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Re: Installation



On Sb, 15 sep 12, 04:36:36, Weaver wrote:
> 
>  Partitioning: Entire disc selected. Separate /home selected.
> In my opinion, the third option of separate /usr, /var, /tmp/ /home here
> are wasted, as anybody that is going for that sort of option set are
> probably going to go for the more fine-grained approach the 'Expert
> Install' option caters to.

Agreed. How about a wishlist bug against d-i?
 
>                      Computed Partitions.
> 
> / = 10 GB – Bootable ext3 – I would probably go for a little more than
> this, because the newbie appetite wants to try out everything! koffice,
> libreoffice, calligra, gnomeoffice along with gnumeric and abiword to see
> what they look like and make a preferred selection. Likewise with every
> single video player, music player, browser and mail client. They'll pare
> everything down after the first six months when decisions are made, but
> they need plenty of room initially. I'd be looking at at least 12.5 GB.
> Worked out on the percentage of drive space, of course.

Is this a guess or did you actually calculate the installed size?

> /swap = 4.1 GB which fits nicely with the 2 GB of RAM.
> /home =105.9 GB ext3.
> 
> I wondered at ext3 being the default, instead of ext4, but that may well
> be just the time slot that squeeze fitted into.

This and the fact that Debian people are quite conservative when 
switching defaults. I hope it is (going to be) changed for wheezy, 
didn't check though.

[...]

> Here's an example – rough, not at all polished:
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                          Partitioning
> Partitions are allocated areas on your hard drive, set by the installer,
> where different parts of your working operating system reside.

I'd remove "set by the installer" since the user might have done that.

> The root (/) partition is where all your programmes will be installed and
> must be bootable so that your operating system is accessible after
> installation.

Ok.

> The swap partition is an area on your hard drive where process exchange
> takes place when your system is working. It is the equivalent of 'Virtual
> Memory'.

Still very technical, and why the reference to Virtual Memory? Let me 
take a shot:

The swap partition is a scratch area on your hard drive used by the 
operating system.

> The home (/home) partition is where all your personal and professional
> data will be kept.

Ok.

> By selecting any of these – arrow keys and 'enter', you can adjust the
> size of them to suit your particular needs. This automatic partitioning
> would probably be most suitable for initial use, however you will still be
> able to adjust their size in the future if needed.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mmm, the last sentence seems to imply that re-partitioning is easy, 
which it is not, especially in such a setup. As said before, I'd rather 
go for all in one partition, which solves the / size problem above and 
won't require repartitioning later.

> There is absolutely no need to get into $ cat /etc/fstab at this point in
> time. Or separate /boot partitions, or any other complexity. They'll get
> to that later. What is required now is to convey the simplest of pictures,
> but still convey the required information and only the required
> information. This provides information, orientation and a jumping off
> point for further advancement, without the confusion born of complexity.

Agreed.

> So, onward we go....
 
[...]
 
> There might, from a newbie perspective, need to be a short note at the
> proxy configure stage. What's a proxy?

I'd go for an addition like:

"If you don't know what a proxy is just leave this blank".

Kind regards,
Andrei
-- 
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