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SEUL: Text vs. X



Jean-Francois Martinez wrote:
> > The right thing to do is allowing the user to start X from the command
> > line but making it easy to switch to XDM once he knows X works.  
Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
> yep.

No.  Our target user doesn't give a damn how the machine works.  (S)he 
simply wants to write a letter to their Mom, or their boss.  Asking them to 
use startx until they feel comfortable with XDM is asking them to 
understand something they don't care about.


> > We must insure he knows how to set up XDM and how to return to command
> > line.  
> yep

NO!  SEUL exists to make computers easier for people to use, not to force 
them to learn something that doesn't matter to them.


> > That means than we must not expect the user goinh to RTFM.  The
> > info must come to him.

And we must give him only the info he wants and needs.  Forcing a user to 
understand how the machine works is like requiring a driver to understand 
how their automatic transmission works.  I'm not saying they shouldn't, I'm
saying they must *not* be required to.


> good point. Again, menu shells are great info providers, since you can
> walk them through some pre-amble before they fire up anything. I hope you
> guys aren't sick of hearing about my menu-shell idea already ... (-:

We need a shell of this kind, but it must only be a fallback for the case 
where X doesn't work.  Nothing more.


> now this sounds like a smart thing to do ... 

Existing distributions already do this.  We needs to take it one step 
further, providing a text-mode program that can help them fix their 
machine, and make sure it is *always* available.  On my machines I add a 
sulogin on tty9 that's *always* active, which has saved me several times 
from bad boots and shutdowns.

     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
        __
       /  \                SEUL: Simple End-User Linux -
      |    | M E G A            Creating a Linux distribution
      _\  /_                         for the home or office user