Desktop task(sel) in Etch? (Bug #389092)
Hi, devs...
I have tried the new Etch installer last weekend and I'm impressed. The
installation works perfectly well and the graphical installer - while it
doesn't add much value IMHO to the dialog based installer - looks nice and
will surely be liked by many users. Kudos to the installer team.
I chose to install the "Desktop" task when tasksel asked me. And I ended up
with a Gnome desktop. Since Gnome is not really my favorite desktop
manager I deinstalled Gnome (probably leaving a lot of Gnome cruft on the
system) and installed KDE through apt-get. I wondered why Debian installed
Gnome as a default and does not even offer the choice between - say -
Xfce, Gnome and KDE during the installation. I just didn't expect Gnome.
Sarge at least installed Gnome and KDE which appears to be a waste of
resources but at least gives users the choice later when logging in.
Some people on #debian-boot argued that it might be a problem with
preseeding.
Joey Hess argued that users may not know what KDE and Gnome are and just
expect a working desktop. Opinions on
http://kitenet.net/~joey/code/tasksel/faq.html
I know that tasksel tries to keep things simple. But I want to question the
way the desktop installation is handled. So I'd like to hear a few
opinions on how happy other people are with that choice.
Currently the way to install KDE is to provide the
option "tasksel/first=kde-desktop" when booting the Etch installer CD. No
user will guess that.
What I would expect at least:
Rename the task from "Desktop" to "Desktop (Gnome)" so more experienced
users know what's coming up.
What I would prefer:
Tasks for Gnome, KDE and optionally Xfce (for the less resource-fortunate).
Ubuntu uses Gnome because they package just one part of Debian to create a
specialized preconfigured desktop. But the Debian user should get the
freedom to choose. And that begins with the installer. Doesn't it?
My 2¢
Christoph
P.S.: This mail is not meant to overrule Joey's decision by pulling it
into the public. I'd rather like to see whether my opinion on the
Desktop task is too far out.
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