console widgets without X
Hi, I have a marketing problem. Imagine a linux box running in runlevel 3, no X. I want to have a special user who is only allowed to configure a few things on the console (physcal, VMware, whatever), but - marketing put their collective foot down hard here - the interface must "look nice". Definition of "nice" will be made clear a few lines down. The functional requirements are simple - a form with a few labeled input fields (with default values filled in at the start) + "save" and "cancel" buttons. The form may be full screen. I'd like to have the application as the special user's login shell. But, console only! What are my options for such an application? Is there any toolkit capable of presenting a nice-looking form withut X? Here are things I've thought about: 1. ncurses - obviously. Not a very sophisticated look, to the point that I can't be sure it will be acceptable - this is the "nice" border, and ncurses may actually be on the wong side of it. I'd prefer to research alternatives before suggesting it. 2. newt - seems similar to ncurses visually. 3. pdmenu - ugly as hell, and not sure forms are possible. Will never pass the nice-looking test. 4. A web server. Rather than have a special user with an app for the login shell, connect using a browser. Very good from the nice looking POV. However, can't run a web server, really, for reasons I won't go into. 5. dialog(1) - actualy may pass the muster... A notch beter looking than newt... My current favourite. 6. Various toolkits (Tcl/Tk, Tinker, etc.) would probably pass the aesthetics committee, but all seem to require X. Any other suggestions? Thanks, -- Oleg Goldshmidt | p...@goldshmidt.org ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: console widgets without X
Hi, On a similar scenario I chose newt. 1. IMHO, it looks very good considering it's a tui. 2. For Linux people it looks familiar and professional as red hat had used it for years in the installation (anaconda) and configuration tools (system-config-*). 3. The python binding is very good. - Noam On 16 Jun 2014 20:34, "Oleg Goldshmidt" wrote: > > Hi, > > I have a marketing problem. Imagine a linux box running in runlevel 3, > no X. I want to have a special user who is only allowed to configure a > few things on the console (physcal, VMware, whatever), but - marketing > put their collective foot down hard here - the interface must "look > nice". Definition of "nice" will be made clear a few lines down. > > The functional requirements are simple - a form with a few labeled input > fields (with default values filled in at the start) + "save" and > "cancel" buttons. The form may be full screen. I'd like to have the > application as the special user's login shell. > > But, console only! What are my options for such an application? Is there > any toolkit capable of presenting a nice-looking form withut X? > > Here are things I've thought about: > > 1. ncurses - obviously. Not a very sophisticated look, to the point that >I can't be sure it will be acceptable - this is the "nice" border, >and ncurses may actually be on the wong side of it. I'd prefer to >research alternatives before suggesting it. > > 2. newt - seems similar to ncurses visually. > > 3. pdmenu - ugly as hell, and not sure forms are possible. Will never >pass the nice-looking test. > > 4. A web server. Rather than have a special user with an app for the >login shell, connect using a browser. Very good from the nice looking >POV. However, can't run a web server, really, for reasons I won't go >into. > > 5. dialog(1) - actualy may pass the muster... A notch beter looking than >newt... My current favourite. > > 6. Various toolkits (Tcl/Tk, Tinker, etc.) would probably pass the >aesthetics committee, but all seem to require X. > > Any other suggestions? > > Thanks, > > -- > Oleg Goldshmidt | p...@goldshmidt.org > > ___ > Linux-il mailing list > Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il > http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il > ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
Re: console widgets without X
Hi, On Monday 16 June 2014 20:34:09 Oleg Goldshmidt wrote: > But, console only! What are my options for such an application? Is there > any toolkit capable of presenting a nice-looking form withut X? In 2001 I used OpenGUI (http://www.tutok.sk/fastgl). It now seems orphaned (Last release in 2007), but: * Looks very nice: http://www.tutok.sk/fastgl/screens.htm * Can be compiled for: - Linux VGA-framebuffer (several resolutions) - X11 - Windows * Support OpenGL (on all these targets) Fork it for maintenance? -- Oron Peled Voice: +972-4-8228492 o...@actcom.co.il http://users.actcom.co.il/~oron .--. |o_o | |:_/ | // \ \ (| | ) /'\_ _/`\ \___)=(___/ ___ Linux-il mailing list Linux-il@cs.huji.ac.il http://mailman.cs.huji.ac.il/mailman/listinfo/linux-il
