hi.
if the debian 'menu' package [
http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu.html/ ] does offer
console-support , this email can probably be disregarded.
( having a need to stay booted to ms-w right now, i can't check this myself,
yet. also, the following )
if it ('menu') doesn't offer console-only support:
this email will hopefully be taken as a request for that feature, and as a
presentation to the forum for the opening of discussion about how some
console-support could be implemented.
( on a tangent is a question that has been pending for a while, here.
would people like|support a (probably, very minor) degree of regulated
parliamentary procedure, on the mailing-lists?
, and i'm not meaning anything like what might be used by the
freemasons or
congress or the UN, by that. but it seems like there would be a few general
classifications of mailing-list traffic:
- request-for-feature
- intent-to-package ( to be directed to debian-devel , no?)
- bug-report ( debian-bugs ? )
- usage-question
- general question
- others?
... and certain ways that a list-post of each type would be handled.
( and the option to develop some software-ish things to handle the posting and
managing of such list-posts )
and this should maybe be stated in a seperate email, but i like to present it
when there's an example of something that it seems relevant to. namely, the
intent of this email . also, kind of like pinging people with the idea, to see
what comes back in-reply.
)
if 'menu' does not have console-support yet, here are some initial ideas about
how this might be implemented.
feel free to disregard the following if your time is short and|or if you're not
a developer and|or if you're not interested in it, but i'm still working my way
into development, and would like to hear what some experienced people would have
to say about the following, time-allowing .
( ... 'community' . )
1) i'd installed the 'screen' package. it seems like this might be used as a
route towards implementing a console-based menu system.
a) problem-issues:
1) something about the way the screen would flash at times.
("ech" and a feeling of something that might be
fishy in or about the code or
method-of-implementation . )
2) i don't know how to rate 'screen' on resource-usage,
or if it might have any other problems that i'm
not yet aware of.
2) i know that there are already some console-based menu systems that have been
developed. saw one of them somewhere in the debian package-tree. ( as well as
suggestions on what their names are ... it was a while ago that i saw them ) any
help with deciding about which is the better of the options, would be
appreciated.
3) the following tasks would seem to be worth inclusion
as functions accessible via a menu-system:
-- mailing-list posting,
categorized by the purpose of the post
-- package-management, probably just something
to start-up dselect, but maybe otherwise.
-- system-management.
(e.g.: easy access to config-files,
as a means for the new user to get acquainted
with "what's where" and "which files
and paths are for what purposes" )
-- help-doc access. maybe just an interface to
dhelp. maybe otherwise.
( when 'otherwise' is meant kind of like a stub-code
for some pending reports, proposals,
and work )
-- debian-tips , when that finally gets developed
and released.
-- maybe something for new-users. sort of an ("interactive")
walk-through, towards familiarizing someone with the
Linux environment.
and a 'debian-devel' module to handle things like:
-- debian-rules
-- CVS-functions
-- (insert-[helpful|time-saving]-thing-here)
( I still haven't made it throughly
into debian-devel, packaging, and updating
of out-of-date packages. ( pppoe , for example ) .
i don't know what's out there for development-tools,
yet. )
...and that might be enough, for now.
hoping that the statement, "feel free to disregard the following", was enough to
keep this from seeming like some excessive text,
--
s.c.