[Xastir] YAFRODU

[Dan Brown]

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005, Tom Russo wrote:
> 
> I would think it better to add a separate download for them, as is done for
> the "xastir-sounds" files.  Some folks will not want the APRSdos maps at all 
> --- in fact, I would find them an unwelcome waste of space.  They shouldn't
> be part of the source download itself.
> 
> On the other hand, making it easy for a new user to go to one place to 
> grab source, sounds, and some primitive maps would be a Very Good Thing.

Would a "first time configure" script be a useful thing?  And yes, before
Curt gives me a "tag you're it," I'm kinda volunteering, though, I know I'm
a couple "features" behind in contributions vs proposals here. 

What I imagine would be something that could collect basic information
about the users station and write out a starter config file.  By basic
information, I mean callsign, location and basic config options - perhaps
even as far as setting up an interface or two. 

In a script like this you could find out if they have an internet
connection, and then, for example, find out what state they live in and go
grab the right GNIS files.  You could do a yes/no on whether the user wants
to download the FCC/RAC database, or even if they want that added to their
crontab.  You could find out if they wanted to (try to) download the basic
APRSmaps, etc etc.

Do people think this would that be useful, or is it just redundant work? 
Do users need the experience of walking through the various setups -
downloading added libraries, deciding which kinds of maps they need and
doing setup - in short actually doing some learning?  I know most of the
ability to gather preferences and write out configs is "built in" to the
program - would having Xastir go into a "collect preferences" mode the
first time things are started up be valuable? 

I think this would be useful - either as a stand alone script or as a
"first time" mode in the program.  I think there are some added "features"
or configs which I believe could be automated, perhaps by calling existing
scripts like scripts/get-gnis or scripts/fcc-get from Xastir itself. 


--
Dan Brown 
brown at brauhausdc.org
http://www.brauhaus.org/n8ysz/index.html