Andrew Gaffney - Latest comments on Installer Philosophy

In response to: Installer Philosophy

sypher [Visitor] — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:15:13 +0000

when will the stable release be out?

In response to: Installer Philosophy

that_guy [Visitor] — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 22:07:58 +0000

if the installer basically moved you from item to item, that would be great. you still do it, but it ties things up nicely.

In response to: Installer Philosophy

rogerdugans [Visitor] — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 01:28:36 +0000

Heard about this project a while ago but never looked into it too much.
Now I am. :)

While I am fairly comfortable with the current installation methods, I think making it easier and faster is a good thing, or at least can be...
I am not a computer professional, just a hobbyist, so I don't have to worry too much about multiple system rollouts but I DO see a big value there for those who do admin networks and so on.
I think that Gentoo fills a fairly tight niche at this point- intelligent, committed linux users who want speed, control and flexibility. A gui installer won't change that but it may/should make the "cost of entry" a little less costly (time/effort.)

More people will be willing/able to give Gentoo a shot, I think.
Many may stick with it but I expect many who insist on a gui installer will not be happy with Gentoo in the long run...
Nothing can please all the people all the time, of course. ;)

Bottom line:
change is a requirement for ANYTHING.
Some changes work great- we call this growth.
Some changes don't work at all- we call this a mistake.
Sometimes changes simply define who and what we are dealing with a bit better.

But you gotta try, or else you stagnate and lose.

Anyway, that is the end of my little spiel; now if I can find an op on the irc channel I will volunteer to help in any way I can (probably just testing as I consider myself a terminal linux nOOb!)

Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the end result.

In response to: Installer Philosophy

Rob Levin [Visitor] — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 21:49:04 +0000

Hmmm, I know this may be a minority opinion, but I'd like to see some emphasis on 'easier' as well as 'faster.' Gentoo is a geeky distribution, but it's also a quality distribution. Making it easier might result in more traffic from "clueless newbie" types, and might make it possible for people unable to maintain a Gentoo system to install it—but it's also the first step toward making Gentoo more accessible.

No GNU/Linux distribution, whether intended to be or not, is entirely easy for an end-user to maintain; nobody has really "slam-dunked" the answers to that problem. When better answers come along, they'll be in the form of applications that Gentoo maintainers can package and Gentoo users can run. I have to think they'll accompanied by people willing to support them.

Ease of use in running the installer, accompanyed by the usual warnings that Gentoo is not a newbie distribution, help give those eventual answers a starting point. They're not going to make Gentoo less attractive to advanced users or create a nasty flood of newbies that can't be handled relatively easily....

In response to: Installer Philosophy

Ian Neubert [Visitor] — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 22:54:40 +0000

Just thought that I would 3rd the vote for speed/automation in the installer. I run 20 Gentoo boxes, and automation is the key. Can't wait to start testing the projects work!

In response to: Installer Philosophy

Seemant Kulleen [Member] — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 23:18:36 +0000

Andrew,

Well damn, that thing's pretty. But, really, I have to agree with your question -- what's the point/goal of the installer project? I think, for most (power)user type people, a scripted install is the most desirable. Like with throck, above, I have the same need at my new job.

Scripted, easy-to-automate for a mass roll-out type installs would be ubersexy, but wouldn't _looks_ as ubersexy as your gtk frontend, which really is gorgeous.

In response to: Installer Philosophy

throck [Visitor] — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:01:39 +0000

I'm interested in this project because I am looking for a way to install to a lot of machines. This would make that a little bit easier. :)

Just based on what I have seen from your screenshots it looks like this goes a long way towards "user-friendly". I agree with you that we still need the users to read the install guide, as that is the key to them knowing how their system works.

I'll have to vote for the option of including the install guide. That might be the best way. Hopefully it could even be an online live version rather than including a possibly outdated guide with the installer.

Just my 2 cents

throck

In response to: Installer Philosophy

DjMadness [Visitor] — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:31:44 +0000

Why dont you e.g have pastings under the actual install ?
So people then read them while installing ;)