hi.

if the debian 'menu' package [
http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/menu.html/ ] does offer
console-support , this email can probably be disregarded.

( having a need to stay booted to ms-w right now, i can't check this myself,
yet. also, the following.... )


if it ('menu') doesn't offer console-only support:

 this email will hopefully be taken as a request for that feature, and as a
presentation to the forum for the opening of discussion about how some
console-support could be implemented.


( on a tangent is a question that has been pending for a while, here.

        would people like|support a (probably, very minor) degree of regulated
parliamentary procedure, on the mailing-lists?

        , and i'm not meaning anything like what might be used by the 
freemasons or
congress or the UN, by that.  but it seems like there would be a few general
classifications of mailing-list traffic:

        - request-for-feature
        - intent-to-package ( to be directed to debian-devel , no?)
        - bug-report ( debian-bugs ? )
        - usage-question
        - general question
        - others?

... and certain ways that a list-post of each type would be handled.

( and the option to develop some software-ish things to handle the posting and
managing of such list-posts )


and this should maybe be stated in a seperate email, but i like to present it
when there's an example of something that it seems relevant to.  namely, the
intent of this email . also, kind of like pinging people with the idea, to see
what comes back in-reply.


)



if 'menu' does not have console-support yet, here are some initial ideas about
how this might be implemented. 

feel free to disregard the following if your time is short and|or if you're not
a developer and|or if you're not interested in it, but i'm still working my way
into development, and would like to hear what some experienced people would have
to say about the following, time-allowing . 

( ... 'community'  . )







1)  i'd installed the 'screen' package. it seems like this might be used as a
route towards implementing a console-based menu system. 

        a) problem-issues:

                1) something about the way the screen would flash at times.
                        ("ech" and a feeling of something that might be
                                fishy in or about the code or 
                                method-of-implementation . )
        
                2)  i don't know how to rate 'screen' on resource-usage,
                        or if it might have any other problems that i'm
                        not yet aware of.



                
        

2) i know that there are already some console-based menu systems that have been
developed. saw one of them somewhere in the debian package-tree. ( as well as
suggestions on what their names are ... it was a while ago that i saw them ) any
help with deciding about which is the better of the options, would be
appreciated.


3)  the following tasks would seem to be worth inclusion 
        as functions accessible via a menu-system:

                -- mailing-list posting, 
                        categorized by the purpose of the post

                -- package-management, probably just something
                        to start-up dselect, but maybe otherwise.

                -- system-management. 

                        (e.g.: easy access to config-files,
                           as a means for the new user to get acquainted
                           with "what's where" and "which files
                           and paths are for what purposes" )


                -- help-doc access. maybe just an interface to
                        dhelp. maybe otherwise.

                        ( when 'otherwise' is meant kind of like a stub-code
                                for some pending reports, proposals, 
                                and work  )


                -- debian-tips , when that finally gets developed
                        and released.


                -- maybe something for new-users. sort of an ("interactive")
                        walk-through, towards familiarizing someone with the 
                        Linux environment.


                and a 'debian-devel' module to handle things like:

                -- debian-rules 

                -- CVS-functions

                -- (insert-[helpful|time-saving]-thing-here)

                (  I still haven't made it throughly
                   into debian-devel, packaging, and updating
                   of out-of-date packages. ( pppoe , for example ) .
                   i don't know what's out there for development-tools, 
                   yet. )






...and that might be enough, for now.


hoping that the statement, "feel free to disregard the following", was enough to
keep this from seeming like some excessive text,


--
s.c.

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