Re: And now for something completely different... etch!
On Tuesday 07 June 2005 08:56, Frans Pop wrote:
> On Tuesday 07 June 2005 03:21, Joey Hess wrote:
> > Planned, and ground already laid in tasksel (and indeed, it does do it
> > for some easy things like language tasks). One thing I really want to
> > see happen is a laptop task. The big missing peice is some simple
> > program tasksel can call out to, like
> >
> > if this_is_a_laptop; then
> > ..
> > fi
> >
> > This should use whatever hardware probing works best for laptops.
Another item that might be worth considering for laptops is a networking
equivalent of the pmount group. People in these groups would be allowed
to edit the network files (in particular /etc/network/interfaces) and bring
interfaces up and down. Obviously on servers and corporate desktops
this group would be empty or contain only system admins, but on a
laptop you have to be able to fit into the network you are presented
with and you do not want joe-user to be switching to root all the time
just in order to do these functions.
I realise that this would require fixes to a number of packages, and quite
possibly some additional code to give a graphical interface to the
/etc/networking/interfaces file would be a good idea for GUI only users
and those who might not understand the consequences of incorrectly
coded entries and need a program to do it for them.
David
>
> This sounds like a good idea, but will need very careful logic.
> For instance, some older (APM-based) Toshiba laptops work well with the
> toshiba module and the toshset package where newer (ACPI-based) laptops
> need the toshiba-acpi module which does not work with toshset.
> I would suspect that similar distinctions exist for other makes.
>
> > I'm interested in other ideas for automatic selection of default tasks.
>
> One thing I feel is currently missing is to show users which tasks have
> been automatically selected and the option to deselect them (maybe only
> at medium or lower priority).
>
> Which brings me to another pet wish: make it a lot easier to install at
> medium priority than currently.
> IMO there is a real use for medium priority:
> - experienced users now often choose expert and get confused by some of
> the informational dialogs (especially the "unavailable drivers" one)
> - for users installing for the first time the "no dhcp" boot option and
> such are not really obvious, medium priority can be used to offer
> useful freedom in a structured way keeping expert for difficult hardware
Reply to: