ENHANCE in "Getting Started"

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: ENHANCE in "Getting Started"
started by: BillH

Posted by BillH on April 01 2004,04:18

In the "Getting Started" file in 0.6.2, under "Saving Your Configuration", it says "For the popular enhance, just remove the comment in the default .xinitrc."

.xinit includes the following:

grep enhance /proc/cmdline >/dev/null
if [ $? == 0 ]; then
enhance &>/dev/null &
fi

OK, so I"m new at this, but seems to me that Getting Started should tell us to comment out lines 1, 2 and 4 in the fragment above.

# grep enhance /proc/cmdline >/dev/null
# if [ $? == 0 ]; then
enhance &>/dev/null &
# fi

This would force enhance every time, right?

Like I said, I"m new at this, so help me out on this next point, someone.

This 'if [ $? == 0 ]' looks at the return code from grep, right? So if the string "enhance" is found on the knoppix line, the "if" condition is met. OK? So if we change the grep to "grep plain /proc/cmdline >/dev/null" and change the "if" to look for failure if[ $? == 1 ] (because 1 is the return code for grep failure), then we always get enhance UNLESS we type "knoppix plain" at boot prompt.

grep plain /proc/cmdline >/dev/null
if [ $? == 1 ]; then
enhance &>/dev/null &
fi

Am I right??

Posted by CappyCaffeine on April 01 2004,05:16

I think the "Getting Started" comment is a throwback to previous versions.

I find the easiest thing is to comment out all of those lines and just insert:

enhance &

before

fluxbox

in .xinitrc

for a hard drive install

Cappy

Posted by roberts on April 01 2004,07:48

Bill,

Yes, you are right. With all the new improvements, we sometimes overlook things like that. Especially documentation.

Cappy, you are right too, that is the easy way to do it!

Posted by BillH on April 01 2004,10:12

If "enhance" is popular, I mean, if it is more often used than not, why not make it the default behavior and and make "plain" an option? Is this poll material?

Posted by CappyCaffeine on April 01 2004,16:25

Yes, I think it is poll material. Go ahead and start one!

Cappy

Posted by cbagger01 on April 01 2004,18:34

The best reason for the default Enhance = off
is that some older PCs do not have the resources (mainly RAM) available to run an enhanced desktop.

So although some people prefer the non-enhanced desktop to the enhanced desktop and vice-versa, there is a practical reason why enhance should be turned off by default.

It's not just personal preference.

Posted by BillH on April 02 2004,01:46

Quote (cbagger01 @ April 02 2004,02:34)

Well, I think that having the "plain" option covers them, but I can see the logic that says that the default behaviour should be the simpler one.

As for me, I restore the modified .xinitrc from a tarball on a USB stick, so on REALLY old machines without USB I get the original behaviour and on machines with USB (usually newer and with more RAM), I get the modified version, so for me, at least, the default behaviour changes, but pretty much matches the resources available.

Posted by hasty on April 02 2004,07:09

No love for icons or desktop junk here.

Just move your common apps to the top of the menu, it''s easier on your mouse.
You know it makes sense

They all distract from the beauty of the desktop background.

(I'm reminded of hi-fi; the more expensive the fewer controls, the cheaper the more knobs & switches )

I agree though that the default has to be for older less able machines.

Posted by -trustbyte- on April 02 2004,10:13

it should be default enhanced!

Posted by DavoMan on April 02 2004,11:58

Just add it to the list of boot options that you can specify after the kernel name, like the x refresh rate etc.
:cool:

Posted by BillH on April 02 2004,12:56

Quote (DavoMan @ April 02 2004,19:58)

Just add it to the list of boot options that you can specify after the kernel name, like the x refresh rate etc.
:cool:

Yes, we know that. We are talking about the default behaviour, that is, what happens when you don't type something.

Posted by cbagger01 on April 02 2004,18:29

I'll say it again:

"It should be enhanced" or "It should not be enhanced" by default

is an irrelevent arguement.

For users with old hardware, they do not have a choice. They MUST use it as non-enhanced, which is why the default behavior should be non-enhanced to prevent needless crashes and complaints from new users.

Personally, I like using the enhanced behavior on my Pentium-3 system. However, I do not consider it to be a big deal to type "enhance" at the end of my boot prompt.

If you really care that much, maybe you should edit the boot floppy config file or remaster the cd so that it will load up in enhance by default.

Then everyone will be happy.