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Teahouse.
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This project started to address the problem of un-maintained articles relating to free and open-source operating systems with a graphical shell based on the Linux kernel.
Article structure over multiple articles:
Convergence is a term for the coming™ amalgamation of desktop, laptop, mobile computers and what not else. Smartphones have as much as 1GiB of RAM and Quad-Core CPUs, while computer monitors have become (big) touchscreens (for the user to get gorilla arms). I would insidiously call the result: a "home computer". So, when the marketing people will certify that "convergence" has arrived, we could address that stuff as Linux on the home computer (instead of Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical shell). People are actually coding stuff, to make this happen, e.g. Aaron Seigo from KDE: connect your tablet with keyboard, mouse and a bigger screen, and the UI will automagically change accordingly.
From a software perspective differentiating devices based on chassis dimensions is pointless anyway. For the software engineer, the only two properties that matter are:
The goal of any UI is obviously always an efficient workflow while performing the intended tasks. Marketing calls it "user experience", probably because of the "work" in workflow. There are a couple of computer sizes and the marketing departments are spitting out additional ones, plus all the codenames for their newest "platforms" to bamboozle the poor customer. And the Wikipedia is full of it. And I would like to not pay attention to it at all. Because smartphones have as much as 1 GiB of RAM and quad-core CPUs, the articles Desktop Linux and Embedded Linux would imperatively describe one and the same Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical shell. So would Tablet Linux and Netbook Linux. Both, tablet and a netbook are "mobile devices" (and at the same time "embedded devices"), but the latter has a keyboard (and maybe additionally a touch-display). Because of convergence the underlying operating systems would not differentiate.
Lots of words ... ⇒ so, I would like to merge the articles Desktop Linux, and the Mobile Devices-parts of the Embedded Linux (and Sailfish OS, and WebOS and Firefox OS) into a new article called: Linux on home computers (or Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical user interface). On the way there one could split off the Mobile Parts of Embedded Linux into a new article called Mobile Linux and then merge this later. The point is, that only the UI differs from traditional desktop systems. The entire underlying software is identical.
Available Comparison of ...-articles usually intermix proprietary with free and open-source software, are quite crowded, hard to maintain and usually not maintained at all! They often do not mention the graphical toolkit, the programming language, when the program was last updated, etc. Also they regularly lack the program logos. It would be nice to have pages like Multimedia, this AudioPlayer, etc. in the Wikipedia. Given that Wikidata is on the way, we of course should not waste too much time creating and grooming comparison of-pages, yet a couple of those would be a really really nice to have.
There is the
Template:Man. Wherever manpages are available, this template should be used. For example, in
systemd for systemctl
and journalctl
, or in
GNU GRUB for grub-setup
and grub-install
or in
netfilter for iptables
, ip6tables
, arptables
, ebtables
and ipset
, etc.
New technologies are regularly introduced on such Summits/Conventions/Congresses. Usually they offer the papers as PDF and often also a Video recording even years after!
The official Homepages of such events are usually well organized, so there is little point in making a big fuzz on the Wikipedia. But it seems to me very useful, when citing something to also link to the Wikipedia page for the corresponding event: e.g. [4]
I ( User:ScotXW) think, that awesome looking screenshots are nice, but I'd rather have diagrams to understand the clumsiness or elegance of the implemented software architecture. Especially at the moment (2013) there is a lot of talk about Wayland replacing X11, yet the Wikipedia offers very little to make it easy for the interested person to understand the advantages that come with the transition from X11 to Wayland. A comprehensive Wikipedia article will address and satisfy the individual interested in the mere news, but also early adopters and even people willing to participate further.
Nice looking screenshots are just eye candy, so they need to look as awesome as possible! They do not contribute to any understanding whatsoever! Their sole purpose is, to attract the user to read on or even to install the concerned programs/combination of programs.
![]() | This
WikiProject is believed to be
inactive. Consider looking for
related projects for help or ask at the
Teahouse.
If you are not currently a project participant and wish to help you may still participate in the project. This status should be changed if collaborative activity resumes. |
This project started to address the problem of un-maintained articles relating to free and open-source operating systems with a graphical shell based on the Linux kernel.
Article structure over multiple articles:
Convergence is a term for the coming™ amalgamation of desktop, laptop, mobile computers and what not else. Smartphones have as much as 1GiB of RAM and Quad-Core CPUs, while computer monitors have become (big) touchscreens (for the user to get gorilla arms). I would insidiously call the result: a "home computer". So, when the marketing people will certify that "convergence" has arrived, we could address that stuff as Linux on the home computer (instead of Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical shell). People are actually coding stuff, to make this happen, e.g. Aaron Seigo from KDE: connect your tablet with keyboard, mouse and a bigger screen, and the UI will automagically change accordingly.
From a software perspective differentiating devices based on chassis dimensions is pointless anyway. For the software engineer, the only two properties that matter are:
The goal of any UI is obviously always an efficient workflow while performing the intended tasks. Marketing calls it "user experience", probably because of the "work" in workflow. There are a couple of computer sizes and the marketing departments are spitting out additional ones, plus all the codenames for their newest "platforms" to bamboozle the poor customer. And the Wikipedia is full of it. And I would like to not pay attention to it at all. Because smartphones have as much as 1 GiB of RAM and quad-core CPUs, the articles Desktop Linux and Embedded Linux would imperatively describe one and the same Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical shell. So would Tablet Linux and Netbook Linux. Both, tablet and a netbook are "mobile devices" (and at the same time "embedded devices"), but the latter has a keyboard (and maybe additionally a touch-display). Because of convergence the underlying operating systems would not differentiate.
Lots of words ... ⇒ so, I would like to merge the articles Desktop Linux, and the Mobile Devices-parts of the Embedded Linux (and Sailfish OS, and WebOS and Firefox OS) into a new article called: Linux on home computers (or Linux kernel-based operating system with a graphical user interface). On the way there one could split off the Mobile Parts of Embedded Linux into a new article called Mobile Linux and then merge this later. The point is, that only the UI differs from traditional desktop systems. The entire underlying software is identical.
Available Comparison of ...-articles usually intermix proprietary with free and open-source software, are quite crowded, hard to maintain and usually not maintained at all! They often do not mention the graphical toolkit, the programming language, when the program was last updated, etc. Also they regularly lack the program logos. It would be nice to have pages like Multimedia, this AudioPlayer, etc. in the Wikipedia. Given that Wikidata is on the way, we of course should not waste too much time creating and grooming comparison of-pages, yet a couple of those would be a really really nice to have.
There is the
Template:Man. Wherever manpages are available, this template should be used. For example, in
systemd for systemctl
and journalctl
, or in
GNU GRUB for grub-setup
and grub-install
or in
netfilter for iptables
, ip6tables
, arptables
, ebtables
and ipset
, etc.
New technologies are regularly introduced on such Summits/Conventions/Congresses. Usually they offer the papers as PDF and often also a Video recording even years after!
The official Homepages of such events are usually well organized, so there is little point in making a big fuzz on the Wikipedia. But it seems to me very useful, when citing something to also link to the Wikipedia page for the corresponding event: e.g. [4]
I ( User:ScotXW) think, that awesome looking screenshots are nice, but I'd rather have diagrams to understand the clumsiness or elegance of the implemented software architecture. Especially at the moment (2013) there is a lot of talk about Wayland replacing X11, yet the Wikipedia offers very little to make it easy for the interested person to understand the advantages that come with the transition from X11 to Wayland. A comprehensive Wikipedia article will address and satisfy the individual interested in the mere news, but also early adopters and even people willing to participate further.
Nice looking screenshots are just eye candy, so they need to look as awesome as possible! They do not contribute to any understanding whatsoever! Their sole purpose is, to attract the user to read on or even to install the concerned programs/combination of programs.