Re: Some thoughts on SEUL

[jfm2@club-internet.fr]

> 
> I have recently purchased a copy of RedHat Linux 5.0 and Debian 1.3 and
> here are a few thoughts on them (I leave Slackware out because that is
> my
> main Linux installation).
> 
> DEBIAN:
> The list has been promulgating the benifits of Debian dselect.  My own
> personnel observation on it is that it is a mish-mash.  The user
> interface
> suffers from lack of user friendliness.  For those that don't have
> Debian's
> dselect it basically presents you with a screen that lists all available
> 
> programs (also called packages) on the CD-Rom.
> The interface, as mentioned above gives a listing of all the packages
> available on the CD, but at least to me, in a vary strange manner.  When
> 
> attempting to install a package after the basic install all uninstalled
> packages
> are listed last, by major grouping (which also seems to be the
> directories
> on the CD-ROM).  This was somewhat of an annoyance to me because
> I found it difficult to find what I wanted to install.

Dselect is a real horror.  Not a definitive argument however because it
will be replaced in future Debians.

> Next point, the vaulted dependencies.  I don't understand this at all.
> I had
> assumed that once you installed a program it would work, alas this is
> not
> the case.  For example, after doing a basic install that included X, I
> couldn't
> get X started.  Don't know why, but there you go.

I guess you were supposed to configure it.

> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> After messing around with Debian for a few days I decided to replace it
> with ...................
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> REDHAT:
> After my problems with dselect I was kind of dreading installing REDHAT
> 5.0
> but the installation went without a hitch (well alright one small
> hitch.  Redhat
> includes a fdisk replacement program which got me totally confussed,
> even
> with the correct inputs it still insisted on using drive C (or /dev/hda
> for all you

You mean Druid?  I have used it without any problem to partition drive
D.  It was very obedient :-).  It is certainly easier than fdisk or
cfdisk and in addition it handles "mkfsing" and mount point
configuration. 

An idea for improvement would be to have Druid advise about
partitionning issues or even to have a full automatic mode.

> *NIX hardcore).  Don't know why, it just did.
> Anyhow after that one hitch it installed exceptionally easily.  Hit
> return a few
> time, make a few choices and it was done. Total time was about 25
> minutes (I know
> this because the installation program has a little countdown timer on it
> {nice touch}).
> Redhat Unlike Debian dumps you right into X so it appears that the
> dependencies
> work better in Redhat than they do in Debian.

The new Xconfigurator detects the hardware you have and selects the
right X server.  You only have to tell the resolutions you are
comfortable with and even if sometimes not perfect you are running.

> I next attempted to add a program and was informed by the package
> manager that
> my  cdrom did not exist.  Not quite as good as Debian which at least got
> my cdrom
> drive (which by the way is an ATAPI drive).  So a small change to
> /etc/fstab and I
> had a cdrom drive again.

GLINT does not mount the peripheral.  However you can use the autofs
to have the CDROM mounted as soon as a program (like GLINT) moves to a
subdirectory of the mount point.

> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> OVERALL INSTALLATION IMPRESSIONS
> Redhat beats out Debian hands down.  Where Debian requires that you have
> up to
> 8 3.5 disks set aside Redhat lets you install from the CD-ROM (through
> the use
> of scripts that last of which runs loadlin).  This is a good idea (TM)

If you can boot from CDROM nor RH nor Debian require flopppies.  If
you can't then RH wins: 1 floppy most time, 2 if you are unlucky.

> and should be
> incorporated into SEUL.  Once the basic installation(s) has been
> completed Debian
> dumps you on the command line (a small gripe here, both Debian and
> Redhat do not
> use the colorize version of LS which is a bummer) whereas Redhat dumps
> you into
> X.

Colorizing requires ls doing additional work: stating the file and
sometimes opening it.  So RH ships a version with colored support but
does not sets the environment variable LS_COLOR activating the
feature.

-- 
			Jean Francois Martinez

"For drinking muddy water if that is the water of truth,
            for that the camel is needed"