Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 00:46:24 +1000 From: Sue Blake <sue@welearn.com.au> To: Garance A Drosihn <drosih@rpi.edu> Cc: ben@rosengart.com, Darren Reed <avalon@coombs.anu.edu.au>, "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 2.2.6 CD-ROM : Package dependencies up the creek ? Message-ID: <19980617004624.20336@welearn.com.au> In-Reply-To: <v04011719b1abcdaaf014@[128.113.24.47]>; from Garance A Drosihn on Tue, Jun 16, 1998 at 04:10:18AM -0400 References: <Pine.GSO.3.96.980610123932.3675A-100000@echonyc.com>; <199806101519.IAA22143@hub.freebsd.org> <Pine.GSO.3.96.980610123932.3675A-100000@echonyc.com> <19980616075807.13931@welearn.com.au> <v04011719b1abcdaaf014@[128.113.24.47]>
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On Tue, Jun 16, 1998 at 04:10:18AM -0400, Garance A Drosihn wrote:
>
> Wrt to packages, I'd make a slightly different claim than Sue does.
> I do think the packages should be there for the benefit of the
> newbie users, but I don't think *all* of them need to be shown at
> install time. In fact, I think it's counterproductive to show them
> all during the initial install. I ended up going thru the entire
> list, adding all kinds of things just because "oh, that looks
> interesting", or "oh, yeah, I've heard of that package, and always
> wanted to try it out".
Hey, yeah, me too! The first time, I thought I had to install everything
I'd ever want right away because it'd be too hard to do it later.
This turned out to be correct for some packages but not for the majority.
> My first install was done over the net so
> I didn't run into the problem with the cd's, but still I would have
> been better off if I hadn't been distracted by so many choices while
> I'm just trying an initial install. Perhaps the initial install
> should just show a list of "the top 25" ports -- just things people
> are most likely need "right away". Things like perl5, bash, cvsup
> (and thus modula3), and lynx. Tell users that for everything else
> they can run sysinstall after they've done their first reboot, but
> don't drop them into that choice during the initial install.
I agree, the choice of packages is overwhelming. What is there here
that I'm going to regret not having? Oooh, nearly missed Rosegarden,
just as well I read the description and chose it. What's a good
file manager? Hey, a game...
I think we could come up with a short list of standard packages to start
people off. Either give them as a short list with an [all] option for
them (and advice on how to install others after installation), or write
the list out and provide it elsewhere. Take midnight commander in that
set, for example, and if you don't like it replace with something else
later but for now you can use it to find your way around. That would have
helped me a lot. Maybe the newbies group should prepare such a list
from their experience of what's needed, and then run it by someone to
check for pitfalls. Then newbies couldn't say it's not what they need :-)
> The other experience I had (as a newbie) was that I decided to do
> my XFree config right in the initial install. I don't know quite
> what I did wrong, but my whole machine just went away at that point.
> After trying a number of things (including alt-function keys, I
> believe), I finally had to turn the machine off. By doing that
> I had exitted in the middle of the initial install, and so I ended
> up redoing the entire thing (all the way back to newfs-ing) simply
> because I didn't know what had and had not been done.
I seem to remember something similar happening. But I did need to be
taken through the steps for installing X with a menu system. Having a
list of commands to type would have been hideous. I don't use or install
X much so I'm a bit out of touch here.
--
Regards,
-*Sue*-
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