From kde-usability Mon Aug 29 16:27:13 2005 From: Zak Jensen Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:27:13 +0000 To: kde-usability Subject: Re: User Resources Message-Id: <21bb44f3050829092749a3f8c0 () mail ! gmail ! com> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-usability&m=112533287803886 In a sense, yes. And I guess there could be debate concerning whether or not such a feature is even a good idea... particularly from a security point of view. However, because we are talking about transferring/autoloading KDE's settings (Possibly tinkering with loading /home/ from it as well... but I am generally agaist that. :), it can be thought of as a KDE problem... "Problem" is not the correct word... but it's close enough. I was thinking of it as a neat form of "hidden functionality" that KDE could have for power users (or internet cafes). I guess it could also have applications with smart clients and such. On 8/24/05, Manuel Amador wrote: > Maybe I am missing something, but > > ... isn't this kind of thing better served by either mounting the flash > drive to your homedir before logging in, or defining your home dir to be > the flash drive's mount point? > > All in all, this is definitely not a problem you should be looking a > KDE-level solution for. > > El mié, 24-08-2005 a las 10:08 -0400, Zak Jensen escribió: > > On 8/24/05, Laur Ivan wrote: > > > On Wednesday 24 August 2005 14:06, Zak Jensen wrote: > > > > As far as transferring settings, I like the idea. I have a KDE desktop & > > > > laptop at home, and the CS labs at my school run (pretty much excusively) > > > > KDE. It would be great to plug in a flash drive and have the desktop > > > > recognize my settings. > > > Imho this is some work for a "once-off" thing. If the network is configured > > > right, all you need to do is copy your settings and dump them into your > > > account at school once, which would fall into "backup my settings" category. > > > > I find it rather interesting that on a mailing list about usability, > > half of the posts are about workarounds for problems, insted of > > finding a proper solution... It could be just my interpretation of it. > > Most posts seem to imply the attitude of "well you should have done it > > this way" rather than "ooh. I never thought of that", or something > > similar. > > > > I visualized not a once-off behavior, but a dynamic change. So, when I > > plug my flash drive into my laptop, It will load those settings. When > > I take the disk to school and I plug it into a computer there, it > > would do the same thing. If I am lucky enough to use KDE at work, I > > plug it in there... etc etc. > > > > > Ideally, I'd like to be able to have an usb mass storage i could pop in and > > > have all the essential bits (settings and e-mail for example) magically > > > appear in the new environment. of course there are issues (like screen > > > resolution, background image availability). Think you have a mp3 player > > > (ipod/zen/etc) and that's all you'd need to carry with you, instead of > > > laptops.. (<- short rant here) > > > > I was thinking the same thing. Didn't think of email and what not... > > but its still eseentially the same idea. > > > > > > As far as importing users go, I don't think that's a good idea, mostly for > > > > security reasons. > > > This can be prevented. Several ways would be: > > > - gpg key or other authentication thing through kdm > > > - something along the lines "I've found J.D.'s home directory on a removable > > > device. Would you like to use that instead?". This would still require a > > > classic approach of "J.D. needs to have an account on the respective > > > machine", but would allow your $HOME to be on your fav mp3 player, which > > > you carry with you anyway :) > > > > My idea was to look for .kde, and if you find it, ask them if they > > wanted to use those settings instead. As long as you have an account > > open, it shouldn't matter what username you store on the flash drive. > > (I was also considering each disk to only store 1 account... may be a > > bad assumption, but it seems like this is a "personal" thing anyway.) > > > > > Of course, bad things can happen if you lose your usb disk or mp3 player... > > > but the same way you have the original cds or mp3s in a "safe place", you > > > could have yout $HOME too... > > > > > > > How about if a dialog pops up that says "I've detected > > > > the KDE configuration for user John Doe. Would you like to apply these > > > > settings?" or something similar. Eg. grab my desktop settings, but don't > > > > import a whole new account. :D > > > > > > Still, the question is: how many times you would do such an operation? > > > > I would imagine that you would do that every time you plugged in the > > flash disk. If you want to permanantly import the settings, you would > > use a "settings transfer wizard" or the aforementioned backup > > application. > > > > > > Could this be done with the media:/ ioslave? > > > > > > Probably not, because this should ideally be done before KDE is launched. A > > > shell for "restore" should be easy enough to write... ;) > > > > I was actually thinking of system:/ ;) Just re-read the commit digest, > > and realized I got it wrong ;) > > > > I don't see any reason why it couldn't be done at both times. If you > > have the disk plugged in when you enter KDE, then it will ask at that > > moment. If you plug it in after KDE is running, then it will ask you > > when the next dialog pops up. At least, that's the behavior I would > > expect. > > > > The way I am considering this functionality is it allows me to work in > > my own environment, which temporarially exists over-top/inside another > > person's session. > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > Laur > > > _______________________________________________ > > > kde-usability mailing list > > > kde-usability@kde.org > > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kde-usability mailing list > > kde-usability@kde.org > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability > -- > Manuel Amador > http://www.amautacorp.com/ +593 (4) 220-7010 > _______________________________________________ > kde-usability mailing list > kde-usability@kde.org > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability > _______________________________________________ kde-usability mailing list kde-usability@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability