On Wed, 18 May 2016 14:13:31 -1000
Joel Roth <joelz@???> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Having handled many of the issues relating to init system
> to the point of being able to release Devuan jessie beta,
> I wonder if Devuan community is ready to support action on
> other scourges of the linux on personal computer ecosystem.
>
> I am thinking specifically of three key mapping bugaboos:
>
> 1) CAPSLOCK key under console and X, should be mapped to Control
>

>    This mapping is compatible with most server
>    administrators preferences, prevents capslock-related mode
>    problems in vim.

Leave well enough alone. I doubt I'm alone in the fact that I use left
Ctrl to come out of a screen saver. If Ctrl is capslock, how do I do
Ctrl+x? Right ctrl is the default "get out of VM" key for Qemu and
VirtualBox. There's absolutely no problem with CapsLock being Capslock,
so why change anything?


>
> 2) Terminate X via Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
>

>    Seems like an easy, useful, historic way to kill a malfunctioning
> X.

Yeah, I remember fondly the days when this worked. Someone mentioned a
magic sysreq substitute, but if you get the WRONG sysreq key sequence,
you can reboot your whole computer. It's almost impossible to hit
Ctrl+Alt+Backspace by accident, so I think it's a wonderful thing to
have it do the right thing and blow me out of X.

>
> 3) Disable Print key
>

>    All my uses have been unintentional. Does anyone use it
> deliberately?

I did when it worked. Back in the MSDOS days it would actually send a
printscreen to my daisy-wheel printer. Later, it became a printscreen
to file. Every time Printscreen actually did something, I used it.

>
> My other wishlist items are:
>
> 4) No display manager by default
>

>    I think the community shouldn't coocoon naive users from
>    the console. The passing familiarity with the terminal
>    that comes with Learning to type username, password, startx
>    and Ctrl-Alt-Backspace (to terminate X) will help the user
>    if and when they ever have trouble with X.

Ugh!

I'm a smart guy. I graduated 7th grade and my IQ is almost 90.
Nevertheless, there are times when I like to get on a computer and have
a panel and start button without having to worry about choosing a
window manager. And of course, if I don't know what that is, knowing my
luck I'll choose Unity or Gnome3 and become utterly confused.

LXDE (I guess now LXQt) has become very mainstream. It sports a
determinate start menu and it's light weight. Every person on the
planet *can* use it, though of course many might not like to. Absent
extenuating circumstances, the default should be the least surprising.

By the way, Xfce has the same pluses as LXDE. The only problem is it's
a tiny bit more buggy, and it's a lot more memory.

For those who hate LXDE, there could be instructions on how to change
your window manager.

SteveT

Steve Litt
May 2016 featured book: Rapid Learning for the 21st Century
http://www.troubleshooters.com/rl21