> On Oct 1, 2015, at 11:51 AM, Eric Auer <e.a...@jpberlin.de> wrote: > > > Hi Jerome, > > basically the "is the newest DOS already installed" check > has to wait for the target selection. Plus it should not > be necessary to use black magic* for this: I would prefer > if the installer only checks if a DOS with LSM & package > manager data structures is installed or not. Then other > aspects of how new which package is can be handled by the > package manager itself anyway.
What I have in mind for the test is extremely simple. Only test the version of an C:\FDOS\VERSION.FDI file. This file could easily be created at the end of the install. It would only cause the installer to not automatically start when booting the install media. Running the installer from the command line bypasses this test already. If the user uses advanced options to install to a different location, deletes the file or runs setup.bat manually, the test fails causing the installer to continue running. Basically, this test is only for normal users that do a default install and happen to either leave the media inserted or are wishing to boot from the media for recovery options. > > Regarding the partition check: I agree that automatic is > too dangerous. This is exactly why I suggest that even a > menu option to start FDISK or FORMAT should NOT be visible > by default. It should ONLY be visible after making sure > that the target disk does not contain any partitions yet. > > In all other cases, I suggest to leave the installer and > give the user full choice of what to do next - the user > could start FDISK or FORMAT manually, or the user (which > would be a better choice IMHO) could use GPARTED of Linux > or the partition manager of Windows to non-destructively > add a FAT32 partition for DOS without damaging others :-) It doesn’t just run them. It asks if you would like to run them or exit the installer. Agreed there are some really nice partitioning tools out there. Many the ship on LiveCD’s. > >> The Default "Quick and Friendly” version will NOT offer a list >> of drive targets. However, it may make it into the advanced mode >> at some point. > > You could make C:\FDOS the default and still make the field > editable, to avoid having too many easy/advanced differences. Only in the advanced installer. (once I have time to write the vask utility in V8PT) From my understanding of what Jim wants, he wants (in basic mode) the user to experience as few questions and options as possible. So, if you have already partitioned and formatted a clean drive C:, then boot the installer (leaving it in basic mode), you basically will get this: Welcome to installer, continue? Would you like a base or full install? With or without sources? Ready to install, continue? Thank you. Were done, reboot? (I feel that in basic mode base/full + with/without sources should be one question with 4 options) > > Cheers, Eric :) > > PS: Checking for already installed DOS is mostly to avoid > boot loops when the user forgets to remove the CD after a > DOS install and reboot and even then the user may want to > re-run the installer if they have forgotten some packages. PPS: That and for recovery because really messed up your config or autoexec. > >> Let’s take the rare Multi-Boot scenario. Using Grub, Lilo or other boot >> loader: >> >> BIOS drive 0x80, has windows ntfs and an extended linux, swap and fat 32 >> partition. >> BIOS drive 0x81, has freedos and extended fat 32 partition. >> >> FreeDOS will assign the drives like this: >> >> BIOS 0x80, ??, ??, ?? and D: >> BIOS 0x81, C: and E: >> >> Drive C: is on 0x81 and is perfectly fine. So, drive 0x81 partition 0 needs >> formatted for dos. But, this all goes away if you just ask DOS, hey is C: >> formatted. > > Some kernel experts may want to comment on this :-) > >> No target folder’s will be offered in the “Quick and Easy” version. > > You would still have to tell the user what happens... > >> The architecture of the new installer won’t care what scheme of >> package management is used by the Release. > > Then you miss many advantages of our package managers. > >> The “Quick and Easy” version will not offer types of backups or >> id it should overwrite the old files. It will simple move the >> conflicting FDOS directory to FDOS????.OLD. > > Acceptable, I guess... > >> The “Advanced” mode will offer renaming, zipping or overwritten. > > [and it] > >> Provides more detailed options and a different color scheme. > > As mentioned, I think you could keep everything in 1 > mode: The difference would only be that the user can > decide whether to accept a default and hit the "next" > button or rather "advancedly" modify settings first. > > As you already explain, advanced just means modifying > more settings. I would prefer if all possible settings > are always visible, but the user at the same time is > informed that they can stick to the defaults often :-) > > For example with a Linux installer, you would have a > choice in which country you are first. Then later, a > menu would show which time zone and keyboard layout > are active, but for most users, this will just be an > information screen. Very few would use the opportunity > to MODIFY the time zone and keyboard layout. Still, it > is nice that they CAN do it, without extra screens :-) > >> However, restricting V8PT to use no TSRs, RAM or DISK Storage and >> still run as little utilities to extend batch files, doing multiple things >> on the >> same screen is not a viable option. I have thought of ways around this >> problem. However, they either require some sort of storage or break >> the vchoice, vecho… utility extension metaphor. > > To be honest, BAT is not a sufficiently powerful language > to make user friendly menu systems. With some extra tools > it is enough for the occasional "are you sure" pop-up etc. > > Cheers, Eric > > *such as having magic files specific to your distro version. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-devel mailing list > Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
