Date: Sun, 23 May 1999 15:43:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug White <dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu> To: jmeehan@easynet.co.uk Cc: www@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Configuration Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.03.9905231539250.10830-100000@resnet.uoregon.edu> In-Reply-To: <8525677A.003D42AC.00@NYSMTP4000.svc.btco.com>
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On Sun, 23 May 1999 johnathan.f.meehan@bankerstrust.com wrote: > I currently run FreeBSD 3.1 at home, and recently recommended it to a few > friends at work as my preference for a non-commercial flavour of UNIX. This > opened up an avenue for development that I would like to volunteer to make > happen - configuration tools. Being Windows people, they found FreeBSD > intimidating - configuring a sound card, adding a new device, or setting up > userPPP were things they were used to having done for them. These people > now run Linux, as they fell into the "UNIX is too difficult for me" trap, > and liked the comfort of easy configuration. Your documentation is great, > but some people need to be started more slowly. Even after following your > documentation, a user may not think of creating a symlink /dev/modem to > their device node (which is needed, for example, by Minicom). [hm... interesting that the minicom port didn't build that symlink by default... you shold prod the maintainer about that.] The big problem here is finding someone (or someone(s)) to actually implement a tool. It's not too rewarding (unless you like hacking GUIs), but if you can actually pull it off you'll be a saint. This is why ral companies like RedHat have tools -- they can _pay_ someone to do it, who will happily do it for money. :) Poke the -current and -hackers mailing lists for ideas... also note that the NeXT netinfo database is part of Apple's Darwin project and may be of interest to you if you want to get radical. (NetInfo is similar to the Windows Registry, but you can use a tool to dump the data to any /etc/ format file. It has built-in net distribtuion, like NIS.) Doug White Internet: dwhite@resnet.uoregon.edu | FreeBSD: The Power to Serve http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~dwhite | www.freebsd.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-www" in the body of the message
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