RE: First impressions of new GNOME user, and a few problems

["Jesse D . Sightler" <jsight pair com>]

On Mon, 08 Mar 1999 21:34:46 Jeremy Malcolm wrote:

> Point taken, but then there should be a Gnome setup script that does
> it (or rpm, dpkg as applicable for the distributions should do it), to
> make it easier for the kind of new users who are supposed to be
> attracted by Gnome.  To tell them "add this line to your .xinitrc" is
> not enough, because depending on how they are starting X, .xinitrc may
> not be the correct file.  

Yeah, I really wish that just running gnome-session for the first time 
would do this for you.  Or perhaps even running "Panel" for the first
should time inform the user of the option to use gnome-session, and
then offer to modify the appropriate file to do this.

I think that most of the core Gnome hackers have been against the idea,
though, so you would have to convince them first.  :)

> I am using xdm under Red Hat 5.2, so *all*
> of the files that E modified (~/.xinitrc, ~/.xclients, ~/.Xsession)
> were the wrong choice!

I'll have to admit that I'm not certain about how xdm works, but what
should it modify if not these files?  Doesn't xdm still use the user's
home directory scripts after the system-wide defaults?

Anyway, I really doubt that there is any solution that can be guaranteed
to work in all circumstances.

> Also, the Enlightenment package that comes with the Gnome rpm
> distribution doesn't have load any tools or applets because it relies
> on Gnome to provide these.  If E modifies your startup script to load
> Enlightenment but not gnome-session, then you are left with a blank
> screen that you can do absolutely nothing with (unless your previous
> window manager still loads)!  This would freak a new user out totally.

I don't quite understand.  Why would a new user try to load E before trying
the Gnome stuff?  Wouldn't most users tend to try "Panel" or "Gnome-session"
first?

---------------
Jesse D. Sightler
http://www3.pair.com/jsight/

"An honest answer can get you into a lot of trouble." 
         - Anonymou