Ease of Use was: Packaging Gimp .99.15

[Anand Kumria <wildfire@progsoc.uts.edu.au>]

On Wed, 3 Dec 1997, Hamish Moffatt wrote:

> like so far. The developers need to know what problems people
> are having with the software and the packaging before it can be
> fixed.

My main problem with Debian (and most other Linux distributions) is that
it assumes that your hardware is 'difficult'. I'd rather have Debian's
instllation process assume my hardware was standardised. Example:

The first question you are asked is "Do you have a mouse"

If no, dump them into a text based configuration process otherwise

"Where is your mouse attached?" then "Do you know what kind of mouse it
is?" If so, query them on protocol details. Otherwise assume a two-button
mouse and fireup the VGA 16 server to do a graphical configuration. 

Once the configuration process (text/graphical) is underway you could then
ask the users (or determine it by probing) for further details to
'optimise' the system for them.

I realise that parts of this system won't be doable until Deity is closer
to completeion but I do know that at least one other person [Hi Roland] is
working on something similiar.

Anand.

--
 `When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to
  its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are
  forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how
  holy the motives' -- Robert A Heinlein, "If this goes on --"



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