Am Thu 03 Feb 2011 08:57:35 AM CET schrieb "Duncan Mac-Vicar P." <dmacvicar@suse.de>:
On 02/02/2011 09:33 PM, Patrick Shanahan wrote:
* Birger Kollstrand<birger.kollstrand@googlemail.com> [02-02-11 13:20]: ...
Also something to consider is in which platforms it should be usable. Gnome, KDE, +++ and also which HW platforms. Server? Desktop? Netbooks, Pads, appliances, mobile phones?
I was of the opinion (?mistakenly?) that YaST# was an openSUSE tool, not a desktop specific application.
Only considering Gnome/KDE and Server/Desktop would limit the possible userbase tremendously.
This is a very important part because as Linux evolved and YaST stayed the same, the needs for YaST are different.
Look at the desktop:
Printer? I don't remember configuring a printer since long time. They just show up.
I tried the printer module and in handles printer sharing and behaviour. But not drivers.
Network. I only use yast2 lan when I break my factory system's networkmanager.
I use network to configure several tap interfaces and connect them by bridge. It's great for virtualbox and soooo easy to do in yast.
Package Management? See how beautifully integrated package management is in the KDE-4 user-mode control center. No root, simple interface. For something more advanced you have zypper, for something more friendly there is an appstore coming.
Cool! Are there similar tools for Gnome, console (ncurses), LXDE ?
The only parts I see relevant in _my_ laptop to setup via YaST is fingerprint reader because they don't work out of the box (why?). I also create users because there is some extra magic in the way YaST does it. May be firewall.
Yes, once you focus just on a Desktop, your arguments make sense. But openSUSE so far is "universal". Once there is a split to openSUSE Desktop and openSUSE Server, there are many ways to optimize. This can be just part of the installation - do you want typical Desktop, Server, Expert's system ? The package selection should reflect that. I understand your point - who needs Infrared device, Joystick attached to a sound card, DSL, ISDN, Modem these days? Many modules just display contents from some configuration file (fstab, hostname) without any higher abstraction. So the service they essentially provide is "syntax checking" (without a choice to override). To evolve to a more usable state I would suggest: for experts - syntax (& semantics) aware editor of config files for novices - a (much) higher abstraction (yes, it's hard)
So what is really YaST role in the desktop?
Yes, YaST is not that useful for novices on Desktop anymore. So let's make it a tool for experts. Cheers, Martin -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: yast-devel+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: yast-devel+help@opensuse.org