>
> Firstly, size: One of sysinstall's requirements is that it fit (along
> with a variety of other related commands) onto a floppy disk. Last
> time I checked, the /stand bundle (sysinstall + friends) was ~640K.
> The smallest X-server (XF86_VGA16) is 1.7MB (plus libraries). I don't
> have either Qt or Lesstif installed, but from previous dealings with
> Motif, it's several times the size of the Xserver. Unless we want to
> mandate the use of ZIP drives (or similar) as FreeBSD install
> floppies, we're limited to a syscons (or VTxxx) sysinstall.
This manages to overlook the fact that the installer has to have a feed
to a much larger source of data in order to actually perform the
installation.
> The second problem is that X11 needs a fair amount of configuration
> before it will work. Whilst the VGA16 server forms a convenient
> lowest-common-denominator position, it offers no real advantages over
> a character-mode installation (same screen resolution and number of
> colours) and significantly poorer performance.
You're welcome to look at the technology demonstrators currently in use
by RedHat and Caldera if you think that this is impossible.
> Given the primary mission of sysinstall is to load FreeBSD, I'd
> go so far as to say that developing an X version would be wasting
> valuable developer resources (IMHO, of course).
It's a painful tradeoff between functionality and flash. The latter is
an unfortunate necessity if we are to avoid looking hopelessly outdated.
--
\\ Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. \\ Mike Smith
\\ Tell him he should learn how to fish himself, \\ msmith@freebsd.org
\\ and he'll hate you for a lifetime. \\ msmith@cdrom.com
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