Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 23:49:36 +1000 From: "Doug Young" <dougy@gargoyle.apana.org.au> To: "Don Wilde" <Don@Silver-Lynx.com> Cc: "Stefan Parvu" <sparvu@cc.hut.fi>, "Kris Kennaway" <kris@obsecurity.org>, "Rahul Siddharthan" <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>, "Kathy Quinlan" <katinka@magestower.com>, "Sue Blake" <sue@welearn.com.au>, "N6REJ" <n6rej@tcsn.net>, <freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG>, <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: I'm leaving Message-ID: <019101c0dbb3$8d169430$0300a8c0@oracle> References: <Pine.OSF.4.10.10105131454300.24647-100000@alpha.hut.fi> <016d01c0dba9$62e67400$0300a8c0@oracle> <3AFE87BF.E2A53BC0@Silver-Lynx.com>
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> I think the default install works very well, and there is a 'desktop > config' option in sysinstall. I don't think it should include either KDE > or gnome, though. My personal preferences are fvwm (1.24, NOT 2.0; the > config file is easier to alter) and windowmaker. Both KDE and gnome are > complex, moving targets that don't always install. Each has dozens of > dependencies. One thing I would do is to add lynx to the base install so > that the HTML docs option in sysinstall no longer requires a package > add. At the very least, we need to ensure that lynx is always on the > first CD, so it can be found without errors. > I don't have any argument whatever with the actual sysinstall which is one of the best thought out setups I've seen, however I do have constant problems with the packages themselves (ports too for that matter) due to various incompatibilities / missing libraries / etc. Its got to the stage lately where I'm tending to download stuff from the developers homepage / FTP site & compile from source rather than mess with either sysinstall or ports. > GUI would be a lot easier if we had better video card probes, but that's > always going to be another very fast-moving target. I think the present > system of /stand/sysinstall works well except for a very few problems: > The issue of videocard compatibility is what first got me interested in this thread earlier tonight .... seems the subject matter has gone all over the place since then however. Given the rate of change in videocard technology I don't know if its possible to keep pace with the latest & greatest. What I believe should be practical though is to specify a number of readily available videocards that are known to work properly all the time, then base a HOWTO on those. eg there are things like the Tseng ET4000 (ISA), ET6000/6100 (PCI), S3 Virge (PCI), ATI Rage Pro (AGP) that have been around almost since the dawn of time and that from my experience work well in any operating system. Given the millions of each of those sold, it seems reasonable to me to expect a ton of experience out there that knows exactly what configurations work. > * Newbie users need a clue as to WHICH CD each package is on. I think > adding one screen that shows the locations of the entire package > collection in a given release would be very appropriate. > Dunno about that .... I've never purchased the multi-CD set anyway ... my mo is to grap the source directly from the developer and compile the thing. I think one or two of the linux distributions did that (RedHat / Mandrake ??) but from memory the 50 page list of stuff with inadequate explanations only added to my confusion. Mind you that was only one of countless items that convinced me that linux wasn't something for me. > * Add lynx, as I said above. > > * remove gnome and KDE from the desktop config or separate them into a > distinct category with clear warnings. Hmmmm .... take the things right out & replace with CDE perhaps :) > > On a different note, one more: Add 4.x-STABLE tags to the CVSup > repositories so we don't have to back out to OPTIONS to install packages > after we've started tracking STABLE. > -- or give the whole CVS thing a miss & leave well enough alone til the next RELEASE ?? I'm on an "anti-CVS" trip at present after experiencing nothing but problems with it. Seems a surprising number of experienced operators I've spoken to share that view as well. Does anyone have good experiences with it, or is it simply something that a few people use because its available ?? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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