Richard Rauch said:

>I'm not so sure about the idea of putting KDE on an install CD.  In any
>case, it's worth keeping straight that KDE is *not* a window manager; twm
>is a window manager.  KDE is a desktop; it happens to include a window
>manager, as well as a suite of integrated tools and toys.

You're right. In practice I favor the old, orginal FVWM, configured to look
like motif, with 16 desktops. I do have KDE on my -current i386 box, but I
figure that it's a good way to stress the system. :-)

My suggestion of KDE was just a suggestion of a desktop that a lot of users
know about.

>IMHO, a traditional install CD, with a companion packages CD, is best.
>If one really wants a ``pop the CD in, and get something that has NetBSD
>buried in it somewhere but looks and feels like an unbelievably stable
>version of a Microsoft product'' thing, then a dual CD might be best: One
>traditional installation CD (from which install sets can be fetched) and
>one ``Microsoft-killer'' CD (from which a set of packages and
>configurations can be fetched to provide things such as a desktop,
>TeX/LyX/GhostScript, software development tools, etc.).

Yes, I still would want a traditional NetBSD CD. 

>Providing things like the heretic2-demo might also be good.  (Is that
>still available?  I heard that the company that ported it to GNU/LINUX is
>no longer in business.  But if the binary can still be downloaded, it's a
>nice game-demo...if one is going to contemplate including KDE, certainly
>slick games should go in, too.  (^&)

Loki has gone down the tubes.

>I think that this would better be done with a kind of meta-package system.
>Well, second-best.  *Best* is just to inform users about pkgsrc and let
>them do what they like, IMHO.  (^&

I guess we have to decide what kind of user we want to attract.

With Sun delaying Solaris 9 x86, there will be people looking for a new
OS. There is a lot of Linux talk going on in alt.solaris.x86.

>So, I guess that the upshot is:
>
>XFree86 configuration probably isn't going to be a major hurdle.  I don't
>know if the auto-configuration is anywhere near reliable enough to count
>on it from sysinst, but it certainly could make life easier for many
>end-users.

Yes. I have 4.1.0 on one of my systems and it was pretty easy to set up.
The main hitch is if the aperture driver is needed.

>I don't care for the idea of tying KDE too closely to NetBSD.  I'd also be
>leery of accidentally creating the impression that NetBSD endorses KDE, or
>has integrated it, or that it is ``the'' way that people should use X on
>NetBSD.

Maybe something else like windowmaker?

-- 
Rick Kelly  rmk@rmkhome.com  www.rmkhome.com