Re: should floppy install be de-supported? (was: MSDOS name conversion)
In article <[🔎] Pine.LNX.3.91.960213204910.2775C-100000@amasis.trin.cam.ac.uk> Nikhil Nair <nn201@cus.cam.ac.uk> writes:
> On Tue, 13 Feb 1996, Michael E. Deisher wrote:
>
> > [...]
> > It looks like the REAL question here is "should Debian continue to
> > support installation from floppies?" If not, then the msdos tree
> > should be removed. This would eliminate the hassle for the
> > distribution maintainers and the (apparent) annoyance of the
> > well-connected, floppy-free majority. ;-)
>
> Forgive me for butting in here (I haven't been following the `MSDOS name
> conversion' thread), but I think this is a very bad road to follow. For
> starters, surely we want more and more people to start using Linux? That
> means people in their own homes who may not have other mahcines at work
> &c, and probably won't have ethernet connections. Transferring most of
> Debian via a telephone line would be very time-consuming and, for many
> people, expensive.
Agreed.
> Also remember that the people most likely to go for a
> distribution are those who aren't familiar enough with Unix/Linux to put
> a system together themselves - excluding this sector would be a bad
> move. Admittedly, CD-ROMs are becoming more and more common, but I think
> depending on people having one is a mistake (I don't, for one).
Another option ar tapes. I have both a CD-ROM drive and a QIC-80-like
tape drive at home. (I'd like to see a tape installation method, but I
realize that this is a bit tricky.)
The real problem for me is: Will these above-mentioned newcomers
really transfer about 70 MB via floppy ? I'm much too lazy for this.
I installed Debian from CD. Once the system is installed I can upgrade
it via tape. Or I wait until a new stable release on CD arises.
> On the other hand, why should this be done in such a way to annoy the
> `well-connected, floppy-free majority'?
The splitting might annoy the CD-ROM and tape using newbies too. The
more experienced users will always find a way to get the packages onto
their local system.
IMHO: We do not need to to de-support floppy installation, but we
need not provide split packages only in order to support floppy
install.
> > If Debian is continue to support installation from floppies, then
> > splitting files in the main binary tree is the way to go, IMO. But
> > then, you already know that. :-)
>
> See my last comment. Unless the problem of naming for MSDOS is REALLY
> awkward (as I said, I haven't been following that thread), I can't agree
> with you - you seem to be contradicting yourself to a certain extent, in
> that you don't want the majority to be inconvenienced, and surely this
> would have that effect?
Depends who is the majority. I suppose that the majority does not use
floppies, but I am not shure on this.
Despite this I share your conclusions.
Sven
--
Sven Rudolph <sr1@inf.tu-dresden.de> ; WWW : http://www.sax.de/~sr1/
Reply to: