Re: Job: simplified creation of Debian Jr. accounts

On Tue, 21 Nov 2006 01:26:21 +0100
"C. Gatzemeier" <[email protected]> wrote:

> What are the specific needs?
> 
> Maybe desktop-profiles can help you with user/group specific settings, 
> pam-group with default hardware groups memberships etc.
> 
> http://wiki.debian.org/DebianDesktopHowTo

While that's good stuff and may come in handy, no, I was thinking
merely of providing a "graduated" set of initial configurations for
desktops for each of a few different age ranges, i.e. choice of default
window manager, reliance more on icons or text to navigate the desktop,
and the degree to which the underlying system is "exposed" to the
user.  At one end of the spectrum we have the very young "keyboard
banger" type of user who needs a very visual, "activity center" type of
desktop experience where they are free to randomly press keys to make
interesting things happen without causing damage that is a hassle to
fix, and at the other end are kids who have mastered the keyboard and
mouse, know how to read, and pretty much could use any desktop
environment "out of the box" with minimal guidance.  Between these
extremes are children of varying expertise with the mouse and keyboard
who need their desktop environments configured in such a way as to
allow them the maximum amount of freedom with a minimum amount of
frustration.

I think this could all be done with a different /etc/skel per age
range, or perhaps a single one encompassing all "levels" of user
account configuration, with some way of selecting amongst them at the
user level (e.g. by choosing a different "session" type from gdm).  Do
other CDDs have a similar need, or is Debian Jr. alone?

Ben
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