guadalinex-members team mailing list archive

[Alfonso de Cala <alfonso.cala@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here follows a list of fixes & tweaks we developed (for Guadalinex) to
improve Ubuntu usability:

* Hermes: when users plug anything into Guadalinex (webcams, bluetooth
dongles, smart cards...) a notification pops up (as a kind of "confirm
receipt") suggesting what to do with that piece of hardware. This is a
generic system with 'actors' triggered by diferent types of hot-
pluggable hardware. So, users don't need to browse the application menu
looking for Cheese when they plug a webcam into their computer. Hermes
also can suggest software to install when an user plugs something not
directly supported by the base distribution.

* Mount-Systray: a few years ago, a someone came to me and said:
"Windows has got a little button I have to press to extract usb drives
safely. Where is it in my Guadalinex?". Right click on a device is not
evident, so we developed an applet for in the upper panel. This applet
sits in the upper panel and blinks when an user plugs an usb memory.
Blinking can be easily switched off, but we surprisingly noticed that
users prefer to leave it flashing (me too!).

* First Login Screen: new users need some tips when they arrive to Guadalinex. Our First Start Dialog opens a web page with brief but useful information: 
	* A quick view to your desktop: a screenshot with sensible zones. Users can move the mouse over these areas to get an explanation of menues, buttons, panels...
	* A link to the full Guadalinex handbook (html).
	* How to get support: links to our official support system and users phorum.
	* What to do with the DVD: install more software just re-inserting it in the DVD-reader. Copy and give it to a friend. Keep it in a safe place, maybe you can need it in an emergency.

* Installer with disk-preview: we added disk preview to the DVD
installer. Deleting or overwriting partitions is always dangerous and a
preview of data in the target partitions is really appreciated.

* AMIGU (Assistant for Migration to Guadalinex): I know Ubuntu installer
has got something similar embedded, but feature limited. We think that
moving mails, files, backgrounds, bookmarks... from an existing windows
partition to your brand new linux is interesting but we don't want to
force users to do it during installation. This AMIGU is a stand-alone
application with more features than the Ubuntu equivalent. AMIGU
migrates bookmarks, outlook (any version) or thunderbird mails and
contacts, personal documents,  Instant Messaging accounts (MSN, gmail.
yahoo), eMule configuration, truetype fonts...

* Accesibility profiles: when you start Guadalinex live disk, you can
select an accesibility profile for visual impaired people or others. We
also added this profiles to user creation dialogs.

* Grubaker: a small (graphical) tool to configure basic boot menú (grub)
options.

* Spanish Voices: we developed two new spanish voices (male and female)
for the included synthesys engine (Festival). All the spanish regional
distributions (and some southamerican ones) are using them, and they are
now getting in Fedora as well.

* MD5 summer: We want to make moving to a new version as easy as
possible. Guadalinex ships backup software and a MD5 checksum graphical
tool.

* Applicacion Menu: As Matthew said in the last GCDS, application names
are really important. Without a worldwide marketing campaign, a brand
won't be recognized by users. And linux is not famous for its marketing!
We review every menu entry (.desktop files) and change those don't
respecting this schema: "short description (app name)". We'll love to
have this standarized in freedesktop, but nowadays we fix it by hand in
every release.

Other fixes include translations, example files, icons, a new spanish
handbook.

A few local improvements are allowed by law in our Spain but not in USA
(dvd decryption, codecs, and things like that). Others are only
interesting for our citizens, like national id-card support.

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