Re: Newbie Idea

[Kevin Sproul <forgeltd@usa.net>]

Donovan Rebbechi wrote:
> 
> On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, Sharp, Lee wrote:
> 
> >    I will work on it.  This means I have to install it a lot more. :-)
> > As a side...  The "canned" installs will not work for a duel boot!  We
> 
> I think the canned "workstation" install preserves all non-linux
> partitions ( it just nukes any existing linux partitions )
> 
> The canned "server" install clears *all* partitions ( the people choosing
> the server install shouldn't be dual-booting anyway ... )

Nope.  A friend of mine cried for 2 hours when Mandrake did this to 
his Machine.  Why ?  It is his main box and he primarily plays on it.
He had Netware, NT-S, NT-W, Win-95 and 2 other Linux installations on 
the system.

It shult be clear and obvious how to use a caned installation without
touching any existing partitions.  This means a screen in red that says
"We want to remove all existing partitions and install Linux.  If you
wish to keep some of the existing partitions and some of the data you
already have then you can manually select where to install".

If he selects manual partitioning it drops you into something like that 
program from RedHat 5.x.  He must still be able to run fdisk anyway.

All this without affecting his choice of a "canned install" other than
to say whether he has declared enough space for the chosen install.

You see a caned install is not simply a "brain free" installation.  It
is also a time saver for those who will be using most apps included 
in the system, don't want just all the redundant junk and really have 
things to do other than pick and choose through 500 RPMS.