Re: Teacher Package

[rnd@sampo.karelia.ru]

Hi!

I think, its a little overkill  (school  distro).  A  bunch  of
appropriate rpm's + a README in what order to install  them  is
enough.

And I can tell you why. Because good  Linux  installation  (and
any other system installation) must be made by a more  or  less
expert.

And all the expert need is a bunch of programs  available  over
what "standard" distro offer.  For  example,  After  installing
RedHat I at once installed a  20-30  item  list  of  additional
rpms, which were "prescribed" before hand. The  only  exception
was fetchmail, which did not work and I got an update.

So, it's hard to make

rpm -hiv somepack.rpm

easier, IMHO!

Why? Because if after initial install (made by a profi) techers
will want to add something, they will alerady know that uniform
way to do it (in rpm-empowered system) is to use rpm with a  -i
or -U switch! No need to mess with something else.

So, excuse me, but I can't  see  how  GUIfying  the  ONE  short
and universal command could make things easier..!

Of course, additional 'configurative' rpm could be prepared  to
facilitate the setup. (for example, there was calderize.rpm  in
Caldera Linux)...

There is also a mechanism of 'kickstart' in RedHat.  This  way,
one can control what to install and  what  to  not  already  at
install. I have not investigated it, but I  think  it  is  very
useful for automatic mass installs in the school Linux labs.

In summary, its easier and more long-term effective to teach  a
teacher to find things on the web and use rpm than to make some
special overhead. So, teacher package is only  good  if  it  is
just a bunch of selected rpm's + short descriptions  what  they
are for.


Sincerely yours, Roman Suzi
--
Russia * Karelia * Petrozavodsk
Sunday, January 24, 1999 * Powered by Linux RedHat 5.1
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