this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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You really have to put yourself in the position of a non IT user. They see a blank window with a blinking cursor. No hint at what to do. You know they have already chosen GUI systems. And for good reason. It's over. The numbers are clear. Talk to usability insiders. As you have clearly shown you are not one. Many Linux devs have worked hard to carefully create desktop environments and Apps like Digikam, all GUI based. To give non IT users a chance to use Linux. And make it an inclusive and learnable OS. They hate it when usability outsiders scare people off by telling them to leave their familiar world into a strange and difficult place.
It is not strange or difficult. I am not expecting them to know what to type, I am expecting to have clear instructions as to exactly what they need to type. Which is really hard to convey with a gui. Administration of a computer and sharing functions is so much faster by copy/paste exactly what you expect them to. It is the easiest, most concise method.
In any case: lets get back to the task at hand. I will make a simple GUI that creates the credentials file, the mount point file, the automount file, and finally restarts the system daemon.
I guess it needs to show any errors at that time.
The user will provide some info that I will gather as it goes along (like SMB credentials) and I guess I will include the ability to simply go on without mounting if the network mount point is not available (in case of laptop).
There are a few elevations of privileges to sort out, and to keep it simple I will use Kdialog (for the gui presentation) which will make the code very obvious as it is simply bash behind it all.
After that do you want me to share this with you? I am not sure when I will get it done, but it should be fairly easy. Then I can put it on github I guess.
Realistically, to make this functional, it should be able to ready your current mount points and allow the user to edit, doing error checking etc. That would be a future phase.
"It is not strange"
The terminal is nothing like familiar GUIs people use daily. To most, the terminal is strange and full of opportunities to mess up.
"so much faster by copy/paste"
It's not faster when the user needs to go to a separate application first to find the instructions, then find the text to copy. And also search for how to use the terminal, and that it might be called Konsole confusingly. And also to understand if the command did anything. Does it print anything that you need to read? Should you close the terminal afterwards? Should you trust copy pasting from Internet strangers? All this is missing from online help, where they assume people have used the command line before.
Such a GUI app could be launched from Dolphin by right-clicking the share, and selecting a new option "Mount" that would help discoverability. A standalone app would need:
I will not change on this: an official wiki (for example the arch wiki) or other documentation is still the best way to convey exact information. If a user absolutely never wants to use a command line, then they can use Android and a touch interface. Even Microsoft gives directions on how to fix things with a command line. This should be infrequent, but is a necessity for brevity and precision.
In any case we might as well put that to rest and move on.
When I have a working example that does at least something we can go from there. The bullet points are helpful, thank you.