Examination of a Linux Gui, w/color commentary

[Mark Komarinski]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2004 at 10:53:34AM -0500, travis at scootz.net wrote:
> > However his "idea" that the whole thing
> > should just discover your network and list for you only the available
> > options is tad bit off as well.
> 
> Why is making networks easier to use a bad idea?

Because it's impractical.  Making networks easier to use would involve
people using DHCP (even if static) and including information about the
network there - stuff like DNS, gateway, etc. is already there, and IIRC
you can also set NIS domains, NTP servers, and a bunch of other stuff.
I'll cover configuring printers later.

> > What if it finds 2 identical printers
> > in two distant areas of the building and confuses the user about which
> > one should be used?
> 
> While the printer models could be the same they should have some kind of
> name. It's up to whoever set up the network to name the printer's properly
> (3rd floor Deskjet whatever, Joe's LaserJet II, etc)

CUPS allows you to add location and device information.  So if two printers
show up with the same location and device information, you can assume
that either one will work or someone has entered the wrong information.
Neither is a fault of the protocol or the implementation.

> > This all sounds (to me) too much like the mindset
> > of "the software should think for me and make all my decisions as well"
> > that (I thought) so many linux users despised?
> 
> I think the problem linux users have with any kind of auto config is that
> it doesn't config stuff the way THEY want. And that's fine, just turn off
> the auto config. Apple does it with Rendezvous, and that's just an
> implentation of Zero Conf that is available for Linux and is open source.

CUPS already does it.  If ESR had configured his CUPS server properly, his
Fedora box should (it does with RH9 anyway) see the CUPS server and the
printers it offers.  I use this all the time - go to work, get one set of
printers, go home and get another set of printers.

ESR's problem is he didn't read the documentation and goes off and blames the
GUI - which is not at fault.  As someone who writes a lot of documents
and HOWTOs, ESR should be well aware of the need of documentation
for users to read and should know enough to RTFM.

-Mark
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