desktop September 2006

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Themes & Icons related
by Rogue 07 Sep '06

07 Sep '06

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RE: Modern File Hierarchy
by Peter Kukums 06 Sep '06

06 Sep '06

Just my two cents worth. I think more time should be spent on bits that don't work not bits that do. For example, the package update process. I installed Fedora Core 5 on a new system and I was impressed with how well it worked without much intervention on my part. But yesterday I performed an update of all my installed packages and now I can no longer print to any of my printers (CUPS was updated). How can beginners possibly cope with something like this?? As part of desktop usability they would expect what was once working to keep working!! The update process should be more transparent. And as a beginner I can also see no easy way of rolling back to a previous working version either!

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Modern File Heirarchy
by Bryan Livingston 06 Sep '06

06 Sep '06

Do away with the standard unix directory heirarchy. It's archaic, non-intuitive, non-internationalized and dangerous from an application management perspective. This would be a massive change to the entire system, primarily consisting of creating some standard env variables that point to standard directories. Also a switch to application directories would be done. A linux distribution has been built around this idea and has been successfull at working out the technical details. It's called GoboLinux and you can find out more about it here: http://www.gobolinux.org/?page=at_a_glance They have a piece on common conserns about the idea here: http://www.gobolinux.org/index.php?page=doc/articles/clueless This would take big steps in both usability and internationalization, which are both top goals for Fedora. I'm hoping that the Fedora leadership is serious enough about pushing the state of the technology that they will seriously consider such an idea. It will have to happen eventually in my opinion. This is done on the windows world, and is one aspact that makes windows easier to use and more flexible than Fedora. There are 12 env variables on my win xp system that point to directories for various things. -- Bryan Livingston

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usability: fedora's killer app? Clean-Install Assistant...
by Morgan Read 01 Sep '06

01 Sep '06

What's the worst thing about operating systems and progress? Clean-install/Re-install/Upgrade And, fedora has both: allot of OS and allot of progress While reading over the usability discussion on the devel list, I noticed someone's comment on the frantic release cycle - which is great, I want the latest and greatest. But, the clean install every 6mths or less has got the be the biggest pita for fedora. This is of course true with all OSs, only fedora clicks over three times the speed of anything else. Three times the pita. And we all want a clean-install cf. upgrade because we all want to make use of the latest and greatest fedora has to offer (never mind the questions of whether an upgrade ever actually works - on any OS). Many years ago I installed all the interactions between MacOS 7.1 and 8.1, and then some. The greatest thing I ever found was this: http://www.marcmoini.com/C-IAssistant.html It's called Clean-Install Assistant. A wizard that steps you through the process of saving your custom config (by comparing the system against a database of non-custom system) installing a clean system and then re-installing the custom config. Of course fedora is somewhat more sophisticated than MacOS 8.1, but the principle's the same. Basically, what I have to do at least every 6mths is: - List my packages - List all changes to /home/me/ - List all changes to /etc/ - back up /home/me/ and /etc/ - Clean install - List my new packages and yum the diff - Go through my lists of /home/me/ and /etc/ and move-reconfig from the backups - Then muck around for the next month or so fine tuning all the stuff that I don't know about and never will that naturally gets customised through use - By which time it's time to go through the whole process again! (not quite:) So, what a blessing it would be to have a wizard that by a few clicks of a mouse stepped you effortlessly and comprehensively through that pita I've just listed above. I know, my Mac heritage is showing:) But, the principle is a valid one and what a relief it would be. M. -- Morgan Read NEW ZEALAND <mailto:mstuffATreadDOTorgDOTnz> fedora: Freedom Forever! http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview "By choosing not to ship any proprietary or binary drivers, Fedora does differ from other distributions. ..." Quote: Max Spevik http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/17/177220

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desktop September 2006