Re: Desktop NetBSD needs your help

["Andrew Ball" <aball%students.prairiestate.edu@localhost>]

Hello Andrew,

   AD> For those new to NetBSD the early user experience can
     > be poor. This is especially true when coming from a
     > Windows/Mac/Linux background.

    Isn't the "user experience" necessarily limited by the
need to support platforms where the console might literally
be a VT-102 hanging from a serial port?  That's not to say a
text-based sysinst can't be friendly, but NetBSD may not be
free to make the same assumptions as a PC-bound operating
system.

  AD> While basically sound, the installer asks many
    > detailed questions and is unintuitive.

    If your project aims to dumb down sysinst, I hope that
there will at least be an "I know what I'm doing" option for
those of us who just want to get the job done quickly,
without having to go back and undo assumptions made by a
dumbed-down installer.

  AD> If new users persevere and install the system, they
    > are left with a 1980s-style text prompt...

    That's part of the appeal for me.  NetBSD doesn't make
assumptions about what I'm going to be using a host for: it
installs the bare operating system and then gets out of my
way. An easier way to check out the NetBSD source and pkgsrc
might be a nice addition though, especially for new people.

  AD> The learning curve is steep.

Almost vertical. Welcome to unix.

- Andy Ball.