[sword-devel] Re: Christian Debian distro talk / Report

[Hugo van der Kooij]

On Mon, 4 Apr 2005, Pastor Ed B. wrote:

> 1) there are a LOT of extra packages from Knoppix in IchthuX that just don't
> really need to be there to meet our stated outreach goals. Looking at the
> overloaded KDE menu just makes me feel bloated.
>
> Can we *please* get rid of the development packages, the unnecessary editors
> (5 editors? how about just down to Kedit, Kate, and a text editor (I prefer
> nano over zile, easier for a newbie to use, but it doesn't matter THAT much -
> most newbies don't do console editing anyway).

It would be wise to leave vi as editor in. (It is the default unix editor
and nerds like me will not be able to edit tekst files without it if we
need to assist one of our brothers or sisters.)

> 2) During the HD install, the script has LILO as the default, but LILO is not
> nearly as flexible/recoverable as GRUB. Any chance we could switch the two?

This would require some serious work. But if anyone can do it it would be
wise as lilo is bound to tempt people to use the Lords name in an entirely
ill manner.

> 3) Since this is going to be an OUTREACH tool that will be given to people who
> are unfamiliar with Linux, we should probably spend some time naming things
> so that non-Linux users won't get overly confused. For example:
>
> In the KDE menu, what does KNOPPIX mean? Since I'm a fairly experienced Linux
> user, I know right away what it means. But what if we give this disk to
> someone who has never even SEEN Linux, let alone the KNOPPIX distro. It will
> just confuse them.

And how confusing will it be if any who knows linux tries to help? They
will never be able to make their way through it. And will other names
really help? (I must admit I even have to translate all Dutch computer
terms to English before they start to make sense if someone needs
assistance.)

> The entire KDE menu structure is WAY too complicated. It should be streamlined
> down to just a few menu entries, with organized submenus. I know this is
> possible, because the Multimedia menu is subdivided into Sound, Video, and
> Viewers. This is excellent - let's continue this all the way through and
> SIMPLIFY.

Sub menu's are NOT simplifying in my book. It means more work to navigate
and more room for errors. (When they exposed me to windows XP I was
seriously annoyed to find this kind of RSI inflicting sub-sub-sub-sub
menu's becoming the standard.)

Remove the parts you do not need but do not start to complicate a system
with loads of menu's.

Hugo.

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