Re: Drive Mount Applet only works as root?

[terrapin nanaimo ark com (Terrapin)]

On Wed, 21 Apr 1999 07:30:29 -0400, you wrote:

This is covered in the RedHat installation manual under linuxconf. I
have spent over 100 hours learning linux just in order to get it too
work as a standalone desktop with very basic PPP connections. It
turned out to be very simple to configure my system after I had gone
through this very steep learning curve. I had received my software as
a copy of a disk without any manuals as I wanted to try out Linux
before making a committment. I will be purchasing RH 6.0 only because
of Gnome and RPM's (and a book). I have discovered that Linux is not
an intuitive system to get started with. The configuration tools
assume prior experience in networking and Linux.

I agree that it should be covered at installation. I would like to see
something along the lines of a modified linuxconf that first asks if I
have a LAN setup (as does the install) or if I have/want access to dos
partitions (all of which is known by the computer by then). If I
don't, then don't put forward invalid options that are only confusing.
Gnome seems to have done this with special windows when I left click
on the X (close) when I am in relevant areas of Gnome-linuxconf and it
is how I set up my system after re-installing. The only thing missing
is the /etc/hosts 'localhost.localdomain' alias configuration (under
misc in normal linuxconf) and this causes havoc if you look at the
newsgroups. I have seen no documentation of this existing feature and
just stumbled upon it. (I am making notes to send to news groups as it
simplifies things considerably - I don't think this works under fvwm)

So far, I am pleased with Gnome. There are a lot of "anomolies" but
the program is new so I expect that. (I have a list of problems that I
hope will be fixed by the time of RH6 release.)

PS Someone maybe could change the "quit" in the welcome message of
linuxconf to "continue". THAT was very confusing to me at first. I
didn't know I had to quit to continue... ;-) (Does Bill have
copyrights on "OK" ? hehehe)

When I do a resinstall (about 50 now hehe), the first thing after
login is mount my Zip drive, install all the RPM upgrades to 5.2 (not
kernal), install Gnome, copy a new Xclients then startx. All these
upgrades are in 4 directories to look after dependencies. I do ALL my
configuration under (over) Gnome (user, drives, PPP). I have my
upgrade stuff on Zip100 which is nicely configured in Workstation
install. I get out of CLI real quick. 15 minutes and I have a brand
new system up and running. (I just wish I could exit Gnome and not see
gtk critical or other error messages).

BTW, when is someone going to start a Gnome news group. There are all
kinds of tips and tricks to share. (Don't forget to left click on
desktop to bring up new drive icons. Also found a nice Zip icon to
make things less confusing)

All in all, I've found Gnome to be very intuitive. I can poke about
and discover things that work. If they don't then I read the manual
again for specific things.

Now, how to get &%^$#^% nsnews to work. Gonna miss my Forte Agent. It
was one of the best software investments I've made. Well worth the
can$45. I'm hoping a Gnome newsreader will have the same features.
(plus user defined sub-directories). It was one of the easiest to set
up.

>Well stated. Perhaps the remedy lies at the distribution
>level - the Red Hat installation software, for example, could give installers
>the option to make disk drives accessible to users, and would install an fstab
>with the user option enabled for drives...  
>
>--Bryan
>
>> Personally this would be
>> stepping over the line that separates GNOME being a portable desktop
>> environment to an extension of one particular OS.
>
>> > 
>> > In a previous message, I suggested that, on first use, GNOME should start
>> > with a wizard that briefly explains the concepts of root user and user
>> > accounts, and guides the user through the process of setting up a user
>> > account for everyday use. Such a wizard could include an install option
>> > (selected by default) that enables users to configure the system as a
>> > single-user, non-networked system. This option could launch a script that,
>> > behind the scenes, rewrites fstab so that users are granted access to disk
>> > drives.
>> >