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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: feature idea - feedback wanted
From:       Mario Weilguni <mweilguni () sime ! com>
Date:       1999-02-13 9:39:48
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Am Sat, 13 Feb 1999 schrieb Russ Steffen:
>I've noticed that there are a few loose in KDE that could be tied
>neatly together. What I'm refering to are several KDE programs
>that make assumptions about how you are connected to the internet
>(dedicated vs. dialup, proxies, etc.).
>
>What I was imagining is that there should be an object (maybe part of
>kfm or kpanel, or maybe on it's own - I haven't thought that far yet)
>that keeps track of whether the machine is online or not. This object
>would present a kpanel docked icon (or similar) that the user would use
>to trigger a dialup connection. The object would allow other programs
>to register to be notified or executed before & after the connection is 
>brought up or torn down. And, of course one program would be registered
>to handle the actual making and breaking of the connection (ie. kppp,
>masqdialer, diald-control, etc.)
>
>So, take a program like kscd, which would want to connect to the CDDB
>database when an unknown CD encountered. Under this scheme, it would
>first check to see if the machine is already online, and if it isn't
>it would then request that this object bring the connection up (and
>there would be a confirmation dialog so the user has a chance to cancel
>the operation).

I really like the idea (and I already had something like this in mind half a
year ago, some sort of Dialer API for KPPP, "KAPI" ;-). But this would only
work for KDE applications, so I dropped it for now. I think itīs virtually
impossible to create a transparent solution (for non-KDE application) that
works well under all major variants of UNIX). 

But I agree, if we could have something for KDE applications, it would make
life easier for newbies...

>
>If we take this idea further, there could be an "internet settings" (logical
>extention to the current "Web Browser" settings) control panel that would 
>provide a central place for proxy/firewall information. We could even get 
>clever and provide compatability with Netscape's auto-proxy configuration 
>files (it is just a javascript function that takes a URL and returns either 
>the proxy name & port number or 'DIRECT' for no proxy required).

Thatīs a good idea. This should include Proxies, SMTP-Server, Newsserver,
Popserver and such. I cannot agree with Firewalling, thatīs beyond the scope of
 a "normal" user, not portable and too difficult.

>
>And for those with dedicates internet access or who want to manage their
>dialups themselves, I'm imagining there would be a a global "I'm online
>all the time" option that would effectivly revert all the applications
>back to the current behavior.

I see 4 options here:
* no Internet connection (believe it or not, many people donīt have one)
* use the dialer API
* permanent connection
* dial-on-demand (same as above, but IP might change)

Mario

--
_________________________________________________________________________
Mario Weilguni                                       <mweilguni@sime.com>
Göstingerstr. 210                                          +43-316-685645
A-8051 Graz / Austria                                 Mobil 0676 524 1719

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