Re: I can't beleive this
On Fri, Mar 12, 1999 at 10:07:08AM -0500, Michael Stenner wrote:
>
> Take the old physicist down the hall... he has this great new thing for
> numerical integration. It makes many things possible that just weren't
> before. Why should he give a *&^% about IRQs, printcaps, I/O addresses,
> kernel modules, monitor hsync, or ipmasks?
He shouldn't, but he probably shouldn't be installing an OS either.
<SNIP>
> 2) so he doesn't get ripped off on crappy stuff? No. there are plenty
> of good sources (friends, consumer reports, etc.) for answering this
> UNAVOIDABLE question.
But these sources arn't very good. I still have a Consumer Reports that
says "A PC is a Windows Machine". Most of his friends probably get their
info. from PC mag. etc. so you are just talking about the blind leading the
blind. The ONLY way to get a PC that anyone can use is to make sure the
vendor has a vested interest in keeping you happy. That might mean a lease
or maybe a monthly service contract. The remote access facilities of Linux
make this potentially much less expensive.
>
> 3) because he has to? certainly not. Win95 (and to a lesser extent,
> RedHat) will take care of all of these things for him. Sure, there are
> tradeoffs, but it's a reasonable one for him. After all, he just wants
> to do some integrals. He doesn't really care if he has to reboot
> occasionally.
The Windows system really doesn't work that well. It rarely guesses right
on the video and sound cards. Even if it does guess right you have to
insert a driver CD. The problem is that most driver CDs have drivers for
just about everything the company makes so you still have to know which one
is yours. The default video mode is 640x480 so to make it useable you still
have to know about color depth, resolution, and refresh rates.
>
> Others have said that you cannot have this automation and power. I
> don't see why there cannot (physically) be two installation programs.
> Choose which one to run at the beginning. One autodetects things and
> makes assumptions about what you want, the other gives you
> "fine-grained" control.
Ok, I've been thinking this over and it seems like the install tool should
have some sort of a config file. Each step of the install would have an
entry in the config file with the option to either use the default (which
would be defined by anyone editing the config) or ask the user. The config
file that ships with Debian would have reasonable defaults for everything
(as defined by the developers) but OEMs could change it to suit their needs.
The package install part should also be able to just use default settings
for each package without the user having to sit their and hit <enter> every
few minutes. I don't think most people know if it's a good idea to byte
compile emacs so don't ask.
Is anyone working on something like this? I really have a vested interest
in a Debian Install that lets me put in a CD and Walk away without pressing
any buttons at all and I'm sure OEMs would love it.
--
Ray
nmos@sonictech.net
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