Suggestions for usability improvements

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: Suggestions for usability improvements
started by: jimbo

Posted by jimbo on Jan. 27 2004,01:25

I'm a long-time Knoppix user, and was intrigued by the idea of a small Linux for slower computers. DamnSmall seems pretty nice! (I'm running 0.5.3.1.)

A few suggestions:

- I run on an HP Pavilion PIII 667 MHz with a Soundblaster card I put in myself (the original is a Win-soundcard, not compatible with Linux). DSL didn't autodetect the SB nor the Ethernet card. I had to modprobe manually to install "es1371" and "8139too". Knoppix had this problem in earlier versions, but not for awhile now. I was surprised the autoconfigure didn't recognize these devices.

- How about easy settings in Fluxbox for left-handed mouse users (switch buttons)? Also, mouse accel. & threshold settings would be nice. Mouse is very slow to move across the screen right now.

- Refresh rate settings please! 60 Hz is hard on the eyes. I tried both 1024x768 and 800x600; both default to 60 Hz for some reason.

Thanks for considering these items, and for creating a zippy, usable Linux distro!

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 27 2004,04:26

DSL was built on an old version of Knoppix, so this is probably why the autodetect routine does not work. It may be possible to update portions of the autodetect routines to work with DSL without recreating the entire distribution over again from scratch.

DSL uses the Kdrive TinyX servers instead of the normal XFree86 servers. This means that mouse support and refresh rate are more limited. It may be possible to use the gpm as your mouse server and set acceleration there. I am not sure.

If anyone can find a way to display the screen at a refresh besides 60Hz, please inform us by posting the solution on this message board.