Date: Wed, 5 Jun 1996 14:34:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Jake Hamby <jehamby@lightside.com> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: John Fieber <jfieber@indiana.edu>, Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>, current@freebsd.org, jhs@freebsd.org, terry@lambert.org Subject: Re: editors Message-ID: <Pine.AUX.3.91.960605142028.18110A-100000@covina.lightside.com> In-Reply-To: <26319.834003622@time.cdrom.com>
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Good point! Actually, one idea I've been toying around with lately as probably the only hope to get UNIX to compete with NT on the low-end server (where the administrators usually aren't too UNIX knowledgable) would be a modular installation/admin/tutorial/monitoring type tool, that would be somewhat like training wheels: You would have tutorials (or dare I say "wizards" :-) to help you out when you are still learning (you ask it, "How do I create a new account?" or whatever), but on the other end, even expert users might want to use an "AdminTool" type module if it provided visual status information and was reasonably flexible (perhaps even scriptable). Here would be the key features you'd want: 1) Completely HTML-based interface. This would connect to a CGI or daemon on the back-end to query the current system status. If you've used "SATAN" you know what I mean. This would support both Lynx and Netscape. Obviously there are security issues that need to be dealt with, but this approach is MUCH more attractive than Motif, TCL/Tk, etc., and seamless extends to remote administration. 2) Should be comprehensive, everything from adding users, setting up the network (including Web server, NFS, etc), tape backups, printing services, installing/removing packages, and monitoring disk usage and system status (e.g. top or vmstat). Sun has a *really* cool demo of a Java-based product called "Solstice Workshop" at http://www.sun.com/solstice/products/workshop.html. I'm especially fond of the Java-based "vital signs" portion. THIS is what it should look like! 3) FreeBSD installation itself should be something like Solaris for the CD-ROM version (first get you into XFree86, then start a Netscape-based HTML install, or maybe TCL/Tk), otherwise it'd fall back into something similar to sysinstall. Either way, it should strive to be as friendly as possible and lead seamlessly into the post-install "AdminWizard" to prevent any "Okay it's installed. Now what?" factor. Of course this is all just proof-of-concept, I don't have time to implement anything like this right now, but it is certainly the direction you would want to take if you're concerned with making UNIX easier for new admins. ---Jake On Wed, 5 Jun 1996, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote: > Well, I think this is an interesting idea but about 10 steps removed > from the one we'd take next. :-) There's no point in having an > intelligent agent with all the powers of a HAL 9000 at its command to > determine what setting to notch "skill level" at when the skill level > for UNIX is locked at "hacker and above." We have nothing to offer > the novice so the point of an intelligent selection agent is somewhat > moot. > > Again, the way in which tools document themselves or even point back > at their source code if you ask them nicely is *entirely separate* > from how you tweak them into "friendly mode." You're busily arguing > about the shape of the steering wheel for the car, I'm saying that we > probably should first do something about the fact that there are no > roads to drive it on and only a set of train tracks available, > rendering the steering wheel option rather useless anyway. :-) > > Jordan >
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