freebsd-advocacy Digest, Vol 304, Issue 6
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: why BSDs got no love (Mike Bybee)
2. Re: why BSDs got no love (jhell)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:30:54 -0700
From: Mike Bybee <mike....@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love
To: freebsd-...@freebsd.org
Message-ID:
<75813f040912260730w40...@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:43:35 +1000
> From: "Petrus" <pet...@tpg.com.au>
> Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love
> To: <freebsd-...@freebsd.org>
> Message-ID: <001001ca85c4$762faa80$0301a8c0@jim4fb89194d83>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
> >I think what we're looking at here is that sysinstall should probably
> > be replaced... but it works well enough that it doesn't *have* to be
>
> The virtue of sysinstall, however, is that it is console based. I for one
> would rather endure sysinstall's idiosyncracies, if it still means that I'm
> going to be able to reliably install on whatever ancient, eldritch hardware
> I happen to have with me at the time.
>
> If someone wants to write something X based, with hardware detection a la
> Ubuntu, and all the proverbial bells and whistles and flashing lights, then
> by all means; (and I think they already have, with finstall) but I think
> FreeBSD absolutely needs to keep a console-based installer as a fallback
> for
> old hardware.
>
>
I think PC-BSD does just fine with this portion of it - sysinstall is still
there, version 8 can do a pure FreeBSD 8 install *or* a PC-BSD install (with
the extra PBI bits and whatnot) and has a nice graphical installer as well
as a LiveCD image.
There is absolutely no reason to change the default FreeBSD installer in my
opinion, when the PC-BSD one will suffice for the 'snazzy' desktop installs.
--
Thanks,
Mike Bybee
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:18:42 -0500
From: jhell <jh...@dataix.net>
Subject: Re: why BSDs got no love
Cc: freebsd-...@freebsd.org
Message-ID: <1443990337.2...@dataix.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Friday, December 25, 2009, 9:24:25 AM, you wrote:
> I think what we're looking at here is that sysinstall should probably
> be replaced... but it works well enough that it doesn't *have* to be
> replaced, and most people aren't bothered enough by it to write code
> to come up with something new. Certainly, having things like zfs
> support in sysinstall would be nice... but most of the people using
> zfs boot know the system well enough to do it from the Fixit/LiveFS
> shell anyway.
> Basically... if you really want to see this change, I think you're
> gonna have to do it yourself.
Personally I would like to see something around the likes of
shells/flash menu shell implemented with some modular scripting and
drop-in binaries for other tasks that cannot be accomplished through
the use of shell scripts as elegantly as they would in C. As for
licensing of shells/flash I am unsure but it does bring the ease of
scripting into play that can shield a user from some of the behind the
scenes ugliness.
Snip of the pkg-desc:
Flash is an attempt to create a secure menu-driven shell for UNIX-derived OSes,
while providing user-friendliness and easy configurability. An ideal situation
requiring the use of flash would be a student-run telnet server which needs to:
a) shelter the users from some of the nastiness of UNIX
b) shelter the system from nasty users
c) provide an easy way to launch applications
d) support multitasking/job control as elegantly as possible
e) support easy-to-get-right configuration by administrators
----
In that type of menu it would be easy to drop a script that asks:
A) Would you like a GUI install menu...
B) Would you like a CLI install menu...
C) Get me out of here...
----
It also has a nice little notes side frame that could tell the user a
little more about what is going on if they are confused about the
choices that are selected.
As for my self, I would be willing to contribute some bits & bytes to
see this happen. As for the GUI I would be willing to write the hooks
for it in the menu system but that is as far as I am willing to go
with it. I don't see any satisfactory need or gain in GUI for
just-a-installer.
Best regards.
--
Saturday, December 26, 2009 10:59:02 PM
jhell
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End of freebsd-advocacy Digest, Vol 304, Issue 6
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