--- illogic-al <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So you suggest sticking a screenshot in the rpm? > Further down you say certain people have no business > installing an OS. > Well by extension of that logic they wouldn't have > gotten to the installation > point so this doesn't need to be worried about. I > think you should install > what you think you'll need the subgroups mandrake > has are perfect for this, > no screenshots necessary.
No, you don't understand. What I'm saying is that you have: - people that just _use_ computers - people that _administer_ computers for their friends or professionally The problem is, most of the second group now uses Windows (I think that group nr. 1 doesn't care about the OS and probably wouldn't even notice the difference). > > - Program installation pops-up during OS install [...] > That's a typical windows user. mdklinux is not > windows and users installing > linux know that (at least most of them do). It's the argument of "never change anything, make people learn our ways instead". I believe that separating tasks and not putting anything in the installation that isn't absolutely necessary makes a system easier to understand. > I > don't think we cater to > windows users. I think we cater to users _coming > from windows_ who a looking > for something > 1. different and > 2. reliable But we can also learn some good things from Microsoft, no? > > - It presumes that users are too stupid to > understand > > the concept of a "software program" > It's brilliant because it solves the problem you > noted above about cryptic > names. Who cares what the name is if you click on > the internet group and when > you boot see that you already have browsers, mail and IM clients (in > respective menu entries) installed. Please tell me, do you know anyone that doesn't have an Internet connection? So why not make the Internet checkbox always selected then? And do you know anyone that never in his life needed a word processor? Anyone that never played a media file? Not to mention that a Linux box is useless without gcc.... and so on. So basically, why don't we just scrap the group selection screen and just install the whole 3 CDs? This goes to prove that the present way is meaningless. Not to you because you're used to either install everything or go directly to detailed package selection. You're not a newbie. > > How else do you explain the enormous popularity of > > sites such as Download.com or Tucows? > because they are central repositories. "your one stop shop for all your > software needs" we have those to, they're called mirrors :) and then of > course, sourceforge and freshmeat for those who must have it now. I'm not talking about the concept, I'm talking about the interface. People obviously use it and obviously can understand it. So why not copy? > you've got to be kidding me. you don't know if at least you'll be using > Internet or Office or Games or Desktop when you install? No. I'll use all of these, but not all office packages (just one), not all games (just a few), not all net apps (just one browser, one e-mail client)... blahblah. You get my point. > And what's really hidden in madrake choices? Some devel packages, > compilers, > games (ok these should be more accesible since people usually want > these), > sysadmin stuff like traceroute. The people who use these w/ the > exception of games will have no trouble going into all packages to > find them Ok, I'll go top-down through packages and name those that are full blown GUI applications and are not listed in Mandrake Choices. Note that I've installed all of the "groups", so there is a relatively small amount of stuff that isn't installed: - alsamixergui - arpwatch - avifile-player - bumprace - chromium-setup - circuslinux - eog - ethereal - fbtv And so on. There is a lot more that I have installed so they aren't listed. I really don't have time to look through all of them, but I know I've given up using Mandrake choices because it happens to often that I can't find what I'm looking for. > So in essence you want there to be an "Idiot Mode"? I thought that > that's what > the "Mandrake Choices" menu was (which i use) No. While hiding the above, Mdk Choices lists stuff like (I'm going through packages from top-down): - ami - this should be installed by keyboarddrake - chinput - same - drakconf - what's the point for uninstalling the control panel? that would quickly render the OS unusable to newbies - fonts, fonts - should be installed by fontdrake - galaxy - should be installed by a theme manager - gnome-pim-conduits - a plugin to gnome-pim - gurpmi - see drakconf - kinput - see ami - linneighborhood - ok - mountloop - ok - nmap-frontend - ok - rpmdrake - see drakconf - rxvt - ok - rxvt-CJK - a plugin for rxvt - taipeifonts - see fonts - the rest of Gnome workstation - see ami Only the packages marked with ok would stay. As you can see, of the present ~1000 packages, I would leave visible not more than 50. Some of them would enable additional 100 or so to be installed as options (plugins). The rest would be hidden. That's IMO much simpler and more intuitive then having 10 "package groups". > i hate pop ups. doing this for every package with a > plugin: xmms, gaim, licq > xchat would become highly annoying at install time Like you install them three times a day. > > pop-ups (i.e. Kooka now support both gocr and ocrad, > > so a pop-up should appear with two appropriately named > > checkboxes) > but who knows what the diff between gocr and ocrad > is? > I don't. I have a friend that calls me every time any wierd pop-up appears on his Windows. But he is into graphics and he knows the difference between I.R.I.S and Klara OCR. Thats just it - they are the two programs for OCR :) Tell me what's the diff between Konqueror and Mozilla, but please no personal opinions! See? ;) > why the proper capitalization and spacing does anyone here except > english > professors really care? :p True, but having everything in lower case and no spaces looks a bit dull, don't you think? :) > > but have very similar > > appearance with the same categories, buttons, etc. > > Also, in Package Removal checking a package will > > uninstall it, but in Package Installation you need to > > UNcheck a package to uninstall it!? > eh? no you do, it's check to install and uninstall Read it again. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com
