fast rate of major FreeBSD releases to STABLE

[Jeremy Chadwick]

On Thu, May 17, 2007 at 05:51:07PM +0100, Gavin Atkinson wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-05-17 at 16:30 +0100, Chris wrote:
> > A more user friendly installer so datacentres stop been put off FreeBSD.
> 
> Although work on a new installer is "ongoing", nobody ever seems to be
> clear what the problems are with the current installer that they are
> trying to fix.  I believe PC-BSD uses a different installer, which is
> the current candidate, although I personally prefer the current one.
> I'm guessing a new installer never make everybody happy.

As someone who has had to show many people "how" to use the FreeBSD
installer, I can confirm what Chris is referring to.

Here's some of the generic end-user complaints I've heard (and some
of which I have);

1) Difficult to tell what's in-focus (selectiom menu vs. OK/Cancel)
   on the screen.  This could be solved by using a different colour
   for the selection area (instead of blue, use something like
   cyan/teal), I think.

2) Many buttons are labelled "Cancel" rather than "Go Back".  Some
   cancel the entire operation (go back to the main menu), others
   go back a step.  Users find this inconsistency to be confusing.

3) Conflicting definitions of keypresses in the menu vs. the OK/Cancel
   box at the bottom.  For example, under Keymap, one of the menu
   items is labelled (C)entral European ISO, while "C" is also used
   for (C)ancel, depending upon which focus/menu context you're in.
   This confuses people.

4) Some Cancel/Abort items are labelled (C)ancel, others are (X)Exit.
   Make up your mind; people want a consistent key!

5) I forget which stage of the installation this happens in, but
   when choosing Cancel/Abort, the dialog you get asks you if you
   want to continue with the operation or abort.  If you choose
   abort, it reboots the machine.  This seems unnecessary.

6) I'll point out that you can hit "X" to jump to the "Exit" (go
   back) menu item, but *only* if that menu item is visible on the
   screen.  I've heard numerous complaints about that as well (and
   personally I agree with it).

7) The Options menu area requires you to scroll all the way to the
   bottom of the left column of options, and further down past it
   to reach the right column.  Users hit the Right Arrow key to
   go to the right column, which does nothing.

8) Video console is 80x25.  I am quite happy with this myself, but
   some others want something larger.  This gets complex since to
   get something larger I believe we require use of VESA.  I thought
   I'd mention it anyways.

9) Lack of mouse support in the menus.  I haven't confirmed this,
   but it seems to me that based on the installer's look, people
   expect the mouse to work.  I personally don't like the mouse (I
   find gpm to be better/more responsive/capable than moused.), but
   their point is still valid.

-- 
| Jeremy Chadwick                                    jdc at parodius.com |
| Parodius Networking                           http://www.parodius.com/ |
| UNIX Systems Administrator                      Mountain View, CA, USA |
| Making life hard for others since 1977.                  PGP: 4BD6C0CB |