Standard installation CD or Live CD?

[gapan]

An idea that came to my mind: With an LiveCD you can surf the internet during the installation

Yep

[JRD]

All good ideas, I agree

So let's concentrate on a Live CD with a text-installer for now, and we improve this later like Shador described...

[thenktor]

All good ideas, I agree

So let's concentrate on a Live CD with a text-installer for now, and we improve this later like Shador described...

Yes! For the beginning we even could execute the text installer in a terminal window. And I still think it's a good idea to have a very lightweight LiveCD with only few apps: gparted+text installer, firefox, geany, some other tools for system recovery.
We could place only few icons on the desktop:
1. Configure network
2. Firefox
3. gparted
4. Install to hard disk
5. Create LiveUSB with additional apps

[JRD]

This seems exciting !!

[Akuna]

Hey... here I come...

Let's talk about how a live installer would work... Instead of installing packages, a livecd installer explodes modules, but since (most) modules are made with pure generic packages, you can see that there is actually no difference.

That means that we can very well imagine a text installer that actually 'unsquashfs some modules' instead of 'installing some packages' and this can be used as a back end for the gui installer. Both text installer & gui installer can very well & should be internationalized.

We could very well modify Slackware current installer for that purpose...

We would also need to modularize our LiveCD a bit more than Zenwalk lIve.

Module1 would contain the packages for a core system without X that would be sufficient to run the ncurse base installation.
Module2 would contain the packages for X, the DE & all the other applications that make up the full distro.
Module3 would contain the LiveCD customization (that don't get installed on a hard drive)

The text installation boot menu choice would only load Module1 & run the ncurse installation that would explode both Module1 & Module2 on the targeted hard drive for a full installation (or only Module1 if only a core system is to be installed)

I'd love to start working on this in July, with the help of Shador & whoever else can help.

[Akuna]

GUI installers will attract noobs. All those whiners complaining about ncurses installers are exactly that (that's how I see it)

Well, the thing is that I often install Linux, at some of my friends or family or school or whatnot, and the most gui tools I give them, the less I have to take care of the maintenance for them.

Plus what is wrong about the noobs? You never know what a noob of today can become tomorrow.

As you know, I personally want to make it as easy for the noobs as possible. That has always been my goal. I'm really not that interested in an elitist distro.

In a way it would be nice to clarify what our stand is on this issue.

[thenktor]

As you know, I personally want to make it as easy for the noobs as possible.

Yes! But I don't know why a GUI installer is easier as a ncurses installer

[Sparky]

As you know, I personally want to make it as easy for the noobs as possible.

Yes! But I don't know why a GUI installer is easier as a ncurses installer

For many people, the instant they see ncurses they panic and have no idea what to do. The internet has made people very mouse-oriented, and the average new user would rather click the mouse as use the arrow keys. It's mainly a psychological thing, I think. Text-based interfaces are just a mental block sometimes.

[Akuna]

Personally, I have nothing against ncurse, in fact it is an advantage in some situations, mainly non X environment, server...
Simply to the lambda user it looks like a 20th century antiquity.
The real problem is more if ncurse or gui are not translated... again, not a problem for any of us here, but then aren't we trying to do something useful for the common of the mortals or just for us?
When we talk about our distro, do we mean a distro made just for us? or a distro that we are doing together as a team for a larger public?

[gapan]

No, certainly not just for us! But we should care about pleasing us first and then everybody else.