Reaction to Arabbix-0.5

[Nadim Shaikli <shaikli at yahoo dot com>]

Anmar, WOW - I really like Arabbix, I really really do - exceptional work.

To keep this brief (I only used it for about 45 minutes before I had to
scurry out), here are my observations.

Important
---------
1. Need alot more mention of Arabeyes.org (I'm even thinking the background
   should be Arabeyes centric and not Arabbix - the logo alone is not
   enough and we should always mention Arabeyes.org under it anyways).
   One key reason for all of this beyond educating and exciting people
   is to spur and bring forth more developers so we need to embed
   "Arabeyes.org" in their minds :-)  Maybe include an Arabeyes menu
   on the bottombar that will spawn an upward menu with various details.
2. Need a desktop folder by the name of "Docs" or similar which needs to
   contain all the instructions a newbie might need (installation notes,
   known bugs, todos, contact info, etc).
3. Everything worked (network connection/scroll-mouse, etc) except for
   sound.  I wasn't able to get it to even beep (didn't know how to debug
   it).  I tried to play something off the net (streaming audio) and
   Mozilla didn't know what to do with it - do we have the necessary
   plugins to do that installed (necessary application for realaudio, MP3,
   etc) ?
4. Upgrade to mozilla 1.5
5. In OpenOffice, once invoked it starts in RTL mode, but the keymap is
   english.

Minor Notes
-----------
a. The CD if not booted (ie. simply start the CD from within your current
   Linux session) notes instructions on what needs to be happen.  Those
   instructions have morphix plastered all over 'em; it would be nice
   if they were Arabbix centric (at a min s/morphix/arabbix).  The file
   it grabs is index.html btw
b. CD-image name should be of the format 'arabbix-0.5' its currently
   'arabbix054' for consistency's sake.  All release files should be
   "Name-version" (note dash not underscore).
c. Make sure to use Nicer Arabic fonts on the boot screen (Tahoma is so
   ugly to me anyways :-)  For mozilla I also liked Sindibad and
   KacstLetter.
d. Can a user opt to go into English mode for the localized interface ?
   In other words, if I want all the Arabic fonts/support, but want to
   see the menus in english, is that possible ?
e. Icons on the main desktop are not aligned
f. Username 'morph' needs to change to something arabic - I'm thinking
   a known Arabic cartoon character or someone like 'joo7a'.  Something
   all Arabs would relate to.
g. Wine seems to be on the CD, but I wasn't sure why and how to use it.
   Since we are booting off the CD, how can it be used with regard to
   running windows applications ?  What did you have in mind there ?
h. I saw "Aus Vorlage" listed under OpenOffice menu - didn't really see
   a clear application to start to start OpenOffice, lots of options
   listed but wasn't sure what to start (might be a good idea to rename
   the menu options to make them more clear).
i. On the bottombar (not sure what its called - taskbar or whatever),
   OpenOffice is listed under KDE.  Is that right ?
j. Do please include the following application 'dia' - its similar to
   Visio and ought to live under the office category.
k. I didn't understand what was noted to the left of the speaker icon
   (top-right).  I think its supposed to be the month and day, but it
   seemed like random characters to me.

In short, wonderful stuff.  I will be testing this more thoroughly tonight
inshalla on a PC that includes a modem to see how things unfold.  I am very
encouraged and look forward to more enhancements.  Anmar, keep up the GREAT
work this is simply <british accent> splendid </british accent> :-).

Salam.

 - Nadim


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