Wizards?

wgais9708
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:21 pm

Wizards?

Postby wgais9708 » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:43 pm

I was very disturbed to see some negative comments about your wiki in another post. You guys do a fantastic job putting out a free product and certainly don't deserve to be told your wiki sucks. However, I do have a problem with not so much the wikis, but with the whole linux experience. I'm trying hard to learn it, but I've crashed my server too many times to say it's been fun. What I was wondering is why there are no wizards to guide the feeble minded like me through the process. Is is a quirk of linux? Do linux users feel disgust for us lazy people who would rather answer a few questions than take on the task of learning linux commands?

I tried installing Webmin to help me, but I've only managed to mess up my installation. I've tried using the terminal, but I have no earthly concept of what goes on after I paste in code and hit the enter key. I've struggled to set up my home server for easy access at work, but for the most part, I have failed. Now I need to upgrade my drives and want to upgrade to Ubuntu, but I'm not seeing anything that doesn't confuse me to the point of paralysis. I don't understand the instructions because no matter how simple they seem to experts, they assume an intermediate level of knowledge about linux, servers, and networking. If wizards aren't a reality, would it be too much to ask for an Amahi for Dummies page with lots of pictures and simplistic explanations?

Please keep up the good work.

User avatar
cpg
Administrator
Posts: 2618
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:40 am
Contact:

Re: Wizards?

Postby cpg » Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:06 pm

I liked your post. This is what we aim for. So far we have improved a lot over the years, however, we have failed to reach that level of simplicity.

No, we do not like Linux for the sake of it or target Linux users. Linux is our engine of choice. Unfortunately, sometimes it shows, as an escape hatch that users can use to do things they can't with the current interface for Amahi.

Webmin ... sigh. Another escape hatch. We strongly discourage it. It's enough rope to hang oneself, and it looks like you found out first hand.

Now -- is there something we can offer you to devote about 30 minutes of your time for an interview on what usability and experience improvements you would expect?

This way of thinking you have is something we need, so as a lead developer for Amahi, I would like to see if we could talk (phone, skype, google hangout), and capture these ideas, so that we aim for them in new versions.
My HDA: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz on MSI board, 8GB RAM, 1TBx2+3TBx1

wgais9708
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: Wizards?

Postby wgais9708 » Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:36 pm

cpg--I wrote down some of the things I thought would be helpful on the attached file. I hope they might be useful to you.
Attachments
Amahi Wish List.docx
A list of things that might be helpful for the Wizard.
(11.47 KiB) Downloaded 252 times

User avatar
cpg
Administrator
Posts: 2618
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:40 am
Contact:

Re: Wizards?

Postby cpg » Sun Mar 03, 2013 4:31 pm

Awesome. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback and for jotting down these notes above!

We will work on the add-a-new-disk wizard. Here is the bug we wrote for tracking this wizard. We have had for a while, so things may have changed, but perhaps you have some thoughts about it?
My HDA: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz on MSI board, 8GB RAM, 1TBx2+3TBx1

wgais9708
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:21 pm

Re: Wizards?

Postby wgais9708 » Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:48 pm

Wow. You guys are two years ahead of me on this. Very humbling. I liked the idea at the end about separating the tasks. Would it be possible to reverse those processes as well? For example, removing a drive from the pool in order to replace it with a new one?

Perhaps either a stronger warning about the partitioning options, or hiding the options under an Advanced Settings button might be good. The fewer options I have to mess up my installation, the better my installation. In fact, an Express Install default that takes care of all the partitioning and mount points without my input might be the way to go.

I read the wiki about changing the landing zone and adding new drives. They aren't too difficult, but for beginners/general public they can be intimidating. The wizards are a good thing.

I also looked around at the hardware end of things after you mentioned it, and got a better idea of what you meant. If I could buy a gateway modem router with Amahi installed on it, I'd do it. I have two routers and a server. Reducing my footprint to a single piece of equipment is very appealing. Can plug computers function as routers?

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests