Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!ucla-cs!ucla-ma!news
From: barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: what are your UNIX-NeXTStep conflicts (was Re: UI idea)
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.050426.28427@math.ucla.edu>
Date: 3 Jun 91 05:04:26 GMT
Sender: news@math.ucla.edu
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Organization: UCLA Dept. of Math, UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
Lines: 74

In our effort to make NeXTSTep more UNIX-userfriendly, we should
catalog our current difficulties, and see if they can't be resolved
either via some Apps, or some added functionality from NeXT.

Most places where UNIX clashes with NeXTStep manifest themselves
as an unnatural need to open a Terminal. In the best of all possible
NeXTWorlds, one would only need a Terminal to login into
non-NeXT machines; I consider this to be the only valid use. 
Here are the *invalid* uses for Terminals that I do most frequently,
which point toward some deficiency of NeXTStep.

(1) su-ing to ``root''
(2) anything that I need to do as root
(3) tar/untar a file
(4) compress/uncompress a file
(5) grep-ing a file
(6) looking/getting inside of an <Appname>.app directory,
    mailboxes, and other directories that the browser can't 
    see inside of (I hate when that happens!)
(7) ftp-ing
(8) compiling
(9) doing ``ls -a'' to see files starting with a ``.'',
    or to look in UNIX directories like /etc, etc.
     (I know the UNIX Expert setting in Preferences toggles this,
      but its a pain to have to use Preferences to change it)
(10) running shell scripts

Here is another major UNIX-NeXTStep clash:

(11) The GUI is not accesible from shell scripts


What are your favorite UNIX-NeXTStep clashes?

--------------------

Here are the sort of fixes I would like to see:

(1),(2): a graphical ``su'', that allows you to change to another user's
Workspace, including root.

(3),(4),(5),(8),(10) a UNIXCommand App that would give one simple
GUI access to UNIX commands, with the benfit of GUI amenities
like browsers for selecting files, menues for command line 
options & convenience, dwrites for defaults, drag-and-drop
features.

(6), (9) The UNIX Expert display mode should be able to see inside
of .app directories, and UNIX Expert mode should be somewhere
on the Workspace Menu.

(7) ftp is  being GUI-ized by the ``Touch'' App, which will give one
browser-like interface to ftp; currently in beta mode at NeXT, I've
heard. Yeah!

As for (11), I hope they eventually extend the GUI and IB to
use with shell scripts. After all, just as shell scripts are 
often much more convenient for little taskes than c programs,
so would GUI shell scripts be much more convenient than 
full Apps for many little tasks. At the very least, shell scripts
should be able to open input windows, so that one needn't have a window
open to run a shell script that takes input.
-------------------

Any other examples to add to the list, or proposed fixes?
Maybe at some point we can petition NeXT to address those
concerns that involve them (like 11).


--
Barry Merriman
UCLA Dept. of Math
UCLA Inst. for Fusion and Plasma Research
barry@math.ucla.edu (Internet)   barry@arnold.math.ucla.edu (NeXTMail)