An idea from a Debian user

[Evan Cox <ejcox@optusnet.com.au>]

Hi Guys,

 I hope this is the right area to send this email.  My apologies if I am 
wrong. If so, please forward to the appropriate area.

  I have fiddles with Linux distro's for approx 3 years, and found Debian 3 
months ago.  I adore it, and will be using debian from now on.

I would like to offer a suggestion to the team about an idea for a package to 
add to Debian.  This idea is the one feature that I feel is lacking and hope 
this idea aligns to your goals for Debian. 

My suggestion has come from frustration in trying to maintain Debian Sarge 
from the CLI.  I am very use to some sort of system control center, for 
common tasks such as iptables, network connection/configuration, configuring  
hardware, repartitioning, or resizing hd's, backups etc.  This could be quite 
a list but will stop there.

My idea is to create a frontend program that is similar to the profile 
'Midnight Commander' in Konqueror (ie screen splint into 3/4 top and 1/4 CLI) 
that begins with  iconised area relevant to the administration task, and ends 
with a screen of relevant commands for the appropriate task and when 
appropriate some GUI features.  

From my point of view, a program like this would be a fantastic learning 
assistant in the crossover from point and click to CLI, and add a central 
administration section to Debian.   

Eg: I have formatted my hd with resizer format, and have separate partitions 
for /, /var, /usr, /home, /tmp and swap.  I would like to see a graphic 
representation of the usage of my hd, and resize the partitions but fear 
making an error via the command line.  This is where the program can help, by 
showing me a graph of this and suggesting what commands to use for the task.

Please let me know if you want more info, or if ideas like this are a 
nuisance.

Cheers

Evan