Subj : Re: Switch to linux
To   : g00r00
From : Andre Robitaille
Date : Sat Aug 22 2020 07:02 am

On 22 Aug 2020, g00r00 said the following...
 
 g0> I agree the event stuff needs to be gathered from whatsnews and put onto
 g0> the Wiki.  I'll look into doing that the next time I am on there making
 g0> edits.

It doesn't look like an easy job, for sure. I didn't realize that there was
useful info in there that wasn't in the documentation until maybe a week in.
Now I just let people know to check there and in the command reference, since
there's some useful bits in there too.

 g0> But I am curious why you're saying the shell field is not
 g0> intuitive or documented and what you have in mind to improve it?
 
 g0> Having a view into your events status so you can easily spot an
 g0> issue and then being able to determine what that error is in about 30
 g0> seconds of effort isn't exactly a bad system!  Certainly better than
 g0> most!

The intuitive user menu systems, the interactive messaging system, and the
sysop config menus are the reasons why I prefer Mystic over its competitors.
So I 100% agree that the event editor is great.

Here is my thought process as a new user a few weeks ago, which seems common
as I've helped two or three people through the same thing:


1. The shell field isn't intuitive partially because by default it has Windows
commands in it, so I think it's already correct and working. (intuitive)

2. Then I find that it's not processing FTN events properly, but the 'mis
server' window and logs don't show any errors about it not finding mutil or
fidopoll or both. (intuitive)

3. Nothing tells me how it's supposed to look for Windows vs Linux, and
nothing really tells me the process of import/export/fidopoll, and how to
troubleshoot. (documentation)

4. So through Mystic Guy videos, I can kind of tell that there are supposed
to be files showing up that when processed disappear. So I determine that if
fidopoll runs right, files will show up, and if they're processed by mutil
those files will disappear. (documentation)

5. Okay, so there must be something wrong with my shell field. What are the
pipes for?  Are they actually piping anything, or is it like ';' in Linux?
It's not using & or && like Windows expects, so I'm extra confused. Does it
need spaces? Commas? (intuitive and documentation)

6. The mis server window and logs lead me to believe that both comamnds in
the shell field are at least being called, but I'm not totally sure.
(intuitive)

7. So maybe it's a path issue. Should I use ./ or a full path. I'll try
explicitly calling the path since I can't go wrong with that. (intuitive and
documentation).


- Andre

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A45 2020/02/18 (Raspberry Pi/32)
 * Origin: Runaan BBS (1:154/70)

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