|
|
||
Vector Linux and Left-Handed Mice—Day 12© Copyright Darrell Anderson. I ended my previous journal entry discussing a simple usability problem. I could not install Knoppix 3.4 to one of my outer disk partitions. When I installed VectorLinux 4.3 (VL) and I ran into the same restriction. The installation script recognized all 25 partitions, including all of my empty but pre-formatted ext3 partitions. The dialog boxes implied I could select one of my outer partitions to install VL. The moment I pressed the Enter key, however, the script collapsed and refused to run further. I wanted to install VL because I had read several glowing reports. That is, for my aging hardware VL seemed like a logical choice to investigate. Eventually, using my removable hard drive bay, I installed VL to a second drive. However, I did not want to insert the spare drive every time I wanted to test VL. I use my hard drive bay for swapping my backup drives. My system motherboard is old and hot-swapping is not an option. Thus, I have to power down and connect a drive using my removable hard drive bay. I wanted VL installed on my primary hard drive where I had plenty of drive space and would not have to consume additional electrical power running a second hard drive. I also wanted VL to use my existing partition scheme. By design, VL uses only two partitions: swap and root. I have separate partitions for swap, /boot, /home, /tmp, /opt, /usr/local. For each distro I install, I use separate partitions for /var, /usr, and root. Eventually I was able to move VL from the second drive to my primary drive, and also hand-massage VL to use my partition scheme. Because VL does not support GRUB, I had to manually add a GRUB menu choice. (I fail to understand why many vendors do not support GRUB out-of-the-box when GRUB is so popular.) With respect to GUI environments, I am familiar and comfortable with KDE. Of course, the download version of VL does not provide KDE. Fair enough, so when I finally booted into VL I selected the IceWM window manager. Initially, a nice, clean look and feel. A good start. As I always do when I am testing and configuring, I immediately went looking for a way to configure the mouse for left-handed use. That was one of the first things I did long ago with Mandrake, and recently with Knoppix. I failed to find such an option with IceWM. Nor could I find any related documentation, either on the CD or online. I found no IceWM documents on the CD or anything meaningful in /usr/docs. Then I realized that IceWM is a window manager. Of course—my problem then was not IceWM but VL. I accepted that, but nonetheless remained unable to configure the mouse. I have a simple question for every distro developer: what is so hard about asking users if they want to configure a left-handed mouse? I liked the wallpaper used in the default IceWM screen. Unfortunately, the native resolution in my new LCD monitor is 1280 x 1024 and the VL image did not wrap fully across the screen. Ugly and distracting. I had no idea how to change this. Because of the larger screen size, all the menu fonts were too small but I did not know how to change the fonts. I performed a “right-click” on the desktop hoping to find a “Display” option. Nothing. I then booted into Xfce. At least that option provided a desktop environment and not just a window manager. I soon configured the mouse from the Xfce desktop, but then I got to wondering. How exactly does one configure the mouse with only a window manager? Back to Google for what should have been an intuitively easy one-click job. For my two-button mouse with a scroll whell, the answer is creating ~/.Xmodmap containing the following: ! Reverse mouse buttons for left-handed mouse users! from command line: xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 4 5" pointer = 3 2 1 4 5 While contemplating these questions I began looking for a way to configure the Xfce task bar to stretch across the entire screen. Personally, I did not like the short stumpy look. Perhaps there is a solution, perhaps not, but again I felt as though I had entered the women’s bathroom—out of place. Some people chide KDE and GNOME for bloat, but at least in those environments most of the tools are intuitive enough to figure out. Although past versions of KDE were slow on my hardware, I never complained about the KDE control panel! However, I never have liked the GTK look. To me, the GTK interface is displeasing—personal taste and nothing more. Thus, Xfce is out of the question. After all of my effort I decided this was far too much work for the potential benefits. That fly on my office wall heard a lot of choice vocabulary from me that day! I wanted much to embrace VL because of the underlying philosophy, but this distro is not ready for prime time. There are a lot of aging computers and a lot of mid-range CPU power still being used. VL seems primed for capturing part of that market. Especially in developing areas of the world where people cannot afford cutting edge hardware—and won’t be able to afford such hardware for years to come. This is something I wish the GNU/Linux development community would grasp. If they truly want “world domination” then design software for mid-range systems, not high-end. I am reminded of how fast my old DOS/Windows for Workgroups operating system flies on my current hardware. Indeed, even my NT4 system is fast and snappy. And provide some configuration tools other than the command line. I expect most developers use cutting and bleeding edge hardware to improve their own efficiency, but they blind themselves to how parts of the remaining world still live. Yes, from what I have seen VL is indeed fast, even on my aging mid-range hardware. However, this is a distro for hobbyists or experienced GNU/Linux users. VL is not for people migrating from Windows. Brwose the VL forums and you’ll discover that VL is used primarily by hobbyists and techies. Yes, I was using the VL download edition. Perhaps the SOHO edition provides a better environment because KDE is installed, but sadly, I am no longer motivated to try. Finis. |
||