Re: Linuxconf

[Federico Di Gregorio <fog@mist.org>]

On Fri, Aug 28, 1998 at 05:56:46PM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Aug 1998, Federico Di Gregorio wrote:
> 
> > is someone working on Linuxconf? Some time ago there was a lot of
> > talking, then 2.0 release took all my/our attention... I am sure
> > everybody agrees on the fact that Debian should have GUI configuration
> > tools...
> 
> i don't agree.
> 
> sure, it might be *nice* to have GUI config tools for newbies, but it's
> far from essential.

I am sorry: my english isn't perfect and sometimes I don't express exactly
what I really want... I didn't say a GUI is essential, I just said that
Debian should include a GUI conf tool for the people that want to use it.
And, yes, I agree too on the fact that conffiles should be ALWAYS
editable by hand (death to registry!).

> i am in favour of *optional* GUI configuration tools which do NOT
> invalidate or in any way interfere with the ability to edit a config
> file with a text editor(*)
> 
> i am strongly opposed to any GUI config tool which was either essential
> or which interfered in any way with editing text files with a text
> editor(*).

As I said before, I agree.

> PS: speaking as someone who has used GUI configurators (windows,
> macintosh, solaris netra stuff, and numerous others) *AND* text based
> configuration, I can't see what all the fuss is about. as far as i
> am concerned, GUI configs are much harder and clumsier to use and
> annoyingly limited in scope. 
> 
> i can not comprehend that people actually believe that something is
> magically easier just because it has a few graphics in a window and forces
> you to take your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse.   That just
> seems bizarre and wildly counter-intuitive.

It's easier when you have a dropdown menu with, say, 20 choices instead
of a 20 page manual describing 20 keywords you have to put in a conf-file
by hand. (I have the time to RTFM, some friends of mine haven't, they just
want to *do* something with their box. I can't blame them for that.)

I mostly agree with you Craig, but sometimes a GUI *is* more intuitive...

Ciao,

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