Re: Preferences.app vs Configure.app; was Re: ANN: GNUtooth, Bluetooth 'support' for GNUstep

[Dirk Theisen]

Hi!

> > In OS X, there is nothing I can
> > think of that needs a reboot to take effect (apart from setting the
> > boot volume, maybe). This is state of the art which should be
> > considered.

(note that I am not agreeing with everything Apple as a company does, 
but technology-wise I think they are on the right track in some 
important cases) 


Jeff wrote:
> No, it's merely an artifact of how Apple machines are constructed, and
> inapplicable to commodity systems.

I disagree. A Mac - nowadays is not so much different from a "stock pc" 
as Apple uses a lot of PC technology and components - Mainboard, AGP 
Graphics Card, Ethernet Controller, PCI Bridge, EIDE Controller, USB 
Controller, etc. 

The main difference is the CPU and the motherboard - things that need 
to work prior to using "configure". 


> Configure needs to be able to set
> things up, because on hardware that isn't locked down by the
> manufacturer, there are things that need to be set up before they
> will work.

So set 'em up. But why reboot?

It's just that they have a well thought out way of working with device 
drivers (installing one might need a reboot as do system updates). I 
can think of no device that cannot be reset and reconfigured by 
software. 


Unfortunately, we are talking about operating systems now which is 
beyond the scope of this forum. So I will stop here. 

Others have commented that there cannot be a "Configure.app" on GNUstep 
because GNUstep is no integral part of any OS and I agree. 


Greetings,
  Dirk