From owner-freebsd-current Tue Dec 14 13: 5:11 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mass.cdrom.com (mass.cdrom.com [204.216.28.184]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EF1BB152E5 for ; Tue, 14 Dec 1999 13:05:08 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from msmith@mass.cdrom.com) Received: from mass.cdrom.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mass.cdrom.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA01437; Tue, 14 Dec 1999 13:08:09 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from msmith@mass.cdrom.com) Message-Id: <199912142108.NAA01437@mass.cdrom.com> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.1.1 10/15/1999 To: Peter Jeremy Cc: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: sysinstall: is it really at the end of its lifecycle? In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 15 Dec 1999 07:47:00 +1100." <99Dec15.073843est.40325@border.alcanet.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Tue, 14 Dec 1999 13:08:09 -0800 From: Mike Smith Sender: owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > > Firstly, size: One of sysinstall's requirements is that it fit (along > with a variety of other related commands) onto a floppy disk. Last > time I checked, the /stand bundle (sysinstall + friends) was ~640K. > The smallest X-server (XF86_VGA16) is 1.7MB (plus libraries). I don't > have either Qt or Lesstif installed, but from previous dealings with > Motif, it's several times the size of the Xserver. Unless we want to > mandate the use of ZIP drives (or similar) as FreeBSD install > floppies, we're limited to a syscons (or VTxxx) sysinstall. This manages to overlook the fact that the installer has to have a feed to a much larger source of data in order to actually perform the installation. > The second problem is that X11 needs a fair amount of configuration > before it will work. Whilst the VGA16 server forms a convenient > lowest-common-denominator position, it offers no real advantages over > a character-mode installation (same screen resolution and number of > colours) and significantly poorer performance. You're welcome to look at the technology demonstrators currently in use by RedHat and Caldera if you think that this is impossible. > Given the primary mission of sysinstall is to load FreeBSD, I'd > go so far as to say that developing an X version would be wasting > valuable developer resources (IMHO, of course). It's a painful tradeoff between functionality and flash. The latter is an unfortunate necessity if we are to avoid looking hopelessly outdated. -- \\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith \\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message