Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 23:30:07 -0500 From: W Gerald Hicks <wghicks@bellsouth.net> To: tlambert@primenet.com Cc: wghicks@bellsouth.net, jcwells@u.washington.edu, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Lets Endorse KDE Was: some slashdot thread Message-ID: <19990202233007S.wghicks@wghicks.bellsouth.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 2 Feb 1999 18:41:41 %2B0000 (GMT)" <199902021841.LAA06274@usr05.primenet.com> References: <199902021841.LAA06274@usr05.primenet.com>
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From: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>
Subject: Re: Lets Endorse KDE Was: some slashdot thread
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 18:41:41 +0000 (GMT)
> > The good new is, with a bit of care and handholding, even a very new
> > user can try each of these and decide for themselves. That's the
> > magic of the ports subsystem.
>
> Actually, the magic is ">*PAF!*< You have a command line!".
>
Not an evil thing. Not difficult to "talk someone through" on
the telephone as they are configuring their system for the first
time. Even if they've never used a computer before.
A GUI is desired by many, expected by most, and _needed_ by none.
> It is very easily defensible that people who don't like GUI
> based login, etc. (whatever desktop, WM, etc. is picked) can
> disable the thing, or even turn off the (default on) install
> of the thing.
>
> The converse is not true.
>
> At a bare minimum, there should be a "FreeBSD Desktop Express Install"
> as one of the installation options.
>
Sure, but that's a long way from _needing_ KDE, in all of its kmahjongg
glory. In fact, this could be done as an application derived from
XFree86's XF86Setup program and without needing an additional window
manager at all.
Then, one doesn't need to worry about getting their fingers into
modifications of the XFree86 distribution.
Also, I've seen lightweight GUI (non-X) applications that would be
good for these initial startup tasks (e.g. AMI's BIOS configurator).
> Dare I say that it should include a DHCP client that defaults it to
> a random address on the 10 net if it doesn't get a response, and
> a GUI TCP settings configurator for when neither of those work...
>
Still a long way from KDE, but very good ideas.
I'm actively working on a toolkit for generating custom and
specialized deviants of {Free,Pico}BSD which could be used
as a basis for customized installation software, containing
KDE or otherwise.
The idea is to leverage the ports subsystem, adding a CVS
'fetch' mechanism. This opens up the FreeBSD repository
(and others) as sources for derived works within the ports
framework.
I believe this is a very powerful concept and would appreciate
hearing other opinions or ideas.
There is an early, but working, proof of concept in ports/9840
Cheers,
Jerry Hicks
wghicks@bellsouth.net
>
> Terry Lambert
> terry@lambert.org
> ---
> Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
> or previous employers.
>
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