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From: psmith@lemming.wellfleet.com (Paul Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.386bsd.misc
Subject: GUI system admin front-ends [was: Re: LINUX SUCKS!!!!]
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.386bsd.misc
Date: 21 Nov 1994 22:24:04 GMT
Organization: Wellfleet Communications, Billerica, MA
Lines: 62
Message-ID: <PSMITH.94Nov21172404@lemming.wellfleet.com>
References: <085334Z20101994@anon.penet.fi> <39lofv$q5f@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>
<PSMITH.94Nov21140206@lemming.wellfleet.com>
<3ar1k3$2ip@dagny.galt.com>
Reply-To: psmith@wellfleet.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: lemming.wellfleet.com
In-reply-to: alex@pc.cc.cmu.edu's message of 21 Nov 1994 16:57:39 EDT
%% Regarding Re: LINUX SUCKS!!!!;
%% alex@pc.cc.cmu.edu (alex wetmore) writes:
aw> I fail to see wht all of this has to do with Linux or BSD, but...
Ya just gotta look aways down the message :) And follow the thread back
to the beginning.
We're basically discussing the pros and cons of a GUI front-end to UNIX
system administration, especially WRT Linux and BSD (i.e., PC systems
which will on average have less UNIX-literate users).
SMIT and SAM were brought up as examples of why that's not good; I was
commenting that I don't mind if there's a front-end, as long as the back
end is basically traditional so the knowledgeable folks can bypass the
front-end without relearning everything.
aw> SMIT is just a front end to a back end, its just that its
aw> backend is not the normal unix backend. [...] Like I said
aw> above, they wanted functionality that the normal unix admin
aw> files couldn't support. [...] I don't think companies should be
aw> consider the evil because they chose to extend an operating
aw> system that needed extending...
I never said they were evil; I said I don't like having a choice of (a)
using SMIT or (b) learning a whole new way to administer a UNIX system.
Many complicated new features have found their way into UNIX without
significantly altering the way it was managed.
Anyway, all I want to say is I think a GUI front-end for Linux/BSD is a
good idea, and would make transitioning of users to Linux/BSD and away
from Windows/NT more likely... and that I don't think SMIT and SAM are
necessarily good examples of how one should write a GUI front-end.
Mainly, I hope it would be a manipulative front-end to the current sys
admin files, rather than changing the back-end to work with the
front-end.
What would be really cool would be a script-driven engine where modules
could be added in separately. I would love to see an X-based front end,
but I suppose a TTY-based one would work as well. If written right you
could have both; SMIT, SAM, and sysadm all worked in both X and console
modes.
In addition to normal admin stuff (new users, new filesystems, network
setup), there could be user-specific stuff, where users could create an
initial X desktop (choose a background, a window manager, add a file
manager, config a clock, config a biff-thingie, etc.) The thing often
overlooked by UNIX/X weenies like me is most users don't *care* about
adjusting every little thing; they're used to things like Windows where
you have very little control. An easy-to-use app that just sets up some
default stuff would probably be welcomed.
Just an idea, with no code to back it up :(
--
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Paul D. Smith <psmith@wellfleet.com> Network Management Development
Senior Software Engineer Bay Networks, Inc.
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"Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
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These are my opinions--Bay Networks takes no responsibility for them.