Today at work, one of our servers decided to sulk about life, the universe, and everything. We tried coddling, coaxing, and cajoling, but Windows was having none of it when we got the HDD swapped into my machine.
So, we got the live CD we keep around for just this sort of thing. It's Knoppix 3.8.1.
Usability problems:
* If you plug the network cable in, after booting, there's no easy way to reenable everything without rebooting. This makes me cranky.
* I don't like or expect to have to use \ to escape spaces in my filenames. As a programmer, it makes sense. As a linux n00b, it's fucking scary. SLASH? SLASH? WHERE?! OMG WTF, etc...
* ARK: You cannot create an archive before picking where it's going on your HDD. Why can't I just make it in a temporary location and save it whereever?
* GPSDrive: The name sounded interesting. I was wrong.
** Menu is non standard, I had to have the "help" section pointed out to me.
** Clicking on the Help section, I get instructed to read the manpage. Fuck off, I clicked on the help button for a reason, and if I'm a n00b, how inclined am I to find out what a man page is??
** I could not scroll ala Google Maps. I expect that now.
** I could not scroll the big map, at all.
** There was an arrow, it moved places when I clicked. I could not actually discern what it was doing. Is it a route planner? No idea.
** This application was useless in Knoppix as it only demonstrated the incomprehensibility of some linux apps to the rest of the world. So much so, we had the entire IT dept going "WHAT'S IT DOING, HUH ? HUH?".
* Konquerer
** sexy interface++
** If Konquerer prompts me one more fucking time to click a checkbox to "never show me this again", I'm going to murder it. Do it like FireFox - make the default option to "never show me this again" once you click it once.
** Don't tell me typing "foo" is an invalid internet address. I've got expectations from firefox that you'll try http://www.foo.com/, http://www.foo.net/, etc, then maybe even google foo. It's a really smart and easy to implement idea.
* DOM tree thing absolutely rocks. Far, far better than Firefox's DOM inspector.
* Firefox
* It looks like pig vomit. I want the features of Firefox with the Interface of Konqueror.
* Support websites
* Konquerer homepage - where do I report bugs? NOT HERE? WHAT?
* Let's try... another site. GrokDoc. No, not helping. I know its about usability issues in linux, and its where I should go, but its too hard to find where I want to go.
* Ok, the OpenProjects Usability thing. Upload a report? In a format? Sod off, I want to fill out a webform.
* KDE bugs? I need... a username and password? I'm probably never going to use it again, can I be assed? No!
So, in summary, the usability whinging is ending up here instead of properly filed. Ironically, the Usability Issues sites are the least user friendly.
Oh.
Toys, XLogo. I don't get it. It does nothing, how is this a toy.
Summary:
I liked it overall, but I couldn't use it day to day yet.
2 comments:
Yeah, GPSdrive is a bugged out piece of shit. There are no good alternatives that I've found.
I've looked into how to communicate with my gps via gpsd and its extremely easy.
Can greasemonkey talk to external programs? How about a greasemonkey app over maps.google.com that talks to gpsd?
Command lines and man pages are for smart people.
You want the linux on the desktopness? Fix these kind of things!
Copy & Paste in the shell, as easily as it is here, that's love.
ls -alh, that's also love, but you'd think that the "human readable" version would be by default [in a Linux for N00bs environs].
It's the second day running this box with a dangling 200GB WD2000 HDD. I'm currently doing well in my new role of the guy-who-can't-do-anything-productive-from-a-liveCD.
Every now and then, I copy a directory or two over the network, which is fucking sexy: Samba is hot stuff, being able to go IP address foo? no no, /mnt/foo/ has made my day.
Every now and then, things are fucked on the WD2000 HDD drive, and I have to force it to copy, regardless, with this DD thing. It's such a simple utility, I could write it myself in almost every language I know.
Why doesn't windows have something as brutally simple, eh?
Back to the menu is non standard bit.
Case: You make an application. You're a smart programmer. You make a very nice application.
No one can use it. Or does. What was the point of making the application in the first place?
Basic shit like this: sticking the the KDE look and feel, it's not hard. Really not. It simplifies things immensely.
As for man pages. Oh, sure, respect and all for such a thing existing.
But if you have a help button, it's just not fair to go:
"Hey, would YOU like some help? Just click me, c'mon, it's easy... HAHAH YOU SUCKER. THERE'S NO HELP HERE AT ALL. RTFM. WTF. NOOB. SIF U DIDn'T KN0W HOW TO FINDZ TEH MAN PAGEZ. Homo. Bastard child of bill gates."
... which is the distinct feel I got [perhaps exaggerated to make a point] when Simple Shit Like This Happens.
"At first everything took me 10 times as long and it was frustrating".
I can't afford that. My home puters just don't have the power to make it a painless experience. The work box, I can't fuck up, because someone will get suss when I haven't done a thing in more than a few days.
Now.
The other comment.
gpsd? Ah, google, how informative.
Greasemonkey cannot communicate with GPSd easily I suspect.
But, GPSd + KML + Google Earth would make great babies.
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