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Hi all. |
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We discussed on the IRC channel today. One of the things that came up |
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was which major problem area we should try to tackle, that is, which |
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setting are we focusing on? |
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The alternatives we came up with was |
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) Corporate desktop |
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Typically, one fairly trained administrator has full control over every |
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desktop, and does all the program installation and upgrade. Thus, we must |
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consider admin tools, deployment to many (nearly) identical machines, |
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security and stability. |
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) Home user/End-user |
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In this setting, the ease-of-use would be the primary problem. We want |
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as much as possible be plug'n'play. If a user inserts a new hw device, |
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it should just work, or a menu should pop up (ideally, a tray icon should |
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start blinking), so that the user can start configuring the device. |
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In this case, we must take a lot of care to shield the novice from the |
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iron, and make certain it's hard to break the system. At the same time, |
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it should be possible/easy to fix/diagnose a problem for savvy users. |
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We do not want a "dumbing down", but we want "easy to use". |
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) Embedded systems |
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Not really mentioned, but as Gentoo is meta-distro, we should perhaps |
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spend some time thinking if it would be a good idea to spend time |
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adding tools for people who deploy desktops in PDAs, old intel hw |
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(think 3rd world countries, poor schools in the US) |
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We realise that we don't have enough manpower to solve everything, so |
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we should probably start by picking a somewhat suitably sized problem and |
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attacking it. |
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Examples of "suitably sized problems" may be |
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) Printing for home users |
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) Deployment of Gentoo on 50+ identical desktops |
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) Proper plug'n'play support for USB devices |
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) Nicer package upgrade and installation |
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- I want a directory of packages that the user can peruse before |
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installing. In that directory, I want for each package: |
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- a screenshot |
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- a long and thorough description, including license, deps |
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- a link to the package's home page |
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- a link to the package's currently open bugs, who's the |
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maintainer |
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- suggested accompanying packages |
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Kind regards, |
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Karl T |
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-- |
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