Re: SEUL: Is it too soon for me to comment?

[Paul Anderson <paul@geeky1.ebtech.net>]

On Mon, 5 Jan 1998, Erik Walthinsen wrote:

> > What about LyX?  Wordperfect?  Hasn't CorelDRAW been ported, too?  xcalc,
> > xload, date.....  Lynx?  Arena?(Blech) xtrek? Quake?  DOOM?
> Yes, applications exist.  Many exist.  But people don't know that yet.  And 
> many of them aren't exactly user-friendly anyway.  There's also the issue of 
> interface. 
>
Fortunately, I'm not in a good position to gauge user-friendliness.
However, I can pick it out when software attacks one with a hatchet -
Little software on Linux does that, though there are a few of the
sort...(GNU info is sited as an example)

> Apps exist, but they all look different, requiring some very 
> funky configuration.  A dozen toolkits, two dozen configuration files, and no 
> way to tie them all together.
> 
All you can do, really, is hope for the best and that the person will
figure it out.  Developing a widget set and converting other software to
it is a very long term commitment...

> 
> > Okay, now for my one gripe:  XFree86.
> This is solvable, I think.  Using careful probing, you can discover most of 
> the things you need, and when it comes down to looking for frequencies, as 
> for a monitor type.  There are enough Linux people out there that I'm sure we 
> could post a request for information and we'd get back numbers for the vast 
> majority of all monitors in existance.
> 
IME, there are too many monitors out there to do this with.  I don't even
bother checking through XFree's monitor list, 'cause I know the monitor
I'm using isn't going to be there.  BEst thing to do is guess.(BTW, if you
want the numbers for a 14" daytek, lemme know...)

> I think some things like Xconfigurator already do this.  Though note that 
> ctrl-atl-backspace won't work.
>
I think it's more in switching back to your original terminal.  XFree
switches you over to /dev/tty8, so when you do a CTRL-ALT-F1 it
automatically handles the video mode switching.

> This is where a restartable install would be very useful.  Or better yet, 
> keep X server binaries live on the CD, so the X configuration can happen 
> *before* we try to do anything else.  A restartable install is still a very 
> good idea.
> 
Has anyone here noticed a bug with RH4.2's ne.o module?  If you don't
configure your ethernet card during install, the version of ne.o that's
put on the disk doesn't work, and you have to recompile the kernel to get
a functional ne.o.  REALLY annoying...  TTYL!


                            ---
                        Paul Anderson
		   paul @ geeky1.ebtech.net
    Author of Star Spek(a tongue in cheek pun on Star trek)
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I hear it's hilarious.               Maintainer of the Tips-HOWTO.
          http://www.netcom.com/~tonyh3/speck.html
   Two most common elements in the universe: Hydrogen & Stupidity.