Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 13:08:09 -0800 From: Mike Smith <msmith@freebsd.org> To: Peter Jeremy <peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au> Cc: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: sysinstall: is it really at the end of its lifecycle? Message-ID: <199912142108.NAA01437@mass.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 15 Dec 1999 07:47:00 %2B1100." <99Dec15.073843est.40325@border.alcanet.com.au>
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> > Firstly, size: One of sysinstall's requirements is that it fit (along > with a variety of other related commands) onto a floppy disk. Last > time I checked, the /stand bundle (sysinstall + friends) was ~640K. > The smallest X-server (XF86_VGA16) is 1.7MB (plus libraries). I don't > have either Qt or Lesstif installed, but from previous dealings with > 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. This manages to overlook the fact that the installer has to have a feed to a much larger source of data in order to actually perform the installation. > The second problem is that X11 needs a fair amount of configuration > before it will work. Whilst the VGA16 server forms a convenient > lowest-common-denominator position, it offers no real advantages over > a character-mode installation (same screen resolution and number of > colours) and significantly poorer performance. You're welcome to look at the technology demonstrators currently in use by RedHat and Caldera if you think that this is impossible. > 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). It's a painful tradeoff between functionality and flash. The latter is an unfortunate necessity if we are to avoid looking hopelessly outdated. -- \\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith \\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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