On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 3:24 AM, Tomeu Vizoso <to...@sugarlabs.org> wrote: > On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 09:21, C. Scott Ananian <csc...@laptop.org> wrote: >> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 11:00 AM, John Gilmore <g...@toad.com> wrote: >>>> I'm very interested on this, as it would give us also for free a FUSE >>>> interface. Why I haven't pursued it yet is because the API for >>>> developing new gio backends is still private and our new backend would >>>> then need to live inside the gvfs gnome module or as a patch in every >>>> distro. Aside from having to periodically adapt to any API changes. >>>> >>>> See http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gvfs-list/2008-May/msg00004.html >>>> >>>> That said, such a backend would be very simple, for the journal in Sugar >>>> 0.84. >>> >>> Hi Tomeu, I'd say write the simple backend and submit it upstream. Their >>> interface sounds very much like every other interface in a computer, >>> i.e. not quite done right in retrospect and always subject to change. >>> Their mailing list only got a dozen messsages that month -- it's not >>> evolving SO fast. Host the code in their gnome module and then it'll >>> evolve along with the module and also go into each distro. >>> >>> My idea is that when an ordinary GUI program pops up an "Open File" >>> dialog, if an OLPC Journal exists for that user, it will be one of the >>> icons in the left column (like "Desktop" or "File System" or each >>> mounted removable storage device). If Journal is already the default, >>> or is selected, then the filename and type are pre-defaulted, though >>> the user can override them by typing. >>> >>> Even on a sugarized OLPC, people are going to neet to touch files that >>> have real names in the real filesystem (e.g. Python source code, >>> config files, even new firmware downloads) as well as Journal entries, >>> so they'll need ways to pick things OTHER than the Journal, too. >>> >>> This design would also let people try out the Journal concept, just by >>> "apt-get install olpc-journal" and starting it up. Then by picking >>> Journal in the file dialog or file browser, it will arrange the files >>> that they save or read, by date of access in one big glob, with tags >>> or whatever, rather than making them pick hierarchical names. This >>> would all happen modularly, without installing the Sugar GUI. (It >>> would only be interfaced to Sugar and Gnome, but maybe other desktops >>> would get the hint.) >>> >>> This would also be a really cheap way to browse USB keys, etc. Open >>> two Gnome file browsers (one hierarchical in USB key; the other in >>> Journal) and drag things back and forth. The code's already there, >>> it just lacks this one interface. >> >> John, I don't know if you ever saw: >> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Journal,_reloaded >> >> Given the massive disruption to the status quo, I'm not sure that I >> would attempt to argue for one approach over the other; just noting >> that there is an alternative. > > For the record, I think that Scott's approach is the best if it can be > put to work.
I agree. From a user experience point of view, I think something much closer in functionality to Scott's prototype would be a big step forward for the Journal. I never had the chance to make proper mockups of what it could ultimately look like in Sugar, but I hope to still have the opportunity to do that. - Eben > If I'm working on something else is because we need to ship something > better than what we had and didn't saw so clear how we could do it > given the resources we have and all the open questions that there are. > > Regards, > > Tomeu > _______________________________________________ > Devel mailing list > Devel@lists.laptop.org > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel > _______________________________________________ Devel mailing list Devel@lists.laptop.org http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/devel