[1131] in testers
New Login!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Wed Nov 14 12:45:08 1990
From: deevans@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 90 12:44:39 -0500
To: testers@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Nice job on the new login running on the test machines in W20. A
definite improvement. A couple things ---
o When I run something from the other options (anything I
believe, I've tried xcluster) after exiting a console
will appear with the error message:
console: error 13: opening /usr/tmp/console.log
I'm assuming that this is because wihtout logging in
and getting kerberos there is no way to write the file
to /usr/tmp. It would be nice if this could be fixed,
although it is a minor annoyance.
o A useful "Other Option" would be to check the postoffice if
you have mail. Enter your username (maybe passwd if
you think privacy is an issue) and it tells you how
many messages you have. It would be even better if
you could actually read your mail without doing a
complete login, but this would understandably take
some doing.
o The new "unactive" screen seems a bit excessive...I thought
the point of deactivating was to save machine processes.
I don't know of the stats, but if this doesn't why not
just leave the login up all the time.
o Quick login...perhaps should xrdb - load ~/.Xresource. In
my case, at least, it is annoying having both zephyrs
and my only xterm in the same upper right corner. If
it doesn't take longer, it might be better for the
average user to have the xterm in the lower left?
o Time in login window is great, I just wich it would be removed
from the console...but that's an old complaint.
o It would be better if the menus also operated under the click
once to get menu, click again to make choice, in
addition to the hold and release method. I find this
a bit more intuitive, and with some of the mice you
find on VAX II's the other way is awful tiresome.
o A feedback message after selecting an option would be
an improvement...staring at xsetroot -rv for a
few minutes wondering if the right this is
going on is a bit daunting.
o Why the huge fonts on TechInfo, Barton, etc.? I'd like
the defaults to be -rv and regular fonts, but
that's just a matter of preference.
o Perhaps a timeout on Other Options...it may take a while
for people to get used to these things running but
no one being logged in when people leave without
quiting (after getting discouraged waiting for
something to start...)
Overall a good job, though,
--- Dave
deevans@athena
