Re: Why is Desktop NetBSD a threat to NetBSD?

[David Brownlee <abs%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Sat, 14 Feb 2009, markucz%gmail.com@localhost wrote:

> So far I don't understand what kind of users Desktop NetBSD is targeting:
> 1) users who need some job done without much fuss;
> 2) new users who want a shiny desktop with all kinds of bells & whistles
> and find CLI intimidating.
>
> So far I get the impression it's 2). The wiki says the goal is to have a
> "basic, working desktop environment". However, it will require
> >    d) ... a modern PC with a single large (>50GB) disk and plenty of RAM.
> Eh?! Wasn't it supposed to be "basic"? Not everyone has a modern PC with that
> much disk space and lots of RAM. Besides, I don't see how GNOME fits into
> this description. It has lots of messy dependencies, the worst of which is
> HAL (or so I hear).

        You missed out the primary goal:

        Given a NetBSD CD and a reasonably modern x86 computer, make it
        possible to install a useful desktop system in under 15 minutes,
        responding to only a few prompts in the process.

        The project is focussing on providing an environment for someone
        with that reasonably modern x86 computer which will have a lot
        of diskspace and ram. If you have a machine without a lot of
        diskspace and ram, then the full netbsd-desktop package would
        not be suitable for you. Some of the changes for netbsd-desktop
        will involve improvements to other packages from which you may
        benefit.

        There is nothing to stop people from adding an xfce or WindowMaker
        based desktop setup which could be selected instead. I encourage
        you to contribute towards such if you are interested.

> >    e) OS branding, x86 only
> >
> >        Pretty boot screen and progress bar. Aha - now this I would
> >        turn off, and I would hope the 'expert' install choice would
> >        default it to off.
> Fine, as long as it doesn't require tweaking the kernel and bootloader.

        I would expect the bootloader could support either based on
        a runtime config file, which could be set to 'pretty' for the
        default netbsd-desktop install and 'traditional' otherwise.

> >    i) add essential tools into system base
> >
> >        Talks about adding a basic text html browser and possibly screen
> >        or tmux into the base. I would prefer to see screen left in
> >        pkgsrc, though I could go either way on a text html browser in
> >        base...
>
> Please don't. There's already another thread about adding ee to base. If you
> want simple editor, basic web browser and such like, put them in a separate
> set (tools.tgz, utils.tgz, whatever).

        I would be happy to see a text web browser and other tools in
        a separate package which gets pulled in optionally, but th
        easy to use editor is a special case (however, that is best
        continued in that other thread)

> I don't object to Desktop NetBSD as such, I just don't want it messing with
> the base system and making *any* (significant) changes to /etc. No hard
> feelings.

        Lets look at the features when they are proposed and deal with
        them on a case by case basis - I suspect there will be some
        options which provide minor benefits for a lot fo churn in
        /etc which are not worth doing, and some which may provide
        real benefits for an added file or two which should go in.

--
                David/absolute       -- www.NetBSD.org: No hype required --