From owner-freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Feb 20 07:32:28 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 409CC16A4CE for ; Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:32:28 +0000 (GMT) Received: from sccmmhc92.asp.att.net (sccmmhc92.asp.att.net [204.127.203.212]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D168F43D53 for ; Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:32:27 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from metaridley@mchsi.com) Received: from kaworu.dave.cedar-falls.ia.us (12-219-24-19.client.mchsi.com[12.219.24.19]) by sccmmhc92.asp.att.net (sccmmhc92) with SMTP id <20050220073224m9200bflsge>; Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:32:25 +0000 Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 01:30:59 -0600 From: Dave Vollenweider To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20050220013059.5301ef59.metaridley@mchsi.com> In-Reply-To: <4218107A.8050508@finnovative.net> References: <4218107A.8050508@finnovative.net> X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 1.0.0-gtk2-20041224 (GTK+ 2.6.1; i386--netbsdelf) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: Any thoughts on Graphical install UI? X-BeenThere: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Gathering place for new users List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 07:32:28 -0000 I'm against this idea. Why? Because some of us use lower-end machines and having a graphical install ups the memory requirement for the installation. Such installers are fine for desktop machines, but for servers and networking machines, they just get in the way since that much more RAM and processing power is needed for the installation. When I tried to install Red Hat 7.3 back in 2002, it required 32 MB of RAM just to run the installer. A lot of this was because it was graphical. FreeBSD's sysinstall, on the other hand, requires only 16 MB (and other BSDs require even less) thanks to the fact that it's not graphical. I don't want to see FreeBSD go in that direction. Then there's the issue of how to fit a graphical installer on floppies. Some of us still have to use floppies for booting the installer (and then getting the actual files for FreeBSD via FTP) for various reasons, and having a GUI installer would make that more difficult. I do agree that FreeBSD could use an easier installation program, as there are several hidden pitfalls in sysinstall, but I don't think a GUI installer is the answer. An easier-to-understand curses-based installer would be a better solution. Just my two cents on this issue. - Dave V. On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 20:22:18 -0800 Joaquin Menchaca wrote: > Hi, > > Many Linux flavors both commericial and free have attractive UIs for > installation and package selection, and even to some degree > partitioning and formatting of hard drives. > > Is there any thought of doing this for FreeBSD? Having an attractive > UI, ala Fedora and/or gentoo would definately help attract more novice > > users to the FreeBSD world. > > Just a thought. Don't know if this was discussed before, as I'm a > newbie. :-) > > -- jm > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-newbies > To unsubscribe, send any mail to > "freebsd-newbies-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"