Ideas

[Steve McIntyre <stevem@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

I was talking to Ian last night on the way back from the Linux99
conference about the current state of the install process, especially as
it relates to multi-CD. We came up with a couple of things:

The problems people are having with the multi-CD install could be helped
in a very simple way. (I assume that people have noticed confused posts to
debian-user.) People are not seeing the README on each disc that explains
about inserting the last binary disc first for Update in dselect. I'm
going to patch the dpkg-multicd method to insert a message in the Update
step itself, so people should now no longer be able to miss this. And to
fix the other source of confusion, I'll also add a warning that in many
cases a simple install will never use any disks subsequent to the first
one... 

The second thing is a way to make the CD install more powerful. I know
that Ben (Collins? Gertzfield?) has done a lot of work on a framebuffer
install setup so we get a prettier/more luser-friendly installation. Other
people have complained that the boot/root floppy images are very tight for
space. The obvious solution is to start using a "live" fs image on the CD,
which should give us a lot more space, making life easier. Obviously we
still need to keep up the boot-floppies for those people who don't
have/don't want to use CD-ROMs, but for the vast majority of people out
there now we can make life a lot easier. We can make an installation CD
that has (effectively) the base system installed on it, plus some more
rescue tools, and also a bigger/friendlier installation setup that
hopefully won't scare people so much. 

Anyway, I'm looking at dpkg-multicd right now and I should be submitting a
patch this afternoon. In terms of the live fs stuff, I'll be looking at it
more during the next couple of weeks. If you've got any comments /
suggestions on these fronts, let me know please...

-- 
Steve McIntyre, Cambridge, UK.                   stevem@chiark.greenend.org.uk
Use Debian GNU/Linux - upgrade your Windoze box today!  http://www.debian.org/
"Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky,                 +------------------
"Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I..."  |Finger for PGP key