Eee PC apps

[Evan Leibovitch]

D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> | > It's my understanding that the big-icon user-friendly menu system used
> | > on the Eee is a proprietary system that comes with the Eee's Xandros
> | > Desktop.
>
> What do you mean by "bit-iron" in this context?
>   
By "Big Icon" I mean a way to duplicate the simplicity of the EeePC,
Aspire One and similar desktops which feature login screens that feature
very large icons with the most-used software.

Maybe this is doable using some clever configs with KDE or GNOME, I just
wondered if there was any special FOSS menuing system designed for this
purpose.

> Evan is helping to assemble software for another netbook.
Yes, anyone who was at the last TLUG meeting saw the thing in action.
I'm pretty excited about the product though it hasn't yet had an
official launch. Unlike Asus, Acer, Dell and the others this project is
designed to bring training and support infrastructure along with it, not
just a "dump and run" approach like conventional laptop makers. Even the
OLPC did not have much planning in this manner, a factor that has
significantly hurt its competition with the Intel Classmate-derived
competition.

> He wants to know about software he can use on non-ASUS hardware.  He seems to be asking about open-source newbie-friendly facades (for lack of a better word)available for such projects.
>   
Exactly. Linpus, gOS and Xandros (three of the desktop distributions
that are showing often on these systems) are not completely open source.


> Philosophizing:
>
> The desktop metaphor has become so dominant in the last 30 years that
> we don't remember that it is just one metaphor and that other choices
> might be interesting and worthwhile.
>   
Perhaps, but most othetr metaphores, when they've been tried have not
been popular. Anyone remember Sun's Looking Glass project?

The tablet PC, which promised new ideas such as handwriting recognition,
has also failed to catch on.

Having said this, I'm very open to exploring new ideas. Now that Sugar
is decoupled from the OLPC project we will probably approach the Sugar
Foundation about offering their OS/Desktop as an option on our netbooks.
I suspect that demand for it will be weak.

> PDAs/phones/media players are an arena where other designs have appeared.
>   
Most of them depend on simple "big icon" menus. Touch screens have
offered some new opportunities but the most novel attempt has been the
iPhone which hasn't really impressed me.

> Netbooks are close to normal computers but go partway towards these other devices and thus may be a pathway for new designs to reach
> mainstream computers.
>   
One of the reason I am looking for a "big icon" interface is in an
attempt to make the netbook desktop resemble the current crop of
PDAs/smartphones more than the status quo of notebook systems.

- Evan

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