Arch Newsletter

menator · 2004-01-12 19:19:32

I just recently switched from gentoo to arch and am very pleased so far. What I think Arch needs is a newsletter similiar in format to Gentoo's. I think this would let users know more about whats going on and would draw more linux users to Arch.

nifan · 2004-01-12 20:12:49

i dont think that a litle thing like that would be the reason to draw more users to arch. imho there's a lot of things to be worked in a higher priority than that. like the documentation

just my 0.2€

zen_guerrilla · 2004-01-12 20:42:04

I'm still subscribed in gentoo-gwn (& debian-news) ml although I haven't used gentoo in a long long time . It's a nice thing & it makes sense for a project like gentoo since it has quite an established user base to support it & I don't know if something like would fit in AL at the moment, ie we can't have a dev of the week section, it' d be finished in about 2 months .
However, I don't want to disappoint you by no means, you can be an active part of the AL community & create something like that yourself & ask for other volunteers to help you, I could send some articles ocassionaly too btw.
Open source projects are about community work, after all...

contrasutra · 2004-01-13 03:24:43

I think we simply need more packages. The arch-specific tools are wonderful (although there are a few things I would like), we just lack any really nice pre packaged software.

For example, porting something like webmin, would give people incentive. There are lots of packages out there that do not work on every distribution, and people try to get distros that support them.

What's to stop us from porting the Mandrake or Redhat System tools? I know it doesn't go with the "Arch is for advanced users" mantra, but its not like we all dont use a GUI for different things.

Or we could offer really nice packages of the more complex servers/systems. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but Arch needs "something". Something that we can truly say we have that very few others do. Right now, we just have the really good stuff from other people. I dont think the popular GPL blogging tools have prebuilt and setup packages for most distros. Things like that.

/incoming is a great start, and it really makes people feel involved, though I think the TURs remove that feeling a little.

Of course, Im willing to help, and Ill see if I can get some nice things packaged up (and usable ).

I do think we should be sending out more mailing list posts though. Very often, really important things happen in the forum, and new users dont know about it. A mailing list soley for announcements might be neat. Not weekly or anything.

sarah31 · 2004-01-13 03:55:08

i think a newsletter is a good idea. however, it is alot easier said than done. i would probably contribute but i know i would just end out putting it off and putting it off.

i don't think this was meant as answer to getting more people more than getting arch news to more archers. personally i don't need any gui tools or more gui interfaces than i already use. all arch needs to do is keep plugging away and improving their tools as need be and continue offering a cutting edge stable system.

it is great to have more and more users but i don't think there should be a focus on trying to attract users. the best advertising is word of mouth and press releases to places like OS news and what not on a regular basis .... to that end a news letter would fulfill this criteria well.

rasat · 2004-01-13 05:03:04

contrasutra wrote:

What's to stop us from porting the Mandrake or Redhat System tools? I know it doesn't go with the "Arch is for advanced users" mantra, but its not like we all dont use a GUI for different things.

I would like to have a choice to use GUI tools when getting tired to remember code options or read lengthy man pages. Codes what we use everyday (like pacman -Syu) are fine. But codes, especially for system configure or management, which are rarely used and often have to be "re-learned" can be a waist of time. Also the different functions of console based tools, are not used to the maximum when the user cannot "see" at first place what the tool can do. When there is an upgrade, a new function, most users will only know about it when asked on the forum or in need to read the man page.... this is sad for the hard working developer(s) and the users are missing a useful function.

sarah31 · 2004-01-13 05:13:41

rasat wrote:

I would like to have a choice to use GUI tools when getting tired to remember code options or read lengthy man pages. Codes what we use everyday (like pacman -Syu) are fine.

and no one is stopping you from having or creating such packages. that is the great thing about the arch build system. it is this build sytem and its ease of use that sets arch apart from other distros (well most other distros). there is also nothing stopping people from donating their gui packages.

the one thing i can say about gui packages is that relying on guis to build/use your system is just going to hurt a user in the end. at some point in time a user will need to know all that some guis hide. guis also build dependence and this can be exploited when the general spirit of open source is "come and learn". note i am not saying go console only but if you want to learn and actually save yourself some time learn the manual way of doing things. i used to rely on guis now i avoid them and try and promote a balance. it is this balance that will make more users more self reliant and save them some money (and other people some time).

rasat · 2004-01-13 05:56:55

sarah31 wrote:

...and no one is stopping you from having or creating such packages. that is the great thing about the arch build system.

Currently my limited knowledge in programming languages, is stopping me to create GUI packages.... otherwise I would have filled the incoming repo with my packages ... to fill the incoming is a joke.

I agree with sarah31, there has to be a balance between console and GUI based tools and this is another reason stopping me to make GUI tools just for the sake of gui. If porting tools from other distros, I prefer tools which can be modified maintaining AL's philosophy of control ... the tools should not control sytem configure but the user him / herself.

As I said, my programming language is limited.... shell scripts only. For my information, what language is easy to learn and makes nice GUI application?

farphel · 2004-01-13 12:09:36

rasat wrote:

As I said, my programming language is limited.... shell scripts only. For my information, what language is easy to learn and makes nice GUI application?

Oh hell, now you've done it! You've started a language flame war!

If your end goal is to provide gui tools for Arch, then you need to first examine what languages/toolkits are included in 'base' so that your gui tools could be included in the mini-iso (unless 'current' comes on the mini-iso, I'm not sure). The only 'gui' in base is curses, which would require you to program in C. Tcl/Tk is included in 'current', so you might have that as an option, and that would be easier to learn than C/curses, IMO.

If your guis are post-install, and you don't care if they were to make it into base/current, then the sky's the limit. I would recommend python (no surprises there, right ) and for toolkits you could look at wxPython, pyGTK, or pyQT. I've never used any of the gui toolkits, but I've heard good things about wxPython and pyGTK.

rasat · 2004-01-13 15:17:28

Thanks farphel. On Internet I took at your suggested wxPython and it looks promising.
http://www.wxpython.org/

Here I will not put more "flame" on this issue .... this topic is about newsletter for Arch. I will come back later in another topic about Arch GUI apps and languages... maybe could be nice to have an user's programming forum (just a thought :idea: )

Arch Linux

#1 2004-01-12 19:19:32

Arch Newsletter

#2 2004-01-12 20:12:49

Re: Arch Newsletter

#3 2004-01-12 20:42:04

Re: Arch Newsletter

#4 2004-01-13 03:24:43

Re: Arch Newsletter

#5 2004-01-13 03:55:08

Re: Arch Newsletter

#6 2004-01-13 05:03:04

Re: Arch Newsletter

#7 2004-01-13 05:13:41

Re: Arch Newsletter

#8 2004-01-13 05:56:55

Re: Arch Newsletter

#9 2004-01-13 12:09:36

Re: Arch Newsletter

#10 2004-01-13 15:17:28

Re: Arch Newsletter

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