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When doing a standard distribution install lets assume Kubuntu, you will get a default desktop with a very basic setup no openoffice no firefox no proper software to match the hardware onboard.. so i was thinking, on a first time start up of KDE the same way a profile is created per user if a wizard could come up asking if it wishes to try to install applications according to what the machine is capable of :

Here is a basic shell script that does what I mean

it does various commands lshw lsusb xinput --list and according to specific results it installs applications if it found h/w.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh                                           

bluetooth="blueproximity bluetooth bluez bluez-alsa bluez-btsco bluez-cups bluez-gnome bluez-hcidump bluez-utils gnome-bluetooth kdebluetooth"
touchpad="touchfreeze"                                                                                                                       

biometric="libfprint0 libpam-fprint  fprint-demo libfprint-dev"

####update soutput with new modules from lshw if you wish to add new programs to get auto installed
soutput=`sudo lshw|egrep -i "(wireless|audio|writer)"`                                             

#####also update rest in its current format with new module
rest="wireless audio writer"                               

#####make a new variable which is module_app and add the names of packages to be installed seperated by spaces
#i have added video and others to audio so if audio detected it sets up lots of other stuff - lame..         
video="kplayer mplayer w32codecs w64codecs kuickshow kaffeine"                                               
others="openoffice.org amsn pidgin firefox thunderbird"                                                       

audio_app="audacious kscd amarok juk $video $others"
wireless_app="wifi-radar wireless-tools"           
writer_app="k3b"                                   
####goto line 51 and add a line to match new module pattern i.e.
####if [ $names = "newmodule" ]; then apps=$newmodule_app;fi;   

###Find if machine has biometric
lsusb|grep -i finger $9 > /dev/null
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
echo "Found Biometric Installing Packages and updating /etc/pam.d/commmon-auth"
echo sudo apt-get install $biometric

sudo cp /etc/pam.d/commmon-auth /etc/pam.d/common-auth.$$
sudo echo "auth sufficient pam_fprint.so"> /etc/pam.d/common-auth
sudo echo "auth required pam_unix.so nullok_secure" >> /etc/pam.d/common-auth
sudo pam_fprint_enroll --enroll-finger 6
echo "all ssh and kde session etc will now require finger specified to log in"
echo " please reboot machine and press enter on initial password"
fi

####Find if machine has a touchpad
xinput --list|grep -i Syn $9 > /dev/null
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
echo "Found Synaptic - touchpad installing $touchpad"
sudo apt-get install $touchpad
fi

###Do a loop for the rest of lshw findings.
for names in $rest
do
echo $soutput|grep -i $names $9 > /dev/null
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
  if [ $names = "wireless" ]; then apps=$wireless_app;fi;
  if [ $names = "audio" ]; then apps=$audio_app;fi;
  if [ $names = "writer" ]; then apps=$writer_app;fi;
sudo  apt-get install $$names.app
fi

done


My concern with this idea is, how is KDE supposed to know which particular software goes with which particular hardware? The software is provided by the distribution (kubuntu in your case), not by KDE, and KDE has no way of knowing what software is available in your distribution or what its name is. Both vary enormously between different distributions.

I think that it is the distribution's responsibility to install the right software for your system, not KDE's responsibility. I know opensuse does a great job of installing the proper software for my system, it auto-detects my hardware and picks the necessary software to run it. If kubuntu doesn't do this then that is the fault of the kubuntu people, not kde.

Your script, for instance, is extremely kubuntu-specific. Opensuse does not have many of those packages, has different names for many others, and has many additional packages in those categories.

Further, why should all of these happen automatically? Shouldn't people have some say over what applications are installed on their system and which aren't? I don't know about kubuntu, but opensuse uses things called patterns, which are sets of packages of a certain type that people usually want to install as a group. But people are able to disable patterns and individual packages from those patterns, as well as enable optional software from the patterns. There is also no requirement that all software for your hardware be installed, you can turn anything off that you want.