[Koha-devel] Re: (Fwd) Ideas for Koha

[Pat Eyler]

On Mon, 5 Aug 2002, Rachel Hamilton-Williams wrote:

> ------- Forwarded message follows -------
> Date sent:            Mon, 05 Aug 2002 00:42:34 +1200
> From:                 Des <address@hidden>
> To:                   address@hidden
> Subject:              Ideas for Koha
>
> Hi Rachel,
>
> I saw your Koha Library software site at;
> http://www.koha.org/index.html
>
> I do not use Koha, but I have some ideas you might like;

Thanks for the ideas.  I wonder why you're not using Koha (yet?).  Is Koha
something you might consider at some point?  If not, why not?  (Not trying
to be argumentative, just looking for places we need to improve.)

>
> 1) Have an interface for the data entry section that can read the
> catalogue files of publishers and sales catalogues. This would save some
> time for the data entry process, and also can be used to find books that
> the library system does not have by an author, or on a certain topic.
>
> 2) Retain the older HTML page versions, for those who do not have the
> latest browser, and are using old PCs.

(Is this about the www.koha.org pages, or Koha itself?  I'm assuming
you're talking about Koha.)

Using the templates (a feature that's emerging in the 1.2 release series),
it would certainly be possible to create web pages that were 'old browser
friendly (to a point -- if you don't support forms, it's not going to
work).

>
> 3) What is the lowest spec PC that is reasonable for use as a client?
> Can dumb clients be made up using PCs as old as 2,3,or 486?
>

This depends on which interface you want to use.  If you can get a
resonable browser running on the PC, you can run the HTML interface on
nearly anything (I'm hoping to hear from someone that they've used koha on
a palmtop system).  If you are willing to run a telnet interface, there's
no reason you couldn't run a 286 or even a dumb terminal attached to a
terminal server.  The telnet interface has lagged a bit, and is in need of
some love at this point, but is certainly an option.

> 4) Transfer of database data from one database to another.
> Useful for system and hardware upgrade processess, backing up, and
> sending to other branches (It is much quicker to delete the records of
> non-existant books , than to have to enter the details of the books that
> are present.) Some branch libraries can all be relied upon to carry
> similar stock in some categories (reference, council and regional
> reports, basic reader books, magazines).
>
> 5) The Koha website did not appear to have any email address address for
> an open ended approach (which is why I used yours). It should not be
> mandatory that I should fill in a two screen length form, just to give
> you a few ideas.

Please feel free to send email to address@hidden (or to subscribe to
any of our mailing lists) to talk about ideas, Koha, or other (hopefully
related) topics.

thanks,
Pat Eyler
manager/Kaitiaki
the Koha project

>
> Yours
> Alasdair Lovatt
> address@hidden
>
> ------- End of forwarded message -------
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> Rachel Hamilton-Williams             Katipo Communications
> WEBMISTRESS                          ph  021 389 128 or +64 04 934 1285
> mailto:address@hidden           PO Box 12487, Wellington
> http://www.katipo.co.nz              New Zealand
> Koha Open Source Library System
> http://www.koha.org
>
>
>