The Website

[Aaron Siegel]

Hello

I would introduce a new idea to the discussion, rather than putting the your 
effort and immense talents into creating a webpage channel into a new 
interface for FreeBSD.  I do not mean creating a GUI or anything like the 
commercial linuxes have tried. A HTML./XML interface that can be used to 
guide one through FreeBSD and the opensource world and allow you to interact 
with your system.  The web interface has revolutionized the embedded gateways 
and routers. Why shouldn't this interface be applied to the PC and PC server? 
I am not a computer professional or web page design so I will not be able to 
get to technical. I know there are  projects out there that try to create a 
web based configuration program, I have tried one of them, I think it can be 
done better. 

I see this interface can be used in three ways, for  promotion of the system, 
installation, and extending FreeBSD use the people who prefer  graphical 
interface.

1.  Functional Servers on a Disc - create a promotional CD-Rom and floppy that 
boots a full functional FreeBSD server.   After the system is booted the user 
can go to their desktop, pull up the interface and let the guide lead them 
trough the configuration process.  A functional, diskless server, ftp, web, 
NFS, ssh, router, DNS name server, Samba fileserver, firewall .....

2. The Installations -  I really like sysinstall as long as I do not try to do 
to much with it.   When I need to do a fresh install I like to do a minimal 
installation with sysinstall, install only the system. Reboot the computer to 
perform the configuration and install all the packages. This gives the 
ability to know what I am getting and with the proper guidance is not any 
more difficult. The interface would provide that guidance, one would do a 
basic install, and perform the configuration at desktop or a local web 
browser.

3. Administering - I perfer command line and text files so I will leave this 
to your imagination.  

There are many technical issues, this is not the place to discuss. I just 
wanted to share my ideas see if anyone else might be intrested.  Anymore 
discusion on this should be moved to a different thread. 

 I could probably develop small pieces of the project, but I do not have the 
experience to start the whole project.

  

On Monday 29 March 2004 10:55 pm, Charon wrote:
> What are the obstacles along the way to adopting a more
> corporate/professional appeal in the layout of the freebsd.org website?
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