Re: Bounce a few ideas off

["Kenneth R. Kinder" <Ken KenAndTed com>]

> On Tue, 21 Apr, 1998 at 08:19:38PM -0500, Kenneth R. Kinder set free these words:
> >  * RPM GUI Builder type program

> I think Marc is working on something of the sort -- you might just have missed
> a discussion here on where that's going....

I've only recently decided to become an active part of the gnome effort, 
and thus subscribed to this list yesterday.  So I think I missed it.  :)

I filtered my ideas through the software map at http://www.gnome.org/ and 
I didn't see anything on RPM development-type stuff.  I don't remember, 
but there could have been just a glint-type program for gnome?

Perhaps you could give me some information on researching this further, 
such as this person's email address?

> >  * DocBook IDDE (Integrated Document Development Environment) <grin>

> This could be interesting.  Not essential, but definitely worth doing -- I
> think the biggest gain for people used to programming/using html/other DTDs
> would be a good embedded tag reference.  So when I write "vi" and need to find
> the tag that means "This is a program name" I can find it easier....

Yeah, well... :)  There will always be vi fans, no matter how big Emacs 
gets, how well the key bindings or matched, or how much we try to emulate 
the speed of using vi.

And no, it doesn't seem essential, but it would aid in what is definitely 
an essential goal: documentation.

> >  * System utilities converted to GNOME

> Hmmm... If you think a GUI will make these things more intuitive for a newbie,
> sure, go ahead....

Yeah.  I've been doing some research studies of my own on newbies using 
Linux, and I discuss what's hard, what's easy, what needs work, and what 
user interface-type things they would like to see in Linux.

>  I'm not sure a GUI is the answer to everything (on the
> other hand, norton disk doctor is certainly a lot more inviting than fsck....)

I don't think the GUI is the answer to everything.  Bash will probably 
always be a little to a lot faster for many functions, but having the 
option to have everything done in the GUI is an idea I've personally been 
debating with myself.

At any rate, I think it would be appreciated.  And although I don't care 
one way or another if Linux goes "mainstream," I do care about providing 
Windows users trapped in an OS that's unstable and that they don't like an 
alternative that won't require Linux's relatively steep (but IMO, worth 
it) learning curve.

> Something to remember, (maybe when prioritizing which to do first) is which
> apps are likely to be run by a newbie and which are just automated and which
> won't have X available when run (fsck -- mostly automated.  When the user
> actually invokes it, it's likely X wont' be available..)

I decided to at least put off an fsck idea, and I've sort of begun a 
gshutdown shell to shutdown.  It's a sweet and simple project that 
shouldn't be too much, until this summer when I get some free time, and 
I'll devote my efforts to something grander.



-- 

 H3C-N--C=N      | Kenneth R. Kinder, aka Bouncing     
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