Re: Programmer for hire

[csj <csj@zapo.net>]

At Sun, 12 Oct 2003 19:20:07 -0400,
alex wrote:
> 
> Dominique Devriese wrote:
> > Bob Tilley writes:
> > 
> > >I would like to wet my feet in the Open Source pool.  Can
> > >anyone suggest any needy Projects?  I can do C, C++, Pascal,
> > >Assembly, etc. and would like to put my talents to work to
> > >give something back to the Community that has given my
> > >desktop so much.
> > 
> > A project that I personally think is important and would be
> > fun to work on, is the Debian installer.  It will be the
> > first portable installer in any GNU/Linux distro, fills a
> > very real need of the Debian project, and looks very
> > promising to me..
> > 
> > Maybe you can build a KDE based front-end for it, or
> > something like that ?

The last thing we need.  A desktop-specific installer.  If turns
out to be real good, some Gnome guy is going to want to port it.
Net result: duplication of effort.

> Speaking as one who has fumbled Debian's install several times,
> I concur.  It seems that the install process is overly and
> unecessarily complicated.  It wants you to make decisions that
> could just as well be made after you have a minimum basic
> operating system running that would let you customize your
> computer according to your needs instead of doing it even
> before Debian starts to install. For example, why should you
> need even consider if whether or not to configure for
> networking during the install procedure if it be done after a
> basic Debian is running?
>
> Compare Debian's install with the one used by KNOPPIX and
> you'll see what I mean.
>
> I'm sure there'd be many Linux fans who would really appreciate
> a simpler Debian install procedure.

Well, yes, but an installer isn't something you use everyday.  I
haven't seen the Debian installer in almost three years.  Perhaps
you mean package manager?  And between the three of them,
apt-get, dselect, and aptitude answer every but the most casual
user's needs.

I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of *n*x desktop or windowing
environments.  OTOH I see only two programs and a hack that will
let you "burn" a DVD on *n*x.