Re: The case for FreeBSD

On Monday 07 February 2005 07:48 pm, supraexpress_at_globaleyes.net wrote:
> One of the main "stumbling blocks" to using FreeBSD is the
> installation process. I have had "lots of fun" (not!) with NetBSD's
> line-mode/shell-script "installer" and confusing companion
> installation instructions, in the past; I only tried OpenBSD once and
> don't remember anything about its installation process, but I seem to
> recall that it was similar to NetBSD's; FreeBSD's 'DOS-like menu'
> system is a travisty and IS PROBABLY THE ONE THING THAT TURNS OFF
> MORE PROSPECTIVE FBSD USERS THAN ANYTHING ELSE - I know - I have
> heard!

Well, this may be true, but I dunno, I had less problems installing 
FreeBSD than many Linux distros, and I found the process less 
confusing. It has nothing to do with graphics, at least not for me. A 
good installation from the end-user perspective doesn't necessarily 
need a GUI installer, unless that's your market, and even then, a 
text-based installation can be designed in a way that is less confusing 
than most GUI installations. UI designers are really dealing with 
interfaces, and text is just another interface. It can be made less 
cryptic, but, personally, I found it pretty easy to use, at least for 
all its reputation. And, really, do UNIX admins want this? You might 
risk frustrating them, and AFAIK that's the primary user-base right 
now.

I think what would help users is a better way to configure xorg/XFree86, 
and a GUI would help in that case, but that's almost an entirely 
different issue.

The *one* issue I have with the installation is that creating 
user-defined slices during the process is not clear at all. I have 
never been successful doing this. I end up going with the defaults and 
re-slice later, out of frustration. For some reason my changes never 
"take," and I'm stuck watching the installation fail, instead of being 
warned that there is nothing to write to - this is actually odd 
behavior, as I would expect some major "ARE YOU SURE?" type message if 
you don't have any writable slices mounted and you try to install. I am 
not a *nix guru, but I've installed many distros of Linux and haven't 
had this issue with them (however, many don't have default settings, so 
the fact that FreeBSD does is nice).

- jt