First-Run Setup handles setup in wrong order

[mikeslr]

Hi rockedge, please move to the appropriate Section. Or, if there isn't one already for communicating with the Devs working on Woof, consider creating one.
Yah. I know. It's a little-much to expect that those Devs will take the time to read a thread by 'mere Puppy Users'. On the other hand, 'mere Puppy Users' are also Puppy 'testers' and its a little-much to expect 'mere Puppy Users' to register with github merely to pass on information.

Frankly, if I were a Dev on github, I wouldn't want User's musing clogging up a technical discussion.

Menu>Setup>Quick Setup first-run setting works fine, except that the order of modules it calls is almost always in error. That application is initiated the first time a User boots into a Puppy. We don't all live in the Pacific Time Zone of the United States. Changing to one's own time zone is among the first things a User will do. That triggers Psync Time Server Synchroniser. Many of us only access the internet via Wifi. In that case, Wifi has not been configured and established when Psync Time Server Synchroniser runs and an error is generated.

No big deal. It straightens itself out on reboot/restart --or if you know its coming you can avoid it by setting up Wifi before completing 'Psync'. But, at best it look sloppy. And at worst, a newbie may be led to believe something has gone wrong.

[greengeek]

I think it would be handy for the Quickstup screen to offer a bit of coaching regarding correct order.

For example - i would like a notification that would says something like:

"Your Real Time Clock ("PC hardware time") is currently saying xx.xx
Please check if this matches the current time in your area.
Do you wish to change your RTC setting?
(Incorrect RTC may indicate a flat or failed RTC battery)"

- and maybe it could offer some comments about the reason why RTC should be corrected, and what "UTC" is and whether or not it is important to Linux users. (and maybe offer some info about how incorrect local time causes browser lockouts and security issues).

Then probably setting timezone should be next?

Then internet connection and further questions about synching time to internet servers?

Seems as if the Quicksetup screen expects more knowledge than the user might have at this point so a few pointers might not go amiss ...

[01micko]

I can see the problem that quicksetup has if a wifi connection is not established at first bootup. (It is actually possible to already have wifi connected - but more on that in another topic at a later date). Perhaps the Time from internet checkbox can be insensitive if there is no network connection and the dialog for that expanded, even with small images, explaining to the user how to configure the 'Psync' tool. Or, if it is a fairly trivial matter, pop psync after wifi is connected. Actually, psync should pop an error of its own if there is no connection.

There are little help dialogs in quicksetup that are quite useful, but of course can be expanded to cater for the less technical folk. Utc/local is one of them.

utc-gmt-local.png (56.97 KiB) Viewed 344 times

If anyone wants to expand on that dialog, please do. Take a look at all of the dialogs and suggest edits. We developers, believe it or not, reboot our creations from scratch continually - and at my house - being a rental - is wifi only since it is a breach of tenancy agreement to run cables. It's a big part of why I developed bbwireless. (more on that in another topic at later date too )