Re: SEUL: Article by Alan Cox

[Michael Slade <mslade@cit.nepean.uws.edu.au>]

cuplan@grove.ufl.edu wrote:
> 
> > Hmm.  You mean RPM?  I think that base is covered.  :-)
> 
> Not really.  If I can speak frankly about RPM, it's the bane of a RedHat
> system.  I cannot stand RPM.  It doesn't provide adequate user input or
> feedback to be successful.  The graphical version in X is better, but it's
> not enough, IMHO.  Moreover, RPM is useless for the good old
> configure/compile/install technique.

RPM's interface is a little lacking, granted.  But its function isn't
far from perfect, IMHO.  It keeps track of EVERY installed file on the
system, lets you separate binaries from documentation from config files,
and warns you if installing a package overwrites a single file, *but
only if doing so changes the file*.

Maybe a new GNU package manager front end is in order?

> > Right.  Should we maybe get some people working with GNUmeric and/or
> > AbiWord???  Or get some people getting setup info for as many ISPs as
> > possible, so that you can select your ISP from a list and you're ready
> > to go???  I think that was discussed a while ago.
> 
> What about a program that requests modem baud and location, takes the
> ISP's phone number, then dials the ISP and prints out what the ISP says.
> The point I'm getting at is that, with a little tweaking, a PPP program
> could be made that would not only automatically set up the dialing, baud
> rate, etc, but would also write its own chat script.  Just a thought.

Let the user read and type the first time, while monitoring what
happens.  Track, say, the last x characters from the remote end before
the user started typing anything, then use that as a "wait-for" string
in the script, and the user's response.  In the meantime, look for PPP
protocol-like characters and start PPP if they are detected.

Just a thought. :)

> And, of course, "X-ifying" stuff is always a great help to the end-user...

Or gnome-ifying :)

I haven't had a close look at gnome, but as far as I can see it has a
lot of stuff in there that make it more than just a GUI library.  I have
a hunch that it facilitates something that would be very useful to a
project like ours.  But I'll say no more until I've looked properly :)

Mick.

-----------------------------+------------------------------
Michael (Micksa) Slade       | Badgers? BADGERS? We don't
mslade@cit.nepean.uws.edu.au | need no steenking badgers!
http://mickworld.dyn.ml.org/ |  - Ren Hoek