Re: Documentation on configuring Debian for desktop use?
I'm not sure I agree this should be something for the end user, if I
understand what end user means that is, the person who is going to be
using the software right?
Thous people would need something like a user guide to learn how to use
the system. I was thinking more of a documentation for the people who
are installing Debian on a desktop that is eventually going to be used
by the end user. It would cover what to do once you have installed the
base system. Though it could also include a basic guide to installing
Debian to make it more accessible to new users.. but now that I think of
it there are some choices to be made while installing the base system
that can be different depending on if you are installing Debian for
desktop use or something else.
Beside the base installation process I have few ideas of what it could
cover.
- What version of Debian to use for desktop
We need to be clear on what version of Debian we are talking about, be
it stable, testing or unstable. I think testing is the ideal one since
it's stable, I'm running unstable and it'a pretty stable, so I would
think testing is even more stable. And I think I read somewhere that it
will have regular security updates after sarge has been released?
- Setting up a boot splash image
This is not a crucial thing but I think we can all agree that the
desktop should look at least OK to the eye, most operating systems that
focus on desktop use have something like this, since Debian is a
"Universal Operating System" this is something that we need to document
how to do manually.
http://www.desktop-linux.net/bootsplash.htm
http://www.bootsplash.org/
- Installing ALSA
Getting sound to work with ALSA, there are bunch of HowTos on this but
maybe not specific for Debian, they all have in common to tell you to
compile ALSA from source instead of using binary packages, at least in
the HowTos that I have seen. Is this really the ideal way? Should we not
encourage use of pre-compiled binary packages from a official repository
whenever possible?
http://www.linuxorbit.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=541&page=1 - This is since November 1, 2002..
- Installing X and some desktop environment (GNOME/KDE/Xfce/etc..)
Again bunch of HowTos on this topic but maybe not specificly for Debian.
I think we should not encourage use of proprietary video drivers for X,
if anything then just link to an existing howto. We should support more
then just one desktop environment, the desktop environments with the
biggest user groups are GNOME and KDE, so that would be a good start I
think.
- Installing extra packages
Extra packages to fill in allot of desktop functionality, this is
something that needs to be sorted out, some info on this can be found in
the bellow link.
http://wiki.debian.net/?DefaultPackages
- What groups to put users in
What groups should users be in? For example if they need to access to
the sound card to play audio they need to be in the audio group. We
should have a list of what groups the users should be in.
- Automatic USB/FireWire device handling
I have never seen any howto of any kind on this topic for Debian, the
way I do it (this works in Sid at least) is to add the user to the
plugdev group, works like a charm. I guess if this approach is taken
this would just go into what groups to put the user in.
We can probably get allot of more ideas if we study how Ubuntu goes
about doing things..
On Wed, 2005-03-02 at 23:51 -0500, Matthew P. McGuire wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-03-03 at 02:22 +0000, Brynjar Harðarson wrote:
> > Hey Matt, here are two links to information related to Debian for
> > desktop use that I know of.
> >
> > http://wiki.debian.net/?DebianDesktop
> > http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?s=&threadid=224547
> >
> > I would be really interested in working on a Debian Desktop Guide,
> > beside being able to do some writing I can also get free hosting under
> > foo.gothicmars.com if that's something that could be useful to get the
> > this going.
> >
> >
>
> I have used the following links over the years:
>
> http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals but most importantly the...
> http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/reference.en.html
> http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apa.html for the installer
> http://www.rage3d.com/content/articles/atilinuxhowto/ for my ATI Card
> And i just saw this but it could be incorporated as well.
> http://people.debian.org/~debacle/refcard/
>
> I have mostly used the Debian Reference manual and Googled other stuff
> as needed. From looking at the documents currently available we could
> probably start now.
>
> Before we proceed we need to isolate exactly what we want to document. I
> picture this as an end user guide and not a system administration guide.
> The two really should be seperate things. However the lines will blur a
> bit as some changes for Desktop will require root access. For instance
> in your example the user needed to be part of the plugdev group.
> Changing this requires root access to edit the user profile. I would
> like to minimize the number fo things that will require root access.
>
> On a related note some find it preferable to direct people to use the
> command line for these things. I would also like to instruct people on
> how to use the GNOME and KDE configuration tools that are available.
> This allows less inclined people to work with the ideas before tackling
> the command line. As such for each recomendation in the document we need
> directions for command line, GNOME, and KDE methods where available. We
> also must include a list of requirements for each item so the user can
> communicate cleary their needs to an administrator if they have to.
> Additionally if recomendation A requires B and C to be done first we
> should direct the user to B and C as needed, and in the correct order. I
> don't know how many times the ordering of a how-to has ruined it
> usefullness. I would really like to avoid that.
>
> I am partial to the start from scratch type of directions. So I think
> the short installation How-To can be a real help there. From there we
> need to look at what goes into a default debian desktop installation and
> see what will need setup, and tweaking. Past that we can talk about
> common use cases and useful apps.
>
> How does all of that sound?
>
> -matthew
>
>
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