Re: SEUL: Re: What's the diff to SEUL ? (fwd)

[George Bonser <grep@oriole.sbay.org>]

On Sat, 17 Jan 1998, William T Wilson wrote:

> I think that if we could extend the fvwm95 interface so it's a little less
> clunky, that may well be the best way.  Right now it LOOKS like Win95 but,
> as I may have mentioned, it lacks a number of features present in the
> genuine Win95.  No matter what you may say about the win95 interface, it
> is certainly the most FAMILIAR...

The problem is that it makes Linux look like a cheap knock-off of Win95.
It could telegraph that Linux is a wannabe Win95.

> I'd be interested in it too.  ipfwadm is one of those "magic command line
> utilities" which would be a perfect model for that "properties tab" idea
> I've been pushing.  :)

Thanks for reminding me.

> Me personally, I suggest tcl/tk for everything.  I love tcl/tk, even
> though I don't know a thing about how to program it.  Does anyone here
> actually know how to program in tcl/tk?

Python might be nice too. Some things in the Debian distro are Python-pmw
"Pmw is a framework for building high-level compund widgets in Python
using the Tk graphics library".  I have done a little mucking around with
Python (nothing serious) and I LOVE it.  It is PERFECT for parsing things
too.

Also, there is a skeletal dpkg-python in debian that will eventually
provide python access to low-level dpkg functions. And in addition, there
is a curses lib for python, python-tk, and python pmy.

Python-pmy is "A class library system based on the Microsoft Foundation
Classes used for writing GUI code easilly in Python" ... "This version
runs on Microsoft Windows and Unix/X using tk 4.0 ( :-/ ) Programs written
using this wpy GUI library will run under NT, Win32s and under Unix/X
without changes in native look and feel"

> Repartitioning will be tricky.  I wonder if someone would like to port
> FIPS to Linux?  The source is available, isn't it?

Hmmm.  Would a DOS boot disk be possible ( using Caldera OpenDOS, of
course) that would ask the user which drive would be used for Linux and
run defrag and FIPS before doing a loadlin and asking for a second floppy?
Even NT ships with two install floppies with the CDROM.

> As for swap space - I don't like swap files, neither does very many
> people, as their slowness is beyond compare and they are prone to
> corruption.  Couldn't we just make a best guess as to the appropriate size
> of the partition and let the user tweak it? 

Should be easy enough for a DOS program to run defrag and then see how
much of the partition is in use, then suggest a size for the linux
partition that the user can edit before hitting "return".



George Bonser 
If NT is the answer, you didn't understand the question. (NOTE: Stolen sig)
http://www.debian.org
Debian/GNU Linux ... the maintainable operating system.