From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 8 17:09:11 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A14B9DCB for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 17:09:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from bigwig.baldwin.cx (bigwig.baldwin.cx [IPv6:2001:470:1f11:75::1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 77C7C1BDC for ; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 17:09:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: from ralph.baldwin.cx (pool-173-70-85-31.nwrknj.fios.verizon.net [173.70.85.31]) by bigwig.baldwin.cx (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 788ECB9B9; Mon, 8 Sep 2014 13:09:10 -0400 (EDT) From: John Baldwin To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Improving /etc/motd and ANSI Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:08:12 -0400 Message-ID: <3492555.LII5bndYoC@ralph.baldwin.cx> User-Agent: KMail/4.10.5 (FreeBSD/10.0-STABLE; KDE/4.10.5; amd64; ; ) In-Reply-To: References: <540DBB35.6070003@vangyzen.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Greylist: Sender succeeded SMTP AUTH, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.7 (bigwig.baldwin.cx); Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:09:10 -0400 (EDT) Cc: Warren Block , Eric van Gyzen X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:09:11 -0000 On Monday, September 08, 2014 08:36:20 AM Warren Block wrote: > On Mon, 8 Sep 2014, Eric van Gyzen wrote: > > On 09/08/2014 10:03, Warren Block wrote: > >> It was pointed out to me not that long ago that we have no web browser > >> in the base install. Having a URL-only introduction would make it > >> more difficult for some users to read that introduction. > > > > So, there are users who install FreeBSD as the _only_ operating system > > on the _only_ web-capable device in their vicinity, yet need the > > assistance provided by this introduction? Please help me understand > > this kind of user, as my imagination fails me. > > Mostly my view also, but look at it the other way: here is the operating > system, and here are the documents, ...but not in a form that can be > read with the operating system just installed. > > For now, the hybrid approach of both URLs and text covers all users. It > just makes presenting a readable, compact introduction more difficult. I actually lean more towards Eric's suggestion. You could also have 'welcome' be a regular FDP doc so that during installs a copy is in /usr/share/doc. The motd could reference that as well (i.e. you can go to this webpage or look at /usr/share/doc/foobar for a text version). That will let you keep the motd short while having room for a slightly longer 'welcome' guide. Also, to your original question: I don't believe that VGA text mode includes a way to handle underlines (you can just set colors and optionally blink). This means that /etc/motd with ASCII wouldn't work on syscons(4) or on vt(4) when VGA text mode is used. -- John Baldwin