Re: Installation Program Suggestion
On 10 Dec 1998, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> Paul Komarek <komarek@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
> > The problem with HTML-based installation is the following: there is no
> > way, without doing something nasty, of running logic on the local
> >
> > I just don't see the benefit, especially since when the installation
>
> 1) Among the main complaints about Linux is installing it, just as with
> WinWhatever.
> 2) People are rapidly becoming familiar with web browsers and 'surfing'
> for information.
> 3) A single cd is pretty darn cheap these days, and I can't imagine that
> you couldn't set up a fully functional linux system with a cd, a ramdisk,
> and maybe even a little diskspace if absolutely necessary. This would
> include network connectivity.
>
> After all, there's no reason that the HTML on the boot floppies
> couldn't be run through a verifier beforehand. Restrictions like this
> would make it possible to write a very small HTML browser.
It's nice to hear I'm not the only crazy one! I wish I could offer some
help, but I have to let school distract me from the important things in
life, at least until I've taken my qualifier in January. I can see why
people like the Debian flavor--when you have an idea related to a linux
distribution, it is easy to find the people to talk to. On the other
hand, sending a letter to RedHat is hardly gratifying.
What do you think of the network connectivity? As everyone has probably
realized, I don't know unix systems inside and out, including Linux. But
this doesn't seem like it would be too hard, since the basic components of
accessing the modem have been around a long time. The hardest part, I
would think, would be making the connection easy for a novice user--i.e.
pap or no pap, or other isp-particular settings. Of course, there's no
reason to try to get everything at once, so making it work at all would be
the first step--and to my naive brain, this doesn't seem like it would be
too bad. What am I missing?
-Paul Komarek
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