Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Mark Bainter <mark-gt@×××××.org>
To: gentoo-dev@g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 09:35:52
Message-Id: 20030418093550.GF2114@firinn.org
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer by Jeff Rose
1 Jeff Rose [rosejn@××××××××.EDU] wrote:
2 > Well, I'm glad to see that people are interested. After doing some
3 > initial research I have some thoughts. First, we should decide on whether
4 > we want to have a terminal or X based installer. Does anyone know how
5
6 You know. I'm sooooooooooooo tired of this topic. Is there
7 any way we can get this added to the FAQ, with maybe a link
8 to the oh, 20 or 30 threads about this that have popped up
9 already on this list?
10
11 While it won't stop everyone, more people read FAQs than
12 search mailing lists before posting I'm sure. At least it'd
13 cut it down a little right?
14
15 > well the generic vesa driver works for X? I personally have battled with
16 > X so many times that I'm not sure I think its worth it for an installer.
17
18 No. It isn't. But not because of battling with it, but because
19 once you do it you instantly bloat the size of the install CD.
20
21 Thanks, but no thanks. -blech-
22
23 > (Although we could just use the RedHat stuff for autodetection etc. if we
24 > want to go that direction.) Besides X we could use ncurses dialog
25 > widgets or another terminal gui package. I was thinking it would be cool
26 > to use somethine lighter than X like svgalib. I have no experience with
27
28 Ok, I'm going to summarize my opinion on this into just a short
29 blurb. I'm sorry for not being more verbose, but I just went
30 through all this not more than a couple weeks ago.
31
32 A GUI installer lowers the bar for entry on gentoo. Right now
33 many people who might want to use Gentoo, but are yet ready for
34 it do not attempt to use it because the install holds the bar
35 too high. That's a good thing. If we lower the bar so anyone's
36 grandma can install Gentoo, anyone's grandma will be flooding
37 the gentoo lists and forums with worthless questions that should
38 not need to be asked by someone using Gentoo.
39
40 Gentoo is not a newbie distribution, and putting a pretty
41 installer on the front of it, regardless of its flexibility,
42 presents a representation of the skill level required to
43 use and maintain it.
44
45 So, once again, I vote NO on a GUI installer.
46
47 --
48 gentoo-dev@g.o mailing list

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer Jeff Rose <rosejn@××××××××.EDU>
Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer Abhishek Amit <abhishekamit2000@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer Evan Powers <powers.161@×××.edu>