Re: Newbie Idea

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

> 
> On 27 Apr 1999 jfm2@club-internet.fr wrote:
> 
> > I disagree with Donovan here not about dropping packages (I already
> > explained why it we should not make Indy, at least the real version, a
> > crippled distrib) but I remeber being confused in front of a distrib
> > who had tons of software like 6 web servers so I skipped package after
> > packege I was not interested in and ended missing what I was looking.
> 
> perhaps one way we could "have it both ways" would be to put "redundant"
> packages on a second CD and not have them show up in the install. 
> 

When treating with newbies whenever possible you must allow them to
choose car's color provided it is black.  Also every economist will
tell you about decreasing marginal usefulness: the usefulness of a 6th
web server is close to zero and even negative by the fact it confuses
people.

> > No don't, this is supposed to be a distribution made by users for
> > users not a distrib made by an elite telling the unwashed masses what
> 
> I hope I didn't sound like "the elite", ugh. Actually, end users really
> have an eye for things that experienced users overlook. This "package
> selection" dilemma is a good example. Thinking about it more deeply, I am
> starting to feel like the "uninformed" were right all along. But coming up
> with a solution that will work is something of a challenge.
> 

I don't think so but the reply looked like him feeling chastized that
is why I emphasized the "democratic" nature of the project.

> I think I remember being able to find the F1-package descriptions as a
> newbie, but some of the packages ( eg "UUCP", "bind", "NIS"   ) were just
> beyond my comprehension at the time, so I just selected everything. 
> 

At this  time there were no "workstation" installs

> > I agree about Indy 0.1 (and 0.2) being far from what is needed but for
> > one part we didn't have lots of {,wo}manpower and in addition Indy is
> > a distrib who needs to be on end user stores and with paper doc coming
> > with it in order to be of use for the people we target.  Until then we
> 
> one thing we can do ( I can make a start ) is write some docs about the
> "groups" of packages, what those groups mean, and who might want to use
> which groups of packages. 
> 
> The group descriptions are a little confusing in places ( I am still a
> little confused by the meaning of "X windows with emacs". I guess it
> means the athena build of emacs ... )
> 

It was for VI users not selecting it.

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

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