Re: Creating a task launcher.....
On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 01:17:18PM -0400, Stephen R Laniel wrote :
> On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 05:02:13PM +0200, Brice Méalier wrote:
> > There something that you can try to do instead of double-clicking on
> > item (this way you'll also experience the user-friendliness of linux):
> > open a terminal (gnome-terminal or Konsole under KDE (yeah this ugly
> > command line)) and type 'fire' and hit twice the TAB key, that will give
> > you every command beginning with fire including firefox! If the command
> > needs some more argument, it will tell it to you! so according to these
> > messages, you'll be able to see what went wrong!
>
> I'd say that we should just keep new users away from the
> command line. I do all my work there, but it ceased to be
> the best way for new users to interact with a computer about
> 15 years ago. The problem with the command line (just to
because win started to get market share at that time and gave users bad
habits....
> resurrect a horse long enough to flail it) is that it
> doesn't tell you what your options are. In a GUI, you have
> menus that list the full extent of what's available to you.
> The command line has the full expressive power of language,
> with all the complexities that that entails. Sometimes --
> often -- limiting choice makes things more usable. (Ask a
> recent immigrant about his or her first time in an American
> grocery store, for an idea.)
>
> You come to the command line, for instance, and you ask
> yourself 'How do I launch my web browser?' How will you know
> even that your web browser starts with 'fire'?
> Tab-completion only works if you know what the filename is.
>
generally, the name of the program matches the name of the binary! the
best example is what you are telling above with firefox...
also I think that new users do not have to use intensively the command
line but they should be aware that this command line is a way far from
being not interactive and in a majority of cases will give them
important information! BTW that remembers me the first (and lone) time I
tried to convert a pascal program to c using the program "p2c", I was
definitively a newbie and tried to do it by double-clicking... I would
have succeed if I would have been aware of the command line. My remarks
were just intended to make him aware of that.
> The better approach for new users is to have a menu like
> GNOME's: Applications -> Internet -> Firefox. Though I think
> Firefox should be labeled 'Firefox web browser,' but they're
> on their way.
>
> > Well ok! but don't look to much at this! after some reading on the unix
> > filesystems you will understand that you can't not do such equivalent
> > between unix and win (I don't blame someone here). So take it for half
> > right for now, you'll understand that with some practice.
>
> Mmm ... give me an example of an executable file that
>
> a) most new users would encounter and
> b) is *not* in /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, or /usr/sbin.
>
> Granted, sometimes apps are in ~/bin, but new users will not
> encounter that. The odds are overwhelming that any app you
> want will be in one of the four directories that I listed.
>
I agree with you! I just wanted to pointed that in comparison to win the
filesystems is organized! and so a comparison of /usr/bin to c:\Program
Files seems to be not 100% relevant!
Please don't feel blame by my comments, this is not my goal! I just want
to give some tips to a new user and not to tell him that what you say is
wrong.
Best regards
--
Brice Méalier
mealier_brice@yahoo.fr
Linux user nb. 372699
Debian Sarge
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