Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 17:37:09 -0600 (CST) From: Ryan Thompson <freebsd@sasknow.com> To: "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com> Cc: Peter Jeremy <peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au>, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: sysinstall: is it really at the end of its lifecycle? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9912141705440.76991-100000@sasknow.com> In-Reply-To: <3856BD33.5DE1AB48@newsguy.com>
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On Wed, 15 Dec 1999, Daniel C. Sobral wrote: > Peter Jeremy wrote: > > > > [...] > > Motif, it's several times the size of the Xserver. Unless we want to > > mandate the use of ZIP drives (or similar) as FreeBSD install > > floppies, we're limited to a syscons (or VTxxx) sysinstall. > > There is a device called cd-rom which more or less qualifies for the "or > similar" category you mention. It happens to be the most popular > installation media nowadays (though it probably comes second as far as > FreeBSD is concerned). If memory serves, I first joined FreeBSD in 2.2.3, and I've at one point or another ran just about every release in between, (and many more source builds in between THOSE) up to 3.4-RC, which I'm running today on some development/test machines. I have made dozens of installs of FreeBSD, and have logged a great deal of time in sysinstall on running systems. I have often wondered if FreeBSD would benefit from a graphical installer. As an experienced administrator of FreeBSD on a variety of systems, new and old, I am satisfied with the current text-based offering. As someone who was once an inexperienced administrator of FreeBSD, I was satisfied with the then-text-based offering. (Which, for those of you that don't remember, was remarkably similar to the current text-based offering :-) Daniel, here, sees the X install as being "user-friendly". Is the text based install not? Granted, it's not the point and click interface that windows users are accustomed to, but, clearly, if users can't navigate the menus and manage to find their way to a help menu (and don't know how to read install documentation)... It could be reasonably argued that they are going to experience a rude awakening when presented with the good old root prompt. From a techical standpoint, yes, an X based install would be far too large for a single floppy, even at the simplest level. AND, again, as someone who has installed FreeBSD dozens of times on various systems, I think I should also stress that I have NEVER installed FreeBSD from CD :-) For the average newbie "wanna try it" user, buying the CDs, books and everything neat in a box, is more often than not the safest and simplest route to take. In that case, putting a graphical installer on the CD would be a viable option. To take this a step further, why not keep (or keep something similar to) the current sysinstall, but have an option to fetch, install, configure and run X and another GUI installer distribution, then start the X server and continue the installation process from there? The first portion of the install (selecting media type, allocating space, and labeling) could remain text-based, whereas the user could then be presented with a "Get X and continue installation graphically?" option, which would then download/copy/read a (possibly minimal) X binary distribution, small window manager--TWM would probably suffice :-), as well as the graphical installer. No additional floppy storage space required. The rest of the install, including distribution download, package install, startup config, and all the other wonderful goodies, plus (possibly) a graphical disk partition/labeling utility for post-install changes, would all be done within the comfort of X, after a relatively small download/copy/read is done from their chosen media. Or... To take this ANOTHER small step further... For systems with enough memory (this certainly wouldn't justify increasing the requirements), the text installer could mount a large MFS partition to hold minimal X, window manager and installer... Fetch automatically, do a VERY simple configure from selected media, and continue with the install, INCLUDING a graphical disk partitioner/labeller, after that. Of course, with any of these options, development time and relative cost would be an issue, but, all things being equal, it may result in a flexible install option that a) still runs on virtually any supported platform, and b) gives systems with graphical support the option of a very good looking installer :-) > > Given the primary mission of sysinstall is to load FreeBSD, I'd > > go so far as to say that developing an X version would be wasting > > valuable developer resources (IMHO, of course). > > X install => "user-friendly" install (perceived as) => more market share > => more resources > > -- > Daniel C. Sobral (8-DCS) > who is as social as a wampas > > dcs@newsguy.com > dcs@freebsd.org > --- Ryan Thompson <ryan@sasknow.com> 50% Owner, Technical and Accounts Phone: +1 (306) 664-1161 SaskNow Technologies http://www.sasknow.com #106-380 3120 8th St E Saskatoon, SK S7H 0W2 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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