Re: Installation
On Sat, September 15, 2012 8:15 am, Camaleón wrote:
> On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 04:36:36 -0700, Weaver wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> Newbie Installation of Debian Squeeze 6.0.5 i386 Netinstall disc.
>
> IMO, newbies should go for CD or DVD installation disc instead.
If they are going to get all their updates from the 'Net in the future,
they may well be better off experiencing that with the installer.
>
>> We have a fairly typical, hand-me-down box, P4, 2.8 GH, 2 GB of RAM,
>> with two Debian installs already in situ on sda. The empty sdb, 120 GB
>> ATA, will be used for the install:
>
> (...)
>
>> 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.
>
> Hard disk partitioning is a delicated task that cannot be easily un-done
> afterwards without pain so having a fair default (separate "/home") and
> additional options is fine with me, even for newbies.
With a separate /home, they can do another install further down the track
- perhaps by that stage even an 'expert' one - and install what
partitioning table they see fit for their own particular situation.
>
>> 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.
>
> 10 GiB is very scarce for today defaults. I would add more room here.
>
>> /swap = 4.1 GB which fits nicely with the 2 GB of RAM.
>
> I will use a 3 GiB partition.
This is an older style RAM.
DIMM SDRAM Synchronous 266 MHz
Both available slots are filled to a maximum capacity of 2 GB.
With just abn email client open - just sitting there and Iceweasel with
two tabs open, I'm using 32%
This is one of the reasons as to why I'm building a new box.
>
>> /home =105.9 GB ext3.
>
> IMO, too much space for /home. I would split the remaining space for "/
> home" and "/".
It depends on what you need it for.
I know one young chap that downloads a lot of movies.
What if you have a more mature newbie that is starting his own graphics
business and is trying to keep overheads down by learning GIMP, etc.
Graphics files take up a lot of space.
Potential must be allowed for.
>
>> I wondered at ext3 being the default, instead of ext4, but that may well
>> be just the time slot that squeeze fitted into.
>
> At the time Squeeze was released, ext3 was a sensible default, indeed.
>
>> Finish Partitioning and Write to Disc
>>
>> At the top is an annotation which says:
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “This is an overview of your
>> currently configured partitions and mountpoints. Select a partition to
>> modify its settings (filesystem, mountpoint, etc.), a free space to
>> create partitions, or a device to initiate its partition table.”
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> This is beyond Double-Dutch to a newbie. If you said 'mountpoint' to
>> your
>> average newbie, he would be looking round for the horse. Likewise with
>> 'partition' (office furniture) and 'filesystem' (the technique required
>> to get out of jail when they catch him, now that he has his hands on
>> some 'real' hacker software).
>
> You are being too much protective. A linux user (newbie or not) should
> know what these terms are or at least, have a bare idea of their meaning.
Yes, but the reality is that they don't.
This, again, from personal experience.
You cannot assume a minimum prior knowledge and then create the
communication gap that fails to achieve the aim.
>
>> When you need to relay some information to somebody, you need to make an
>> accurate assessment of the communication level of your audience.
>> Otherwise, you simply don't communicate. If they aren't in front of you
>> in order to do this, you assume no knowledge and operate from that
>> 'mountpoint'.
>
> Hidding too much information can be as bad as displaying all the data.
No information is hidden here.
Only the knowledge for a successful installation is delivered in a manner
accessible to the market. Mailing lists, etc., are not accessible till
then.
Plenty of time for indepth knowledge then.
>
>> Here's an example – rough, not at all polished:
>
> (...)
>
> In my experience, people do not tend to read much at the installation
> screen neither this is a good place where to stay for too long.
There's no need to worry about the time factor.
The installer isn't going anywhere.
Too much
> text can make the user to doubt
The information required is no more than it needs to be to achieve
communication effectively.
and the installation wizard cannot be a
> replacement for a good manual such the Relase Notes and Installation
> Guide.
I didn't read about those until well after I had done my first two
installations and by then I didn't need them.
I have actually downloaded the installation guide and have intended to
read it, but here we sit, years later, and I still haven't.
>
>> So, onward we go....
>
> (...)
>
>> Popularity Contest = Yes. There's more explanation here than there is
>> for partitioning.
>
> I would remove this option.
I know what you mean, but if you want information from somebody else's
system, it's polite to ask.
This is why the text here is wordy, I should suspect, to avoid any
supposition of privacy invasion.
>
>> Graphical desktop Environment = Yes
>
> (...)
>
> I will add a warning here about the time it can take to download the full
> DE so the installation process can be delayed noticeabily.
I think it's best to give the Newbie a GUI as soon as possible.
I don't worry, as I genearally install, then upgrade two or three
distributions to get to unstable.
In that context, it works, but to give a Newbie a GUI-less system, then
expect them to find their way to the aptitude ncurses interface and then
understand what XFCE or LXDE are is a little too much I think.
I remember installing Fluxbox for the first time, and thinking I had blown
it until I accidentally right clicked on the screen.
>
>> There might, from a newbie perspective, need to be a short note at the
>> proxy configure stage. What's a proxy?
>
> Come on... if they are currently browsing the web and getting e-mails in
> their inbox they should already know what a proxy is.
Nope!
When I first installed, I wondered if the installer was referring to the ISP!
>
>> But from what I can see, the only major bulwark to a more substantial
>> user uptake is the clarification of partitioning. The installer has now
>> reached the stage where everything else is pretty much self-explanatory.
>
> I will avoid a verbose installer.
So would I.
Verbosity is not what is required at any time.
Efficient communication of minimal information, to achieve success in the
process is.
>
> Debian people has done a marvelous work with thteir documentation and
> this step (Partitioning) is very well explained there¹ (even it has a
> separate Appendix!).
>
> ¹http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch06s03.html.en#di-partition
There are many other such references, but the Newbie doesn't know about them.
Once he gains access, somebody will probably tell him.
A simple install procedure is what is required.
A multiple reference bibliography, with a full-blown glossary and acronym
listing are not.
Regards,
Weaver
--
"It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government."
-- Thomas Paine
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