Suggested option for the DVD Installer

[Rob Diamond]

Hi Guys,

I would like to suggest an option for an MBR install on the current 10.1 
DVD installer image. Some background:

I'm a refugee from the Linux systemd wars.

I have been running Gentoo for 10-15 years, but finally got fed up with 
the problems of keeping my system up to date. If I left the system for a 
couple of months then any attempt to upgrade something/everything would 
block because of intertwined dependencies and the fast pace of updates 
to packages. So a few months ago, after trying various other Linux 
distros I installed Linux Mint. It's dead easy to install, sound, video, 
printers work pretty well out of the box. But I hate the complexity of 
everything, and the way it's starting to look like Windoze:

- grub2, with its unreadable config file and convoluted set-up and 
update (Yeah, I know I could RTFM, but I don't want to waste a couple of 
hours working out how to change some settings when I'll forget in a 
couple of days).
- the "quiet, splash" default boot option, with the mindless jiggling 
logo instead of being able to see what's going on.
- the byzantine complexity of systemd (Yeah, I know I could RTFM, but I 
don't want to waste a couple of months working out how to change some 
settings when I'll forget in a couple of seconds).
- etc, etc

BTW I'm NOT a FreeBSD noob. I started off installing 386BSD on a PC-AT 
(if there's anyone here young enough to remember that !), and I've got 
the Walnut Creek CDROMs for FreeBSD 2.0 and 2.2 in my bottom drawer.

However, I had a problem getting FreeBSD to install on my "test" PC. The 
motherboard is a few years old, and the BIOS has no clue about GPT 
partioning. I first tried the default install, but (and it takes a long 
time to boot and install off DVD) after rebooting my BIOS couldn't find 
an OS. I tried Googling for a clue, but as usual the problem is that 
there's way too much information out there and most of it is not 
current. So next I tried partitioning with gpart and setting up an MBR 
disk, but I kept getting complaints about the partition not being 4k 
aligned. So then I tried using the "Expert mode" patitioning, but I put 
a swap partition first, so.. no boot. Finally I found something that 
said to make sure "/" was the first partition, and (after re-booting and 
installing for the umpteenth time) I was in business.

It would have been much easier if there was a default MBR partioning 
option, with a label saying something like "MBR partitioning for older 
hardware", which would give installers a clue, and which got the user 
going with the first (or second) install.

We can't afford to put people off by making it difficult to get their 
first installation running - once you have a working system it's easier 
to learn about various aspects of the OS. But expecting inexperienced 
people with older hardware to be able to work out how to partition an 
MBR disk is unrealistic. They'll just give up and go back to something 
like Ubuntu.

My 2 cents worth.

Best Regards,

Rob Diamond.