At 10:36 PM 8/3/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello!
>
>First, let me say that having to untick all the boxes to get the "Holy
>Minimal Install" is inefficient, not to say ridiculous.
>
>====> What should I answer when a person, who want me to install Linux
>onto his computer, drop his jaws by learning it will takes about 2 GB?
>
>I usually try to convince the above person that they will get "some"
>applications, but in fact, I do not understand why a standard install
>takes up so much disk space. Basically, all they want is :
> - KDE
> - GIMP
> - XMMS
> - Mozilla
> - a few basic games
> - a word processor.
>
>So, I always select packages by hand, and that takes A LOT OF TIME, and
>then my beginner ask :
> "Wooow, does Linux really need all that stuff?"
>
>Then he begins to think that Linux is not an OS for him, that Windows is
>SO MUCH EASIER, and all the likes... Think about it, please.
>
>Gr�goire
Minimal install? Mandrake the way it is now just wouldn't do. Try Caldera
or better yet Slackware and/or Debian distros. Don't condemn Linux just yet
since Mandrake certainly does not represent the entire "Linux" community. I
suggest that Mandrake should study how Slackware and Debian group their
packages, and Debian for its ooh so smooth installation routine (while you
are choosing optional packages it already starts to install the required
packages and you could even play games while waiting for install to
finish). Red Hat 7.1 is even much better than Mandrake 8.0, in installation
experience that is.
These past months i've been evaluating all the distros i could lay my hands
on for a possible alternative gui desktop environment (I've tried 4 so far.
Here are my personal opinions:
Best Package Organization: Slackware
With Slackware you can choose from the start which kernel to load, bare
ide, bare scsi ,etc. Choosing applications is also a breeze (non-gui apps
or gui apps), whereas in Mandrake, most of the time you wouldn't even have
a clue whether its an X or a console apps. What i can't understand is with
a default install of just the Workstation and KDE Environment checked in
Mandrake, the install size is over 1GB whereas Caldera, Debian and
Slackware are so much smaller (especially the last 2).
Best Installation Routine: Caldera
Best Desktop: None. they all failed in the font WYSIWIG category.
BTW if you are looking for a lean web, ftp, mail, firewall, gateway server
machine (no gui though), try E-Smith Linux. My install weighed in only at
around 290MB.
