Re: Analysis of 6.1

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

> 
> On Thu, 21 Oct 1999, JF Martinez wrote:
> >
> > It has a graphical installation but if you don't happen to be using a
> > PS/2 mouse you are dropped without asking in console install and this
> > one has several shortcomings one of them being that it asks you for
> > the keyboard but does nothing or that there is zero description of the
> > packages installed (this is not true in graphics mode).
> >
> Wow! That's not so good.

But realtively easy to fix, at least for the package description bug.

> > 
> > When upgrading it has a bug who will prevent from doing so if an NTFS
> > partition is present.  Solution is to cahnge partition identifier to
> > Win95 and restore it when you have finished.
> >
> Red Hat's Eric Troan has been posting bug fixes for some of these
> problems on the RH mailing list for the past two days.
> > 

I know

> > It has a nice PPP configurator based on wvdialconf but it does not
> > configure DNS.
> >
> I have been meaning to look at the pppd source but have not done it
> yet. I guess I will need to have a look. I've been busy with family
> projects as of late.
> > 

I have discovered that the ppp daemon has a usepeerdns parm that will
have the ip-up script being run with two environment variables DNS1
and DNS2.  It is then trivial to set the resolv.conf adequately.

In fact the only problem is hacking the config software dfor setting a
parm allowing auto-configuration of DNS.  Some users on LANs could not
want it.

The other problem is that I am paranoid: I think in what happens when
X does not work and I don't like the idea of the user not having a
console-based tool for PPP

While we are at it I really dislike having the modem beep loudly when
it connects: if you are using late at night you will awkaan the entire
household.  Is the parm for silent mode a standard one or does it vary
on a per model base?  In the first case we could set this up or at
least allow the user to ask it.


> > It also has some nice usability features like CDs who mount and run
> > aprogram when you insert them or detection of hardware changes.
> > 
> > Ciurse of action should be to fix those bugs, try to provide something
> > for DNS autodetection and do oit as fast as ppossible.  A problem
> > given the size of the team.
> > 
> I'm wondering Jean. With all the current problems in the new nstall. Do
> you think we ought to just use the old 6.0 installer but upgrade to
> the new 6.1 features and wait for all the fixes to be completed and/or
> use the Lizard installer later?
> 

Perhaps it would be wiser.  Do a console install without the bells and
whistles of the new one but who wouldn't put uis out of schedule
another time.  But I would like making a front end for wvdial using
dialog so we could use it in the new install instead of the mediocre
tool I "stole" from turbolinux.

> As you stated, given the size of the team, I don't know if we can fix
> all the problem's in a reasonable amount of time. The install was one
> of our issues to begin with. If the new installer is full of bugs, I
> say we don't use it.
> 

I  would tend to agree, we could fix it in a second release.

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

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