Re: keyboard key assignment in Linux

[Paul Breeze paul.breeze@xxxxxxxx]

Patricia

I have always been rather fussy about the on-screen presentation I use. At the moment in Win98se
with a 1024x768 LCD 15 inch monitor I either use a DOS box with Lucinda Console 10x20 which gives
me a sharp font and 36 lines on the screen, or a 30 line full-screen display. I can happily work
for hours with either.

So far I have not been able to configure XY4 in DOSEMU to provide me with anything like the font
clarity I achieve with Win98se. There are really only two fonts available at present, a very small
vga font and an 11x19 font which may suit some people but which I still find marginally too small.
The latter does not come near to filling the screen, either.

In both these cases DOSEMU is running in its own box under X-Windows. It is also possible to
launch DOSEMU, and hence XY4 from a console in Unix. This gives many more font options, but try as
I might I cannot find a font, font-size combination that I am comfortable with.

I am sure there are solutions. What I probably need is a new vga font, probably 10x20. It is not
beyond the bounds of possibility to create such a font but I can see no point at present since even
if I get XY4 running satisfactorily I can't yet run most of the ancillary software I use on a
regular basis.

As for the file system, you are right that everything branches of the root so that a drive appears
as another directory.  That is fine, and it is easy to integrate DOS and Windows drives or
partitions into the file system. What I find completely loopy is folder naming and the way in
which software is scattered across the file system. DOSEMU, for example has some files under /etc
and others in various subdirectories under /usr.  Why not all in one place? The /root -- /usr
distinction, no doubt a great strength in a multi-user system, just adds further confusion if you
are trying to set up a single user system. It might help if the names of the main folders provided
clues to their functions but /etc, /var, /opt/?  As far as I can see these might just a well all
be the same folder.

I suspect much of this is historical and I have not doubt that the Linux community would launch a
bold defence of the various conventions they have used but to my mind there is significant scope
for simplification. I would love to be able to ditch Windows and use Linux all the time but I
cannot see that happening in the near future. Windows does everything I need much more
conveniently than Linux.

Today I have Linux running smoothly on my computer but I cannot actually use it for anything
(except browsing the web with Mozilla and sending emails if want to start using Mozilla). I boot
it up once a day and tell myself this is great, but actually all I do is play with it. When I want
to do some work I have to go back to Gatesware. That seems to me to summarise the status of Linux
today as far a desktop use is concerned. I am not quite sure when or how it is going to change.

Paul


On Tue, 25 Feb 2003 09:58:20 -0500, Patricia M Godfrey wrote: