A strategic question

[Erik Nørgaard]

Jozef Baum wrote:

> ... to install FreeBSD, one needs already a lot of knowledge about the
> system. To acquire that knowledge, one needs experience on an installed
> system. But to have an installed system, one needs already a lot of
> knowledge about the system. That's the problem.
> 
> The handbook doesn't tell you that, at the "last chance" message, you have
> to take out the boot CD and to insert CD 1. But if you don't do so, nothing
> gets installed.

1st: I don't think I have ever installed an unknown system and got it 
right the first time: OS/2, RedHat Linux, OpenBSD and FreeBSD.

I have always installed the system, used it about a month and then 
reinstalled.

So you install the system the best you can, then start learning your way 
around it and figure out what went wrong. First time, don't worry about 
things getting messed up, just don't throw it directly into production.

You might find yourself reinstalling a few times, but that's just part 
of the game.

2nd: It's true that the FreeBSD developers have not gone out of their 
way to make a sleek installer, but unlike other OS's, the installer is 
something you'll hardly ever use. I installed my laptop with 5.2.1 two 
years ago, since then I have continuously upgraded everything and run 
6.0 now, but I haven't used the installer at all.

So, there is a catch, those who use the installer has yet to get the 
experience to make it better and those who know how just don't have that 
itch scratching.

3rd: If there is an error or something missing then you can file a 
problem report for the documentation and explain what you find missing.

> I configured a German ISO keyboard, but many keys don't work correctly. One
> has to look with Google to find additional information about configuring a
> German keyboard.

Getting keyboards right is a science and one of the most frequently 
asked questions. The thing is that you have to deal with both keyboard 
and character sets, and further some programs let the user change the 
keyboard for that program only: emacs, pine, thunderbird.

While not particularly for german keyboard, there is an article about 
setting things up and you should be able to figure out the needed 
changes - heck the examples are for german!

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/euro/index.html

> The locate command did not work, as the locate database seemed to be
> corrupted. I had to figure out how to rebuild this database.

An all system you need to build/rebuild the locate database regularly.

> The root user had a csh, while ordinary users had a sh shell. I had to
> figure out how to provide the same shell to the root user and the other
> users, as all those virtual users are all one and the same person, me.

There is one principle you should adhere to on any system: Let root keep 
default settings. This is challenging at first, but in critical 
situations an advantage.

> I tried to setup an X Window environment (nVidia Geforce video adapter), but
> the horizontal and vertical refresh rates of the manufacturer didn't work, I
> had to experiment to find out the one X likes. Then I could startup X, only
> to not having configured at all my German keyboard.

see the above article, it also have the part covering X11.

> I tried to install emacs during installation, but it didn't succeed.
> Returning to the post-installation tasks after having installed the system
> resulted in a successfull installation of emacs (working only after a system
> reboot).

Well, this is where sometimes you install, gain some experience and 
reinstall. Anyway, there is no reason you have to get everything 
installed at install time.

I have learned to prefer a lean system at install and then add stuff as 
needed. Otherwise I allways end up with lots of crap that I don't need.

> Why is it that FreeBSD people, who seem to be perfectly able to formulate
> correct algorithms for implementing UNIX concepts, and translating them into
> code, don't care at all about a novice user, providing him with an
> installation program that doesn't work as it should, even without a GUI?

As another stated this: It seems you want the system to think your way - 
which more or less requires the developers to think your way.

This is obviously unrealistic and unreasonable to require - but your 
luck is that unlike other operating systems, you can make FreeBSD behave 
as you like it.

> I know UNIX is all about solving problems, but is it really interesting to
> make it apparently deliberatly so difficult for a newcomer? Is it really the
> policy of those guys to make the entry level to UNIX difficult, only to
> avoid a breakthrough of UNIX (FreeBSD) to the desktop users?

I don't think anyone makes things difficult on purpose. but as above 
statement, their brain might just not work like yours. Not better, nor 
worse, just different.

And there is no "avoding breakthrough to desktop" - I have used FreeBSD 
on my desktop, laptop actually, for three years. Before that I used 
RedHat for 4 years.

> I cannot
> imagine that people capable of developing such a complex operating system as
> Unix are unable to offer newcomers a correct and easy install procedure. But
> probably, that's not their concern.

Exactly - as mentioned above.

> Please, guys, if you want FreeBSD to survive and to become not only a server
> OS, but also a desktop OS, realize that you are going the wrong way by
> annoying newcomers with a puzzle.

Actually I think FreeBSD is the best desktop system ever! It's long been 
a myth that FreeBSD is only for servers.

Cheers, Erik
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