Re: slashdot poll
> How about suggesting some improvements, rather than "I don't like the
> Debian install"?
The people I've talked to mention that RedHat's install is more of a "one
screen, ask one question" mode. Debian's (at least the last time I did a full
install) used a more complicated screen layout. Newbies want simplicity
combined with the feeling of being a techie. (No, it's not an oxymoron.)
One person I talked to was overwhelmed by Debian's full menu of choices.
Even though it was simple enough to me (and I liked the idea of being able to
jump out of order, execute a shell, etc.), and even though the full menu led
him through the steps by simply smacking Enter, he was intimidated by it. Go
figure. ;-)
To me, the roughest part of any Linux install is the partitioning. This
ought to be taken very carefully, and there has to be a lot of help for
people.
In addition, a "dummy" mode for partitioning should be created -- something
like saying, "Okay, I'll create a big partition and a swap partition." If a
dummy mode is used, then the entire sequence about asking to mount partitions
should be skipped. Now, the tough part in such a dummy mode would be handling
someone who has Win95 still installed, etc., etc.
I think overall we could eliminate a *lot* of the prompts in an install
just by making assumptions. Perhaps a two-mode install should be used: expert
and novice mode. Ask the expert everything, let them have full power.
In the novice mode, cut down on the prompts the user gets. For example,
why ask a novice user if they want to check for bad blocks or not? Just
either do it or not. Some sort of novice install could eliminate a lot of
clutter and simply things greatly.
The other suggestion I'd make -- especially for something like a novice
mode -- would be to pretty things up. Yes, I know it sounds dumb. But for
newbies it does matter. Let me take a wild example.
In a novice mode, we can probably assume (and could detect) a VGA video
system. Why not put the system into graphics mode for a moment, grab a bunch
of trivial system information (RAM, BIOS date, CPU copyright string, any
foolish thing! Oh, we can't forget the BogoMIPS! :-) and flash a picture of
Tux (or our Debian logo) and say "Welcome to Debian GNU/Linux" and display the
various system data. Totally trivial right? I'd say so. But you'd be amazed
at how many newbies will be impressed...
Now, if anyone's thinking of doing such a thing, one final request. Please
don't put that into the expert mode -- I know my CPU copyright string. ;-)
--
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. | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8
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