[Ilugc] Desktop metaphor
- From: ramanraj.k@xxxxxxxxx (Ramanraj K)
- Date: Tue Aug 30 10:22:20 2005
Check the documentation (and pics) at:
http://www.shakthimaan.com -> Debian/Dell 510m
<quote>
http://www.shakthimaan.com/downloads/debian_dell510m/XF86Config-4.txt
Desktop X does not load because of a BIOS bug. This has been updated
in recent Dell laptops though. So, to get X working you need to
download the 855wrap.tar.gz from
http://www.chzsoft.com.ar/855patch.html ;...
</quote>
This is a little OT from the above, but yet connected:
Fredrick P Brooks wrote in the Mythical Man-month:
"One of the most impressive developments in software during the past
two decades has been the truimph of the Windows, Icons, Menus,
Pointing interface - or WIMP for short. It is today so familiar as to
need no description. This concept was first publicly displayed by
Doug Englebart and his team from the Stanford Research Institute at
the Western Joint Computer Conference of 1968. From there the ideas
went to Xerox Palo Alto ....."
The screens of today are too small in pixels to show details and the
"so-called 'desktop metaphor' of today's workstation is instead an
'airplane-seat' metaphor. Anyone who has shuffled a lapful of papers
while seated in coach between two portly passengers will recognize the
difference - one can seen only a very few things at once. The true
desktop provides overview of and random access to a score of pages
..."
Now:
[1] We have projectors and therefore more real estate should be
possible the "Desktop" (imagine a real 4 feet x 2 feet "Desktop").
What XF86Config would suit this end? Would it be possible for X to
use one config for the laptop screen and another for the projector?
[2] Computer monitors are the most serious health hazard to the
environment. While used, they emit a fair amount of radiation (enough
to advise preg. women to stay away from them during pregnancy) and
even the more modern LCD screens are either expensive or not as
convenient as a projector. If any of you are hardware engineers,
please think of mnf. web cam sized projectors, that could render a
decent 4' x 2' screen, that may be cheap, affordable, and may be even
bring the price of computers to less than Rs. 5000/-
-Ramanraj.
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