Re: BSDInstaller snapshot


Before adding some of my own user interface critiques, I wanted to mention at the top of the e-mail that I'm very pleased the BSD installer work is going on, it's well overdue! Onto a few minor criticisms :-).

On Mon, 15 May 2006, Rostislav Krasny wrote:

http://people.freebsd.org/~julian/bsdinstaller_install/16.png

I'd like to see the partition type here simply be "FreeBSD". "Drago" is likely to confuse, and Dragonfly actually uses the FreeBSD type, rather than it being the Dragonfly type. See further comments below on slices and partitions.

http://people.freebsd.org/~julian/bsdinstaller_install/24.png
http://people.freebsd.org/~julian/bsdinstaller_install/25.png

I think the word "formatted" on the second screenshot should be changed to "created", because fdisk doesn't format partitions/slices.

I tend to agree. While there is some benefit in using the DOS/Windows vocabulary, I think it's better to use the same vocabulary as found in existing FreeBSD documentation, including the handbook, man pages, printed books, etc. In these dialogs, the device names should also be specifically mentioned. Note that "Primary partition" is a confusing term -- I'm not sure what it means, actually :-).


http://people.freebsd.org/~julian/bsdinstaller_install/22.png
http://people.freebsd.org/~julian/bsdinstaller_install/26.png

Does BSDInstaller support installtion on multiple slices or multiple physical disks? Sysinstall supports it.

While I recognize the goal of providing a useful mapping to user-aware notions, such as "partitions", I find the message in this dialog confusing even as someone who in theory knows something about the topic. Despite the limitations of calling fdisk partitions slices in sysinstall, at least it was done mostly sort of consistently :-). I'd like to see the installe consistently refer to "fdisk slices" and "bsd partitions", and avoid using the words "slice" or "partition" in isolation. A dialog to explain slices and partitions before the editor might be appropriate.

Robert N M Watson
_______________________________________________
freebsd-current@xxxxxxxxxxx mailing list
http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-current
To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-current-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx"

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 6.1 install problems with creating partitions
    ... partitions and slices on that drive. ... "unable to make new root file system on ad3sa1" ... As long as you have essentially wiped the drive already, you can use the FreeBSD installer's "Auto Defaults" option to get a look at what the installer is expecting you to do, and then tune that as desired. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: 6.1 install problems with creating partitions
    ... I actually backed up the ext3 to another hard drive and got rid of all ... partitions and slices on that drive. ... installer still can't do it. ...
    (freebsd-questions)
  • Re: Grub did not install on dual boot machine.
    ... Only this time, I used grub. ... > But before installing Suse, ... > instructed Redhat to format the partitions as ext3. ... > must be too much to ask of the Redhat installer. ...
    (linux.redhat.install)
  • Re: Grub did not install on dual boot machine.
    ... Only this time, I used grub. ... > But before installing Suse, ... > instructed Redhat to format the partitions as ext3. ... > must be too much to ask of the Redhat installer. ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: Grub did not install on dual boot machine.
    ... Only this time, I used grub. ... > But before installing Suse, ... > instructed Redhat to format the partitions as ext3. ... > must be too much to ask of the Redhat installer. ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)