HAL based device manager for Xfce

[Johannes Zellner]

Hello,

I spent some time, to get a few ideas about the whole stuff :-)

I my opinion, there are basically two types of devices to handle:

- mountable devices (data-cd/dvd, usb-mass-storages, ...)

They could carry all types of data (images, audio, video, text, ...), so
we should take a look at the content. (only if the user has enabled
automounting for this dev, if not handle this like "other devices")
For example there's a dvd with audio-files. Then we should provide
things like creating a playlist and open xfmedia.
(get these actions from the shared-mime-db)


- other devices (gamepads, empty-cdrom, camera, ...)

Ok, no chance to mount a gamepad, so lets handle it with a stupid user
defined and device-specific list of commands. (no list if only one
command...)
Example: plug a gamepad => in this case show a list of games probably.


I know, this could get really complicated to manage with a intuitive UI,
but the result would be way better than only handle it like "other
devices". (most of the time a mountable device will be handled IMHO)


How do others think about this ?

Johannes

> Hi @all,
>
> yesterday we Johannes and me had a discussion about hal support in Xfce.
> We thought it would be that we could provide something like ivman but
> with a easier way to configure like gnome etc. does it.
>
> We think ivman is too complex for normal users, that do not have
> knowledge in Hal. For example what action should happen when a emtpy cd
> will be insert and so on.
>
> We could provide a GUI in which you specify such common actions, like
> music cd is insert or empty dvd is insert. The user can select to each
> event an action, like start xfmedia or xfburn.
>
> In addition we should also provide an "advance" version, in which it is
> also possible to specify more complex things like ivman it is doing.
>
> So far we do not had a deeper look into the technical aspects.
>
> Give us some comments and ideas.
>
> Regards
> Johannes / Thomas
>
>