kamaraju kusumanchi wrote:
Rafi Gabzu wrote:KDE will not be installed by default because not all the people running Debian would want KDE. Some would like Kde, some like Gnome, some like xfce and there are plethora of other choices available. In fact some dont even need a Desktop environment or a window manager etc.,The idea is to give you a very 'small', 'basic' system that just works. After that it is up to the user to install the software that he wants.3.Since KDE wasn't installed I searched it in " Synaptic Package Manager " , I got a long list with short descriptions , now I had to understand what to install .... Maybe you should mark somehow the basic/core/main packages in the " Synaptic Package Manager " ?In any case, installing KDE is as simple as, becoming root and executing the commandapt-get install kde
I think he's expecting Synaptic to be a little more helpful; I just installed it to see how it behaves, and when you search for "kde", it finds the KDE section, but not the KDE metapackage. You can then scroll through the KDE section and manually find the KDE metapackage, but that's not at all intuitive for the newbie. What's worse is that the description is not intuitive, talking about "official modules" and not depending on development packages, etc; that's uninterpretable by a newbie (I've got years of experience in Debian, and this description doesn't tell me what the package is for!); it would be helpful if the description said something like "if you want a basically complete KDE system on your Debian, box, this package is all you need to install (assuming you have X installed - installing the 'x-window-system' package will take care of that part for you").
Rafi:Unfortunately, telling this list what would make the beginner's experience better may help you feel a little better about the whole process, but because Debian is pieced together by hundreds (thousands?) of individuals, there's not really a good way to tell "the Debian group" how to improve the process; instead, you need to tell the individual Debian developers/maintainers.
Often the Debian developers/maintainers will read postings like yours, and be able to make improvements based on the suggestion, but a better method would be for you to give these suggestions to the individual developers/maintainers.
For example, if you'd like Synaptic do a better job of searching and highlighting the phrase "kde" instead of merely highlighting the section name of "kde", you'd want to let the developer(s) of Synaptic know this request. The "Help/About" menu option within Synaptic should get you some developers' names. (By the way, most Debianites find the command-line tool "aptitude" to be more powerful (but not as pretty or intuitive(?)) than the GUI-fied "Synaptic".)
Separate and apart from the Synaptic search issue is the issue of the KDE package having a better explanation (as mentioned above). This request would need to be sent to the maintainer of the KDE package. You can find an email for the KDE package maintainer group by highlighting the KDE package, then Properties, then Common.
Be aware that some developers/maintainers welcome unsolicited suggestions; some don't. Some welcome direct email; some prefer you go through a formal bug/wishlist process.
Of course, you would not know any of these things, being a newbie, so making your post is probably the best way of exposing your ideas to the people who can make things happen. Perhaps Debian needs a "clearing house" email address where such suggestions could be made; a "maintainer" of the clearing house could then route suggestions to the various developers/maintainers. Unfortunately, this would require a lot of work, and wouldn't be very fun/glamorous, so I doubt anyone would volunteer to do it. (And Debian is all about volunteerism.)
-- Kent