[ale] Still no flames... :-) (re: PDF & distro hunting)

[Greg]

I think OSPueblo and Libranet might be worth your time to look at.

Greg 

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of aaron
To: ale at ale.org
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:00 PM
To: ALE
Subject: Re: [ale] Still no flames... :-) (re: PDF & distro hunting)


On Tuesday 23 August 2005 21:16, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> On Tue, 2005-08-23 at 16:36 +0000, aaron wrote:
> 
> > Actually, as I understand the workings of OSeX, even if the 
> > application
isn't 
> > directly supporting PDF, every aspect of the display system and user 
> > interface will be!  :-)  Quite literally, everything one sees on a 
> > Mac OSeX  screen is rendered PDF.
> 
> I thought it was native postscript. PDF is basically compressed 
> postscript.

Thank you for the correction. I was forgetting that point of distinction
between PDF and PostScript.  Still, saving PDF screen shots and publishing
anything printable as a PDF file are fully integrated into Mac OSeX.

> So the decompression for each screen update would explain the lag time 
> on a Mac ?! <ducks for the flame-proof underwear>
> --

No flames, but I'll note that I'm currently running test installs with
several Linux distros in an attempt to find one that even comes _close_ to
providing the immediate user feedback and interface consistency that I find
throughout the OSeX environment and applications (commercial, freeware, OSS
or
otherwise) accross a range of systems with various CPU speeds .  

My goal is to find or assemble a Linux distro that addresses the needs of
Linux newbies and intermediate level users seeking safe harbor from the
assaults of windblows. The key design requirements are that the install
provide a suite of common apps and run responsively on slightly older,
slightly slower hardware, yet present a reasonably consistent and modern
user experience (ideally with enough interface familiarity that basic system
management, app launching and interface usage can be explained to an average
user in a 30 minute video tutorial).

My observations so far are that KDE and some branches of Gnome have made
major strides in presenting a more unified GUI and basic application suite
environment, but even with KDE I'm finding significant inconsistencies in
responsiveness, preferences, user experience and bug sets between one distro
and the next.
 
Don't get me wrong, because this isn't complaining, just observation. I love
the flexibility, free beer and freedom that spring from Open Source anarchy,
but fully understand their are going to be trade offs and extra learning
efforts.  I really want to prove that Linux is, in every way, ready for the
desktop, but I don't have unfair expectations that free software should
provide the same levels of consistency and integration that the more
regulated design requirements of commercial development can (potentially)
facilitate. I'm just trying to find or assemble a freely distributable
packaging of Linux / OSS essentials that does a respectable, consistent  job
of addressing the needs of the average, present day, desktop internet
computer users (while avoiding geek treks into lands of shell commands and
config file editing).

I've still got a few promising Linux distros to try out, like the Vector
Linux ISO I'm downloading now, so I'm holding to the belief that the
solutions are out there.  In my evaluations I'll also need to remember that,
after a decade and a half of running Amiga's, I'm especially spoiled about
GUI responsiveness.  The Amiga developer style guidelines specified that
visual response to user actions occur within 3 seconds (-;  allowing that
the GURU MEDITATION crash alert sometimes qualified as the visual response
;-)  

peace
aaron


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