On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 01:35:45AM +0200, Frans Pop wrote: > Main thing still is that it's great to have a graphical shell and that it > would be a real plus if we can get it ready in time for Lenny. At the > same time, it should IMO be solid enough to be included. > > First and most importantly: I've not seen any crashes or weird glitches. Sounds like a good answer to the previous remark. :) > Integration into the installer has some problems I think. I really likes > the "tabs" idea in your previous test image especially because that also > offered a scrollable syslog screen _with_ correct display in foreign > scripts. It also makes the shell available in parallel to the > installation process instead of temporarily replacing it. Both are complementary: cdebconf-terminal is meant to be the graphical version of the debconf-disconnect trick for both the "Execute a shell" and rescue mode shell options. Tabs for parallel shells and syslog are graphical versions of the "Linux VT", accessible with Alt+F{2,3,4}. > However, I do see that this implementation is simpler and there were > issues with the tabs, so post-Lenny for that is fine. The tabs should, IMHO, come with a wider redesign of the current interface. Debian is going to be installed on more and more wide TFT screens and g-i should support them in a better way that it currently does. I would still like to see "Yes" and "No" buttons instead of radio buttons for single boolean questions. And I have other changes on my list… :) Getting cdebconf-terminal ready for Lenny will allow us to offer users of languages only supported by the graphical installer at least one way to access a shell. And this sounds like a really desirable goal. :) > It would still be nice if an extra menu item could be added "View system > log" that shows a tail of 500 lines or so. This can easily be added to di-utils-shell or rootskel-gtk. It also depends if we decide to include cdebconf-terminal in the initrd or leave it as an extra udeb. > What I really don't like from a usability PoV is the requirement to > type 'exit' to leave the shell and the IMO unnecessary "two-step exit" > (first 'exit' and then 'Continue'). Rationale behind it is that sometimes one mistype a Ctrl+D, and going back to the menu directly typing random letters sounded like a bad idea. > Is it technically not possible to just quit the plug-in after typing exit? It is possible. > Why is the Continue button needed? Could an active <Go back> button be > shown instead of the Continue that (after a warning) just kills the > plug-in if it is clicked (the mouse is still active after all)? I need to think of a proper way to display a warning, but it sounds like a better idea. > I fail to see the point in the "End of shell process." message, even if > the two-step exit is technically unavoidable. If you do want to keep some > message, then I'd suggest a simple "Click Continue to proceed." which is > much more helpful. One can reach the "Continue" button using the keyboard, that's why I avoided such message. The various situations where such a shell could have been called also made me pounder about something like "proceed". But maybe it should just be avoided. > Most important issue: position of "Execute a shell" in the menu is > incorrect after anna (before partman instead of after finish-install). > […] I did no changes to the actual code for "Execute a shell" or rescue mode options except that removing the tests which removed these options when DEBIAN_FRONTEND was "gtk". So if di-utils-shell position is wrong when rescue-mode is put on the initrd, normal builds once the patch will have been applied will not be affected. > Other issues/suggestions: > - home and end keys don't work while editing a line I need to figure out why. > - scrollback is only 100 lines while it's 200 on VT2/3; would be good to > be consistent there Easily fixed. > - if possible repeat the "type 'exit' to close the shell and return to the > installer" info somewhere on the screen while the plug-in is running; > looks like there's little room for this though I can make this message configurable through a variable, as the "View system log" option you were asking previously will not need "exit" but "Ctrl-C". More strings, angrier Christian… > - why is the position of the "End of shell process" different for regular > shell and rescue shell (for the first it is indented by 7 or 8 chars) I have noticed it, but haven't been able to understand why. :( > - Chinese looks reasonable: fairly sharp but some characters are much > brighter than others (varying from very dark grey to white); guess > antialiasing would be needed? I see that VteTerminal API has a VTE_ANTI_ALIAS_FORCE_ENABLE option, but it does not sound like a good idea to use it. Davide, is there any special things that we should know about Chinese in DejaVu-Mono? > > > +Template: rescue/initrd-shell/title > > > +_Description: Interactive shell in the installer environment > > > + > > This is not a new string! It's already used in the regular rescue mode. > IMO this duplication should be avoided. I'll see how it could be done. Cheers, -- Jérémy Bobbio
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