From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Apr 27 21:02:36 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5FECB106566C for ; Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:02:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1E4778FC15 for ; Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:02:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from r55.edvax.de (port-92-196-27-202.dynamic.qsc.de [92.196.27.202]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id DCE5D3D38C; Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:02:34 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r55.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r55.edvax.de (8.14.2/8.14.2) with SMTP id n3RL2T8q001696; Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:02:29 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:02:29 +0200 From: Polytropon To: Jerry McAllister Message-Id: <20090427230229.049c5f9e.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <20090427133937.GA24963@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> References: <70C0964126D66F458E688618E1CD008A0793EA95@WADPEXV0.waddell.com> <20090427133937.GA24963@gizmo.acns.msu.edu> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.7 (GTK+ 2.12.1; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: keramida@ceid.upatras.gr, Gary Gatten , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, tajudd@gmail.com Subject: Re: Modern FreeBSD Installer? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:02:36 -0000 On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 09:39:38 -0400, Jerry McAllister wrote: > I have done hundreds of installations and still > find times that I want more information in the middle of things. That > is especially true if I try to add some packages at install time. I agree with this. That's why I always included a F1 Help in my "paintings" of how an improvement of the text mode installer (and a possible GUI installer) should go. Another idea would be to add something of value to the help text. Let it be not only an explaination, but a suggestion, just like "if you have ... then consider using ...; if you want to use ..., then you better set ... and ...". An addition that comes to my mind right now would be a kind of autodetection of existing operating systems on the disk, which obsoletes (or easyfies) the boot manager dialog. For example, if FreeBSD is the only OS, the default choice would surely be "install FreeBSD's MBR", so the only OS will boot. If there are other OSes, the boot manager could be suggested. This idea continues into a "autodetect for partition editor", which could look like this: ____ automount ____ Device Mountpoint No R/O R/W Explaination /dev/ad0s1a / [ ] [ ] [x] FreeBSD's root /dev/ad0s1d /tmp [ ] [ ] [x] Temporary files /dev/ad0s1e /var [ ] [ ] [x] Stuff /dev/ad0s1f /usr [ ] [ ] [x] Much more stuff /dev/ad0s1g /home [ ] [ ] [x] Your stuff ---------------- other than FreeBSD --------------- /dev/ad2s1 /blabla [ ] [x] [ ] Linux stuff /dev/ad2s2 /foobar [x] [ ] [ ] FAT32 I've excluded options like "format yes/no" and file system type for easyfication. :-) The idea would be that /etc/fstab would be populated with everything that exist, keeping the default that noauto is chosen, and -o ro, unless the user specifies something else on his own risk. And again, a multi-lingual installer is an idea. In fact, it's NOT an idea, because - and I may speak only based on my experiences in my home country - those who install FreeBSD are familiar with the english language, and those who are not familiar with the english language wouldn't even know FreeBSD. :-) > But, I agree that we must not give up on a 'text based' installer that > is the most generally usable, even if some other options might be made > available. The text based installer could also be massaged a bit > to make it a little easier to understand as well, without losing its > functionality. Completely agree. -- Polytropon >From Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...