Re: Install 'wizard'

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Roman Suzi wrote:
> 
> All those so called 'wizards' (and especially in Java, which in
> itself is hard to keep up to date) is false caring of the users
> needs.
> [...]
> I feel like all those wizards only make things difficult.
> [...]
> I  also  think  that  school  computers  must   be   setup   by
> specialists, not by CS teachers. This is true for every OS.
> 
> Additional software could be installed by teachers. In Linux it
> could be more convenient and efficient if done by distro's  own
> package management.

In general I agree with you about wizards not being a great idea.  I
threw this out only as a "for your information" message.  However, at
least from what I've seen, most school computers _will_ be set up by CS
teachers whether that's best or not.  Very often there are no
specialists available to do it for them.  In that case some sort of more
intuitive install may be a good idea.  I understand RedHat 5.2 is pretty
good in this respect.  I'll know more when I get and install it.

As to additional software, I agree that something like GnoRPM makes this
quite easy.  The only problem is if the school uses a distro that
doesn't understand RPMs, or if they have a good portion of non-x86
hardware running Linux, the could have trouble using such a program. 
That's why I think something like Installfest, which provides a GUI
wrapper to a standard "autoconf ./configure make make install" program
compilation and installation may be the best way to distribute things. 
At least it should be included along with RPMs for the major platforms
(which should be at least i386 and ppc).

-- 
Doug Loss                 It is impossible to imagine Goethe
Data Network Coordinator  or Beethoven being good at billiards
Bloomsburg University     or golf.
dloss@bloomu.edu                H. L. Mencken