lubuntu-desktop team mailing list archive

[Julien Lavergne <gilir@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

For Mplayer / SMplayer, as there is no consensus for switching to
something else, let's stay with this 2 for Karmic. I'll put them in
Recommends, so lubuntu-desktop can be installed without this 2. I'll try
to move Mplayer to universe, but I'm not sure it'll be doable. Let's
discuss the video player choice after the Karmic release.

For the release date, there is 2 choices :
- Stick with Ubuntu schedule and release/freeze at the same time. This
could be a solution if we want to release the finished Lubuntu in time
for Karmic+1.
- Don't follow this schedule and release after. We can do this, but the
consequence will be to have separate packages for some components, not
in sync with Ubuntu official packages and repository. A possibility is
to use the Lubuntu PPA as an extra repository and publish packages when
it's done. But we need to deal with maintenance, bug reports etc ...
As a MOTU, I prefer the solution 1, let's publish a preview for Karmic
and the "real" Lubuntu for Karmic+1.

For custom installer, I don't like this idea. Because someone need to
code it, and people can have the same by installing the applications
they want after the installation of Lubuntu. Most of People using Ubuntu
and derivate want to have an installation ready "out-of-the-box", they
don't want to choose between VLC and Mplayer for example. 
If we want to allow the user to customize his installation and keeping
the core LXDE in place, it's possible to make all "extra" packages
(Mplayer, Aqualung etc ...) optional, by making them recommends on the
lubuntu-desktop package. People will be able to remove Mplayer to
install VLC, and will keep the lubuntu-desktop and so LXDE core packages
installed.

Regards,
Julien Lavergne

Le samedi 19 septembre 2009 à 12:41 +0800, Mario Behling a écrit :
> Dear all,
> 
> I would like to exchange with you some thoughts that came up in an
> exchange with PCMan concerning using Mplayer, Qt4 and the release date
> of lubuntu.
> 
> I agree with PCMan that we should get feedback from the community
> first before releasing a stable lubuntu. The current lubuntu is
> already quite good, but there will probably be some bugs that we dont
> know, besides bugs that we know of e.g. in PCManFM. As PCMan is
> working on a new version of the file manger, I hope we will be able to
> include it.
> 
> Read on below.
> 
> - Mario
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: PCMan
> 
> Hi all
> Clearly Mplayer has the best performance on old machines which are the
> target of Lubuntu.
> However, the usability of currently available mplayer GUI frontend are
> quite problematic.
> SMplayer, although being developed with Qt4, undoubtedly has quite
> good usability compared with others. Qt4 is not a problem. It's
> bigger, but it's not very big. Besides, there will be more and more
> applications written in Qt4 in the future. Denying the use of Qt4 is
> quite unwise, IMHO. If you can find something that are as good, feel
> free to replace it. But the problem is, there isn't. The other usable
> player should be VLC, which is also written in Qt4, too. Xine is yet
> another solution, but it doesn't have good performance, and the
> usability is not good, either. So it's good for nothing. Rather than
> including something that is good for nothing, I'd rather include
> something that at least give you good usability. This is the
> rationale.
> 
> Another concern is, can we postpone the release of Lubuntu? Rather
> than releasing something new but broken, I'd rather release it when
> it's really ready. Give the users something that is half-done is not a
> good way for marketing.
> I'm confident that Lubuntu will be ready for everyday use at the time
> of next Ubuntu LTS release. However, if we want to make it for 9.10,
> we might end up with a broken distro that is problematic. IMHO,
> keeping it in Alpha or Beta status is more preferable. Then just use
> 9.10 release to get enough feedback from the users. Things should be
> ready in Q1, 2010. Then the next LTS will be the right time for first
> official release of Lubuntu.
> 
> For application selection, I'd suggest creating a modular installer
> and let the user choose what they want. This doesn't need to be
> included in the Ubuntu installer. We can run a app selection wizard at
> first-time startup. This can be the perfect solution for application
> selection.
> 
> Any thoughts?
> 
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