[Sugar-devel] [ANNOUNCE] Sweets Distribution

[James Cameron]

G'day Thomas,

On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 09:07:50PM -0800, Thomas C Gilliard wrote:
> I do not understand how a user copy-pastes this command into terminal.
> I thought the previous format was easier for a user to understand:
> 
>  SV=0.94
>  UV=11.04
>  SD=http://download.sugarlabs.org/packages/SweetsDistribution:
>  sudo apt-add-repository "deb $SD/$SV/Ubuntu-$UV/ ./"
>  wget -qO- $SD/$SV/Ubuntu-$UV/Release.key | sudo apt-key add -

I'm surprised you do not understand how to copy and paste a compound
command.  Let me explain.

The user should hold the cursor in the space before the first line,
press down upon the left mouse button, (or the right mouse button if the
user has configured the mouse for left-handed use), move the cursor to
the line below the last line, then release the mouse button.

Look at the attached image.  The green dot is where the mouse button
should be pressed, and the red dot is where it should be released.
Notice how the text has been highlighted.  This shows the area that
would be copied.

Then the user should select Copy in their web browser, and then select
Paste in their Terminal.

However, this is such a common operation, easily done by people who
already know how to operate a computer and a web browser, that it need
not be described on the page.  It has nothing to do with Sweets.

If you think it needs to be described at this point, then please create
a Wiki page "How to cut and paste terminal commands" and we can add a
link to it.  There are many many other uses of terminal commands that
could then have a link added as well.

If you encounter a user who cannot use a terminal with copy and paste,
then recommend instead the use of a virtual appliance, or Sugar 0.90
packages from Ubuntu, despite their quality issues.

The previous format published by Aleksey was fine for most of us, but
was not easy to understand by a naive user because:

(a) the lines were too long, and were likely to be hidden by a scroll
bar, (now they are shorter),

(b) the version numbers in the lines did not have a clear meaning, (now
they have a clear meaning),

(c) each apt command was different, (now they are the same).

Please, don't pick a random message from me and randomly insert your
reply in the middle.  It makes it much harder for me and others to read,
because the context is invalid.

I knew the context because I recently edited the page, but others won't,
so for them the context is my edits to the page:

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Community/Distributions/Sweets#Ubuntu_and_its_derivates

in particular the changes from this revision
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Community/Distributions/Sweets&oldid=75954

to this revision
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/index.php?title=Community/Distributions/Sweets&oldid=75972

-- 
James Cameron
http://quozl.linux.org.au/
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