Re: Any thoughts on Graphical install UI?

From: Joaquin Menchaca (linuxuser_at_finnovative.net)
Date: 03/10/05

  • Next message: Joaquin Menchaca: "Re: ASP alternatives?" 
    Date: Wed, 09 Mar 2005 16:07:51 -0800
To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org

    That makes a lot of sense actually. However, many of the installers
    have ncurses type of installs in addition to the nice smooth graphical
    install, and on top of that they even have a manual non-ncurses command
    line only install. :-) We can default it to text, but have an option to
    go graphical.

    It would be nice to attract more people to the platform and avoid being
    a niche within a niche.

    -- joaquin

    Dave Vollenweider wrote:
    > 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 <linuxuser@finnovative.net> 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"
    >
    > _______________________________________________
    > 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"

    _______________________________________________
    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"

  • Next message: Joaquin Menchaca: "Re: ASP alternatives?"

    Relevant Pages

    • Running FreeBSD on IBM Blade (works)
      ... Normally FreeBSD should boot into sysinstall and keyboard should work. ... Installation from CD did not work, due to input/outpu errors of /dev/cd0. ... pci0: <PCI bus> on pcib0 ... 200.000MB/s transfers, Tagged Queueing Enabled ...
      (freebsd-stable)
    • Re: My disk I/O testing methods for FreeBSD 5.3 ...
      ... Are there any outstanding code changes that will help improve ... > the performance and questions mailing lists under the title " FreeBSD ... > Operating Systems tested: ... > the default installation options as possible with no special tuning. ...
      (freebsd-performance)
    • Re: Frustration
      ... FreeBSD to version 6.1. ... be it the software installation or hardware ... I've experienced all the problems with Windows ... I've had a million problems with BSD, and with Linux, ...
      (freebsd-questions)
    • Re: New FreeBSD package system (a.k.a. Daemon Package System (dps))
      ... Recently I stumbled across a document you wrote in 2001, entitled "FreeBSD installation and package tools, past, present and future". ... I find FreeBSD appealing and I would like to contribute it its success, and as your article describes, the installation and packaging system is lacking. ... this be replaced by a single SQLite database. ...
      (freebsd-hackers)
    • Re: A strategic question
      ... > Some time ago, I wanted to migrate to a Unix environment, because I ... > installed Solaris 10. ... > I came to FreeBSD, with the idea that it had a more homogeneous ... that you'd like the installation chapter to also explain "Foo and Bar"? ...
      (freebsd-questions)