From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Mar 8 08:52:00 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0BDB416A4CE for ; Mon, 8 Mar 2004 08:52:00 -0800 (PST) Received: from ns1.webhostsg.com (ns1.webhostsg.com [203.116.15.91]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF9AC43D2D for ; Mon, 8 Mar 2004 08:51:56 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from james.freebsd@gallagher.cx) Received: from [10.0.0.20] (bb220-255-115-210.singnet.com.sg [220.255.115.210]) (authenticated) by ns1.webhostsg.com (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id i28Gq3B04683; Tue, 9 Mar 2004 00:52:03 +0800 In-Reply-To: <200403081444.i28Ei6N09148@clunix.cl.msu.edu> References: <200403081444.i28Ei6N09148@clunix.cl.msu.edu> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v612) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: James Gallagher Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2004 00:52:24 +0800 To: Jerry McAllister X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.612) cc: Gerard Seibert cc: freebsd-questions Subject: Re: Simplifying FreeBSD Installation X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 16:52:00 -0000 On 8 Mar 2004, at 22:44, Jerry McAllister wrote: > It might help to have some wizards for network setup, but in the > FreeBSD > world, the network topologies are many and varied. So, just doing a > MS predestination trick and creating a wizard that limits you to > someone's > narrow idea of a network would cause more trouble than just learning > how > to do it right. A couple of wizards to do a couple of very basic, no > extras setups for say a dialup and a NIC hookup to an existing and > well functioning lan might be useful, but FreeBSD goes so much beyond > that > that it leaves the world of wizards far behind. > I like the point you make there. Wizards can't cover all the network configurations that some people may want. There is a simple wizard which will get you started, did the job for my workstation-cum-fileserver. But you're given the tools to do what we want. That's the value proposition for FreeBSD, it's meant to be configurable. Perhaps at the expense of 'friendliness', but it's never friendly at the expense of being open to configuration. > No one is going to move to FreeBSD if all they want is someone to do > everything for them. That type of person will not be swayed by > evidence > of a more powerful, better supported, more secure system. They are > only interested in not doing anything. Most of them would prefer not > to even have to stick in a CD or DVD if possible. So, FreeBSD or any > of the other real OSen will not attract them. I thought that was a bit harsh. Different things for different people and I'm sure if all people could, they would love to prevent their computers from doing harm. You (Gerard) also should consider that there is a vast difference between the *BSD culture and the Linux culture, IMHO. There isn't the same desire to convert everyone, there's no jumping up and down screaming about the GPL etc. etc. The *BSD community wants the best OS not the most widely used OS. Being the best takes effort on everyone's part. Using a computer should be easy, but a *BSD is intended for a massive array of purposes. Many of which are hard, no other way of looking at it. My loose change :) James