Re: Newbie Idea

[JF Martinez <jfm2@club-internet.fr>]

> 
> 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.
> 

THe Mandrake team is working in Paris.  I also know where they are,
ask your friend if he wants I killl them ;-)

> 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".
> 

None of us ever dared to tesst the cannned installs and this will not
change until we get a spare disk and disconnect the normal ones before
installing.

It seemed me obvious the install should ask for confirmation (and I
hoped the Mandrake/RedHat/Indy did it).  What I didn't think about was
in modifying the install for making possible to not remove partitions.

> 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.
> 

There is also an "Install everything" when ou selct by groups so
server should _not_ be used for that purpose.  "Install everything"
installs docs in Japanese and Indonesian thus it is great for learning
foreign languages. :-)

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

Project Independence: Linux for the Masses
http://www.independence.seul.org