Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 05:54:34 -0600 (CST) From: Joe Greco <jgreco@brasil.moneng.mei.com> To: syssgm@devetir.qld.gov.au (Stephen McKay) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org, jdc@crab.xinside.com Subject: Re: sup: Ok, I'm gonna do it. Message-ID: <9502061154.AA14470@brasil.moneng.mei.com> In-Reply-To: <199502051232.WAA05005@orion.devetir.qld.gov.au> from "Stephen McKay" at Feb 5, 95 10:32:03 pm
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> >We've offered a commercial, supported, QA-tested, Beta program > >thrashed, professional, world class Server for free, explicitly > >for VGA chipsets. If you think that you can make a better offer, you > >might want to send us your resume. We're always on the lookout for > >world class talent. > > This is fine. In fact, when I think a bit more, this is great! > > But, the proposal is to tie our installation mechanism or perhaps our system > adminstration/setup system to VGA hardware. For me, and those like me, who > collect raggedy old scraps, and retired PC's, and test FreeBSD on them, or > build special purpose FreeBSD boxes out of them, this means tossing out > half of them because they have EGA or MONO video cards. Damn shame, and a > total waste. > > In short, GUI installation will thrill lots of people, but I have crappy > old hardware that I'd like to keep supported, and I expect that lots of > other people do too. I've lived with a command line style installation > for a very long time, and would appreciate it if one was retained, even if > it was completely unfriendly, but worked on old hardware. I, for one, appreciate the desire for a nicer install. However, as one of the folks out here who must deal with older, donated, begged, or borrowed equipment, I think it would be safe to say that I would oppose any changes that locked us into requiring a VGA card/etc. I sorta-like sorta-dislike the 2.0 dialog-based install - it can potentially be run over a serial line, but still requires a cons25/pc3/whatever term type in order to function correctly (maybe this is as easy to fix as allowing TERM type to be set?)... Sun punted on this problem by running their ASCII install from within a window. Maybe it would be possible for us to go one step further: provide an install that was smart enough to work either way? If the hardware can support X, fine, run X, and install can use GUI widgets and the like. If the hardware can't, run an ASCII install. Maybe it doesn't even have to be pretty like the 2.0 install - just gathers the same data that the GUI would be obtaining from the user. It seems to me that it shouldn't be all that difficult... once you have a flow chart of how the install is supposed to work, simply code each piece with a GUI and with a simple ASCII dialog. It could be the best of both worlds - it would allow those of us who are using FreeBSD for numerous dedicated applications to breathe a little more easily, yet provide a great install interface.. ... Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Greco - Systems Administrator jgreco@ns.sol.net Solaria Public Access UNIX - Milwaukee, WI 414/342-4847
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