Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 00:43:13 -0600 From: "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@over-yonder.net> To: chip <chip@wiegand.org> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, David Schultz <dschultz@uclink.Berkeley.EDU>, "f.johan.beisser" <jan@caustic.org>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Intaller (was "Re: ... RedHat ...") Message-ID: <20020124004312.A2760@over-yonder.net> In-Reply-To: <20020123223104.SM01952@there>; from chip@wiegand.org on Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 10:31:16PM -0800 References: <20020123114658.A514@lpt.ens.fr> <20020123124025.A60889@HAL9000.wox.org> <3C4F5BEE.294FDCF5@mindspring.com> <20020123223104.SM01952@there>
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On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 10:31:16PM -0800 I heard the voice of chip, and lo! it spake thus: > On Wednesday 23 January 2002 04:57 pm, Terry Lambert banged out on the keys: > > > FreeBSD's disk "slicing" and "partitioning" really sucks. > > > > It's pretty damn unforgiving, in fact. > > Grrr. > > I know there are many other ways to set up partitions, with multiple OS's > etc, but it never was as difficult as I've read and been led to believe. [...] > Or, maybe I've just been 'lucky' and not had any problems? :-) I'd lean toward that option personally. The installer isn't terribly bad in the best-case scenario. It just doesn't handle the edge cases very well at all. For instance, when using SLIP (or hardwired PPP or PLIP, I imagine), you're in deep trouble if you've never done it before. You have to remember to put in the 'other ifconfig options' section the far-end address of the link, or it won't work; unless you've manually ifconfig'd SLIP lines a number of times, you'll forget. Then it'll run slattach. If you don't get it right the first time, you're screwed, because it'll never clear the old attachment correctly. Gotta reboot and start over. As Terry mentioned, there are several ways to foul-up yourself into a tight little corner in the disk partitioning (and that's if you KNOW what you're doing. The first time through, it can be kinda hairy just figuring out what you're doing). And, as Jordan has ranted about on a few occasions, the UI is painted into a rather small corner by virtue of the dialog library it uses. Ever have that joy in places like the 'custom distribution choices' for the custom installation, where you're not quite sure whether enter or space is select, and the wrong choice will bump you back menus? And, of course, that's not even getting into the "other" issues which require a more thorough packaging system to handle correctly (Tried installing, then installing X? It dumps on a few compat_* sets. Even if you already installed them. Sucks on a modem, lemme tell ya). It works apparently smoothly in the best-case. In most simple-cases, it won't feel worse than rough-around-the-edges. Start making mistakes, or trying to get intricate, though, and it feels rather like wearing your high school sweater to your 30th reunion. -- Matthew Fuller (MF4839) | fullermd@over-yonder.net Unix Systems Administrator | fullermd@futuresouth.com Specializing in FreeBSD | http://www.over-yonder.net/ "The only reason I'm burning my candle at both ends, is because I haven't figured out how to light the middle yet" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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