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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: User Resources
From:       Zak Jensen <coolguyzak () gmail ! com>
Date:       2005-08-29 16:27:13
Message-ID: 21bb44f3050829092749a3f8c0 () mail ! gmail ! com
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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/<user> 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 <rudd-o@amautacorp.com> 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 <laur.ivan@corvil.com> 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
> > >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > kde-usability@kde.org
> > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability
> --
> Manuel Amador                   <rudd-o@amautacorp.com>
> http://www.amautacorp.com/            +593 (4) 220-7010
> _______________________________________________
> kde-usability mailing list
> kde-usability@kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability
>
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