Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:52:56 -0400 From: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk <m.e.sanliturk@gmail.com> To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Cc: FreeBSD Questions Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>, Tim Judd <tajudd@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Modern FreeBSD Installer? Message-ID: <a333b2be0904261152o7a8c40b4q685940f223c08621@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <87zle3mii0.fsf@kobe.laptop> References: <BLU0-SMTP493F2C64E33D39A37EF75DD8740@phx.gbl> <ade45ae90904251645s350689fdj31164457172f6630@mail.gmail.com> <20090426001855.GA89151@owl.midgard.homeip.net> <87zle3mii0.fsf@kobe.laptop>
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On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 1:28 PM, Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr
> wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 02:18:55 +0200, Erik Trulsson <ertr1013@student.uu.se>
> wrote:
> > Better would be to check (somehow) for the presence of a keyboard and
> > a screen. If those are not present forget about X. If they are
> > present then the user at least has a possibility of using X.
>
> Deferring to the user all the decisions that are impossible to make with
> a reasonable chance of doing the Right Thing for everyone seems ok too.
>
> Solaris has been shipping for quite some time with an installer that can
> run on serial consoles, an installer that can launch a simple
> terminal-based session under X11, and an installer that can launch a
> Java GUI version in all its bloated glory.
>
> The decision of which installer to launch is left to the user who sits
> on the boot console, who is presented with a simple menu like:
>
> +-------------------------------------------------------+
> | |
> | Please select installation type (default = 3): _ |
> | |
> | 1. Text-only console installation. |
> | |
> | 2. Terminal based GUI installation. |
> | |
> | 3. Dialog driven GUI installation. |
> | |
> +-------------------------------------------------------+
>
> There is also a timeout that launches the user-friendly GUI dialogs
> after a few seconds.
>
> I think this is a reasonable approach to the problem of which
> installation mode to launch. The default is `user friendly', there is a
> timeout so the installer won't get stuck forever in the prompt, and
> there is still an option for a plain console-based installation for
> everyone who wants to go that way.
>
> _
>
Last week I have installed Solaris 10 ( 2008-10 ) on a PC ( x86 ) having an
Intel main board . It did not recognize Philips 220WS LCD ( 1680 x 1050 )
monitor and selected itself a text-mode install and also booted in text mode
.
I moved its hard disk to a PC with an Asus main board having an attached
CRT Philips 109B6 ( maximum resolution : 1920 x 1440 ) monitor .
Since boards were different , Solaris 10 could not
boot . I started an upgrade installation . During that time it become
necessary to leave PC for a while assuming that installation will wait .
With its count down and start by itself in its GUI mode . it started to
install automatically .
At the end , the install become useless because its default detections were
not what parts were there ( I think it used previously detected parts
without checking the present parts except monitor and perhaps some others ,
I do not know exactly .) .
For such reasons , personally , I hate
(1) auto-start installations .
(2) auto-detect parts without asking correctness of detection when its
conclusion is not verifiable
by the installers
( for example
(ADSL router modem is not detected correctly even its network card is
detected
and installation continued with assumption that there is no such a
device . )
( erroneously detection of monitor resolutions and using a default
resolution which is not usable
due to mismatch to display characteristics of the monitor ) ... )
With respect to experiences gained continuously installing operating systems
, my idea about FreeBSD sysinstal is that it is an excellent installation
system developed by very conscious persons which they know what to do very
well .
The points I suggested for improvements are toward to make it easy for the
beginners . For a computing system , to satisfy needs of both beginners and
expert users is not a very easy task . Making a part easy for a group may
make it difficult for other group . Using defaults is not always correct
due to hardware detection difficulties .
My inclination is toward the beginners as much as possible because this
approach will enlarge FreeBSD user group .
In reality , design of a user interface is within subject areas of Ergonomy
, Human-Computer Interaction , and User Interface Design which there are
plenty amount of researches about those subjects , and many scientific
journals and books .
When I was in University a research assistant was working toward a PhD in
Ergonomy by researching user interface software design principles to reduce
the human errors during control of a system ( for example , effects of menu
depths ) .
Thank you very much .
Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
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