TechWizrd
May 18th, 2008, 07:33 PM
I'm not sure if this the right place to post this...
I have been distro-hopping for a long while from openSUSE, Fedora, Slackware, Ubuntu, Mint, DSL, as well as many other. During my time using Mint, I had seen a utility called mintAssitant which allowed a user to pre-configure a few settings before logging in, mainly the root account and use of the fortunes program, before and after logging in.
While the Mint devs have delegated this to something useless, I think a similar idea has a lot of potential and I have been meaning to develop something similar to this for a while now. I was wondering how I would develop a program that would lead the user through a questionnaire asking what they normally use a computer for, their favorite colors, etc.
The program, based on their input, would install and configure necessary applications and change user settings so that the user could login and immediately experience a custom desktop to their liking.
Different users have different uses for their computer. While some only use their computer for browsing the web and reading email, others might use it for only office purposes, others for 3d modeling and development, others for administration, others for image editing, others for gaming, and others for developement and programming in a user specified language. They only need the applications they are actually interested in using. Furthermore it could be even more specific and subcategorize groups such as games into FPS, RPG, board games, card games, and etc.
This program could also ask for the users favorite colors and customize the desktop theme colors accordingly. As an addition, this program could ask the user what kind of background they like, whether it may be nature backgrounds, abstract backgrounds, light, dark, or something else.
I definitely believe that a program like this would greatly improve the user experience and create a more user-centric desktop experience. Unfortunately, I don't where or how I should implement this. Should this be an addition to the live-cd installer, upon first login, or someplace else. Anyhelp or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I have been distro-hopping for a long while from openSUSE, Fedora, Slackware, Ubuntu, Mint, DSL, as well as many other. During my time using Mint, I had seen a utility called mintAssitant which allowed a user to pre-configure a few settings before logging in, mainly the root account and use of the fortunes program, before and after logging in.
While the Mint devs have delegated this to something useless, I think a similar idea has a lot of potential and I have been meaning to develop something similar to this for a while now. I was wondering how I would develop a program that would lead the user through a questionnaire asking what they normally use a computer for, their favorite colors, etc.
The program, based on their input, would install and configure necessary applications and change user settings so that the user could login and immediately experience a custom desktop to their liking.
Different users have different uses for their computer. While some only use their computer for browsing the web and reading email, others might use it for only office purposes, others for 3d modeling and development, others for administration, others for image editing, others for gaming, and others for developement and programming in a user specified language. They only need the applications they are actually interested in using. Furthermore it could be even more specific and subcategorize groups such as games into FPS, RPG, board games, card games, and etc.
This program could also ask for the users favorite colors and customize the desktop theme colors accordingly. As an addition, this program could ask the user what kind of background they like, whether it may be nature backgrounds, abstract backgrounds, light, dark, or something else.
I definitely believe that a program like this would greatly improve the user experience and create a more user-centric desktop experience. Unfortunately, I don't where or how I should implement this. Should this be an addition to the live-cd installer, upon first login, or someplace else. Anyhelp or ideas would be greatly appreciated.