise, yes. It would alienate them. > What I am really asking is how far away is Conduit from being workable > from a _user's_ perspective? If not too far, then I am definitely > interested in this route. If it is fairly distant, then perhaps we need > at least an interim solution to make SynCE palatable to the less > developer-minded user. We are aiming to showcase all the fancy desktop integration, hal integration and other sync stuff at Linux Conf AU in January and release some cool toys in time for Hardy Universe, if not sooner. > > If you are in theory interested i will dig out propaganda on the > > vision and such, though it is quite vast in scope so you have a blue > > pill/red pill moment first :-) > > I can't remember which pill was which - aw hell, whichever one is > stronger than the lousy coffee they serve at my university.... Take them both together and see what happens? > In theory, yes I am interested. Let me get these sync-engine > enhancements out of the way and then we can discuss it in more detail. > Once I have committed the sync-engine stuff I have to work on a couple > of other things, but should be able to get back to SynCE stuff after > Christmas. Excellent, by the time you are back there should be something to show rather than just big words :-) John ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. It's the best place to buy or sell services for just about anything Open Source. http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php _______________________________________________ SynCE-Devel mailing list SynCE-Devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/synce-devel
