Wait a sec...what about derivative users?

[Jordan Mantha]

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 9:16 PM, Cory Sadowski <csadowski08 at gmail.com> wrote:
<snip of good stuff about other DEs>

On one hand I think it is important to keep the other *buntus in mind,
there isn't anything that has to be very GNOME specific about being an
Ubuntu power user. On the other hand though is the practical
challenges of trying to be all things to all users. In the short term
I think it would be beneficial to have a smallish sized target for an
initial goal and then branch out from there.

Something I was considering today along the lines you were talking
about was the idea of having a tool to create custom *-desktop
metapackages. I think many power users would want to tweak the default
app selection (thunderbird instead of evolution, etc.). I think a tool
that let's them base off an existing *-desktop package and
add/subtract and then spits out a new -desktop .deb that the user can
use on fresh installs. It would be nice for such a tool to be able to
have ubuntu-desktop, kubuntu-desktop, xubuntu-desktop, and
lubuntu-desktop for instance as points to base off of.

> Most of all though, personally, I would absolutely love to see
> sections dealing with the CLI and classic programs like irssi, mutt,
> screen, mplayer, the framebuffer, SDL, things like that. How does one
> configure the TTY? Vcstime doesn't work anymore as-is, so how can one make a
> stop-gap or fix it permanently? How can we make SDL programs work that
> require or can utilize mouse access? These are just a few of the
> questions I've had, and even I still don't have answers for all of it.
> I think a lack of documentation and acknowledgment of CLI stuff is
> detrimental to a lot of enthusiasts and power users in general.

Documentation does a lot of good here. I can imagine easily getting
into a quagmire of options when it comes to CLI  programs though. Just
imagine all the possibilities in mutt alone :-) What would be cool
though, IMO, would be to have some sort of "Featured CLI" apps
selection like the featured app section of Software Center. Perhaps
the Ubuntu Power Users community could vote on the coolest/most useful
CLI apps to recommend.

Just some hairbrained random thoughts.

-Jordan