Diff for "DesktopTeam/Specs/AboutThisComputer"

AboutThisComputer

Differences between revisions 3 and 4

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

Launchpad Entry: hardy-about-ubuntu
Packages affected: about-ubuntu

Summary

Redesign the current "About Ubuntu" menu option such that it contains useful information such as the Ubuntu derivative name, version number, basic information about the system. This should be visually attractive, and could be an ideal place for easter eggs.

Release Note

This section should include a paragraph describing the end-user impact of this change. It is meant to be included in the release notes of the first release in which it is implemented. (Not all of these will actually be included in the release notes, at the release manager's discretion; but writing them is a useful exercise.)

It is mandatory.

Rationale

An about dialog is needed to describe the version of Ubuntu being used or derivatives. It should also contain basic information on the user's machine

Use Cases

Someone asks you:

What version of Ubuntu are you running?
What kind of computer do you have? (not in this order)
- Hard drive size (where '/' is)
- Graphics card
- Network card
- CPU
- RAM
Version of GNOME

Want to get more information about Ubuntu

Assumptions

Design

[http://guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/aboutgui Comparisons from other graphical environments]

Notes:

Remove "About Ubuntu" and "About GNOME" -- replace with "About Your Computer"

Implementation

About Your Computer (about-window) is a Python script that determines if you are running Gnome or KDE, and then picks the relevant toolkit to display the window.

We query follow information:

CPU type and speed, using /proc/cpuinfo
RAM, using /proc/meminfo, or "free"
Hard disk size (use the disk / hangs off), using HAL via DBUS
Graphics card, also using HAL via DBUS
Network card, also using HAL via DBUS
Version of Ubuntu, using lsb-release.
Version of desktop environment -- this is a can of worms, but we are limiting ourselves to querying the version of GNOME, KDE or XFCE. If we find none of them, then do not display anything.
Version of the Linux kernel, using uname -r

Once we have all of this information, we use Glade or whatever it is PyQT uses to layout a dialog box. A title bar of About Your Computer, a large SVG of a computer on the left hand size, and the information laid out in two sections, the first being:

CPU: <CPU type> <CPU speed> Memory: <RAM information> Hard disk size: <Hard disk information> Graphics card: <Graphics card information> Network card: <Network card information>

The second section is:

<icon grabbed from the icon theme> Ubuntu <Ubuntu version> (Only displayed if gnome-session exists) <gnome icon> Gnome <Gnome version> (Only displayed if kded exists) <KDE icon> KDE <KDE version> (Only displayed if xfce-session exists) <XFCE icon> XCFE <XCFE version> <tux icon> Linux <kernel version>

A Close button on the bottom right of the window.

All text should be able to be drag and dropped as one large block into IRC, a bug report or a forum post.

UI Changes

New Dialog
- Grabs icon from icon them "start-here"
- Looks for system information from a file set by meta packages
- Has dragable text to e-mail/IRC/forum/etc

Code Changes

Code changes should include an overview of what needs to change, and in some cases even the specific details.

Migration

An "About Your Computer" item on the System menu will replace About Ubuntu, and About Gnome.

Test/Demo Plan

Outstanding Issues

How do we show the Ubuntu philosphy and other such things like the current dialog box does?

-  ⇤ ← Revision 3 as of 2007-10-31 20:36:04 → 
  Size: 3936
  Editor: 12
  Comment: + comparisons
+   ← Revision 4 as of 2007-10-31 22:38:43 → ⇥
  Size: 4077
  Editor: 12
  Comment: Add changes from Gobby
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
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-Want to get more information on Ubuntu
+Want to get more information about Ubuntu
-Line 46:
+Line 47:
-Firstly, About Your Computer is a shell script that determines if you are running Gnome or KDE, and then picks the relevant
+About Your Computer (about-window) is a Python script that determines if you are running Gnome or KDE, and then picks the relevant toolkit to display the window.
-Line 48:
+Line 49:
-This section should describe a plan of action (the "how") to implement the changes discussed. Could include subsections like:
+We query follow information:
 * CPU type and speed, using /proc/cpuinfo
 * RAM, using /proc/meminfo, or "free"
 * Hard disk size (use the disk / hangs off), using HAL via DBUS
 * Graphics card, also using HAL via DBUS
 * Network card, also using HAL via DBUS
 * Version of Ubuntu, using lsb-release.
 * Version of desktop environment -- this is a can of worms, but we are limiting ourselves to querying the version of GNOME, KDE or XFCE. If we find none of them, then do not display anything.
 * Version of the Linux kernel, using uname -r
 
Once we have all of this information, we use Glade or whatever it is PyQT uses to layout a dialog box. A title bar of About Your Computer, a large SVG of a computer on the left hand size, and the information laid out in two sections, the first being:

'''CPU''': <CPU type> <CPU speed>
'''Memory''': <RAM information>
'''Hard disk size''': <Hard disk information>
'''Graphics card''': <Graphics card information>
'''Network card''': <Network card information>

The second section is:

<icon grabbed from the icon theme> Ubuntu <Ubuntu version>
(Only displayed if gnome-session exists) <gnome icon> Gnome <Gnome version>
(Only displayed if kded exists) <KDE icon> KDE <KDE version>
(Only displayed if xfce-session exists) <XFCE icon> XCFE <XCFE version>
<tux icon> Linux <kernel version>

A Close button on the bottom right of the window.

All text should be able to be drag and dropped as one large block into IRC, a bug report or a forum post.
-Line 63:
+Line 94:
-Include:
 * data migration, if any
 * redirects from old URLs to new ones, if any
 * how users will be pointed to the new way of doing things, if necessary.
+An "About Your Computer" item on the System menu will replace About Ubuntu, and About Gnome.
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+Line 98:
-It's important that we are able to test new features, and demonstrate them to users.  Use this section to describe a short plan that anybody can follow that demonstrates the feature is working.  This can then be used during CD testing, and to show off after release.

This need not be added or completed until the specification is nearing beta.
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+Line 100:
-This should highlight any issues that should be addressed in further specifications, and not problems with the specification itself; since any specification with problems cannot be approved.
+How do we show the Ubuntu philosphy and other such things like the current dialog box does?
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+Line 102:
-=== How to support derivatives ===

* How to do about with suporting Kubuntu and Edubuntu and....
* Issues of toolkit?
* Looking at meta-packages?
* Look at environmental variables?
** Done by Compiz (GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID) -- GNOME vs. KDE (the functions in xdg-utils show how to do this reliably)
* Debian alternatives?
* Seperate packages for each about screen?
** Too many small packages
** Can all the icons live in one package?
* Can you use the icon theme?

=== What's wrong with the existing design? ===

=== What do we want in the new dialog? ===



== BoF agenda and discussion ==

Use this section to take notes during the BoF; if you keep it in the approved spec, use it for summarising what was discussed and note any options that were rejected.


See:
+== See Also ==

Ubuntu Wiki