From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 10 01:09:00 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 255F016A4CE for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:09:00 +0000 (GMT) Received: from mail2.zrz.tu-berlin.de (mail2.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE [130.149.4.14]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1557D43D45 for ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:08:59 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from Peter.Ross@alumni.tu-berlin.de) Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=mail2.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE) by mail2.zrz.tu-berlin.de with esmtp (exim-4.43) for id 1Cz2pG-0001wc-9l; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:08:58 +0100 Received: from mail2.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE ([130.149.4.14]) by mail2.zrz.TU-Berlin.DE (MailMonitor for SMTP v1.2.2 ) ; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:08:57 +0100 (CET) Received: from mailbox.tu-berlin.de ([130.149.4.18]) by mail2.zrz.tu-berlin.de with esmtp (exim-4.43) for id 1Cz2pF-0001wS-C7; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:08:57 +0100 Received: from apache by mailbox.tu-berlin.de with local (exim-4.43) for id 1Cz2pF-0006Tf-KK; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:08:57 +0100 Received: from 203.220.51.162 (SquirrelMail authenticated user rossicbb) by mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE with HTTP; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:08:57 +1100 (EST) Message-ID: <11888.203.220.51.162.1107997737.squirrel@mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE> Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 12:08:57 +1100 (EST) From: "Peter Ross" To: In-Reply-To: <200502082246.10596.mark.rowlands@mypost.se> References: <20050208145219.491D143D39@mx1.FreeBSD.org> <11935.203.51.156.53.1107878311.squirrel@mailbox.TU-Berlin.DE> <200502082246.10596.mark.rowlands@mypost.se> X-Priority: 3 Importance: Normal X-Mailer: SquirrelMail (version 1.2.8) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Virus-Scanned: Sophos MailMonitor on mail2.zrz.tu-berlin.de; Thu, 10 Feb 2005 02:08:57 +0100 Subject: Re: The case for FreeBSD X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 01:09:00 -0000 On Tue, 8 Feb 2005, Mark Rowlands wrote: >>For several years now I am using FreeBSD servers but only recently I tried >>to install a well-configured desktop system. A well-defined metaport to >>get a typical office/home user desktop (e.g. including OpenOffice, maybe >>asking for alternatives during the installation) would be nice, and >>integration of new installed ports into a limited number of desktop >>environments (e.g. that they appear in the desktop menus and folders). >>Maybe for KDE, Gnome and something a little bit more lightwight (to me >>it seems xfce is the most popular one) >> >cd /usr/ports/misc/instant-workstation Well, it's one of several thousands ports.. Not easy to find especially if you see FreeBSD the first time. I would suggest to add a desktop option at the end of the installation ("Do you want to configure this machine as a desktop?") and then offer the package above and OpenOffice (including a language option) A lot of FreeBSD newbies will appretiate it, I think. If they are Linux users they are used to get a predefined desktop. Usually they take the one they get for granted (SuSE users KDE, Red Hat Gnome) so if you start with one desktop (e.g. the KDE based above) it would be better then nothing and you make most of them happy. Of course if you have a presentable Gnome or XFCE desktop set it's even better to offer it too. For the admin installing a server it is only one more click, it will not hurt too much;-) Regards Peter