I don't understand, but you've got me curious. What does this expression mean? Is it from a language other than English?

Forgive me for being blunt, but this is just silly.

What exactly is wrong with ncurses? I know its not GUI, but it's not exactly morse code either.
I admin my SuSE server using YaST2 over ssh and you better believe I use the ncurses interface rather than exporting X - there is just no point. You get the same functionality.

Let's say you develope a nice GUI installer for slackware - what then? Now we have people installing slack with a pretty GUI just to get dropped back to the command line at 1st boot. I guess then you'll have to respond to all the noobs that bitch and moan because slack doesn't configure X for them. Then you do that and everyone will bitch because everything else in slack is configured by hand and not with a nice GUI interface.....

It will never end. If this what is what people want or need, there are plenty of places for them to go.

Easy enough.
It means that idiotic structure of human community most of the time welcomes you according to your looks, outfit, garments, clothes, etc.
And if that part of community that you hang out with is intelligent enough to comprehend the things you say ( I'm not talking about these people who you say to: "close your wag, idiot, I've said everything already" ) , then usualy the good bye part is accordong to your brain.
And if it is from pure English, I really don't know. English nowadays is a mixture of international threads, sort of "Bloody Mary", if I'd say so myself...


Regards

One more thing, slackMeUp!
I'm with two hands for your idea, which as you see has not so many supporters.
I believe, however, as soon as vesa enabled DVD install disk is out everybody will use it. Simply because it's convenient. It's, of course, possible to use stairs in skyscraper, when everybody uses elevator, foaming and gasping for air while trying to laugh on those who uses the conveniences of modern science, metaphorically speaking.
So, be the first! Create vesa enabled DVD or two with all updates, pathes and convenient packages and present it to the world of Slackware Linux. You won't find the more rewarding feeling than self-fulfillness.

Regards

I'm not sure I agree with your metaphor. It seems to me like I'd use a really fast elevator that shoots straight to the top (ala text install), rather than a slower elevator that has pretty pictures and pauses at every floor telling you a little bit about what each floor has to offer. Not to discourage someone from making a good single dvd installer, but for me the simplicity of the current installer is the essence of convenience.

And I think that Franklin again brings up a very important point. A streamlined gui installed may attract more newbies, but then what happens after install? Packaging and system config would have to mirror the install to avoid leaving inexperienced slackers completely in the dark once the system is up and running.

This is completely beside the point.
Inital question was to facilitate install disk using modern technology.
And you call yourself users of Open Source. Open your mind then even that little. History has examples when "modern" science rejected all novatory ideas as absurd or not necessary. And if I'm not mistaken still 500 years ago scientists were absolutely convinced about flatness of our planet.

well...in fact there is already a magnificant " button-interface " for the cli.
it's called " keyboard ".

egag

Nice to see you again, egag!
I wonder what do you drive out there in Amsterdam!
New Porsche or just frame of Porsche. Frame of Porsche drives just as well fast, Maybe even faster, no covering metal sheets.

Yes, I do not see anyone in this thread disagreeing to the fact that the text installer is appropriate for Slackware. Even slackMeUp said the text installer was great:

Then again, we're not newbies. The average user does not dig a text installer.

And by the way folks: Adding a graphical installer would indeed only eliminate one hurdle. If someone else wants to create a project where X configures itself on Slack, more power to you. But this isn't about configuring X--or an easy way to configure X.

If X is going to be a problem, then what about sound? Estasblishing a connection to the internet? The point of a graphical installer should be this: expediting the learning process for newbies. How can a newbie learn if they feel too intimidated by a text installation? Perhaps once they learn the ropes they won't feel so intimidated by a text installer later on...

Good point. The curent slackware installer is primitive. No doubt about it. But for most of us who are used to it, it's flawless. A gui installer would be awesome, and the idea of having everything on a single DVD is fantastic (it might actually motivate me to go buy a DVD drive). But as a tool to make slackware more accessible to newbies, I think it would fail miserably. Sure the installation would be much more accessible, but once a new user was dumped into the CLI world of slackware that we all know and love, they would no doubt be in waaay over their head. That's why I'm saying that if the point of a gui install is to make slack more accessible for new users, the packaging and config must also be addressed.

If the point is simply for convenience (a single DVD, streamlined installer, etc), then I think it's a fantastic idea. And if/when a project like this comes together, it would have a huge impact on other facets of the slack system. It would definitely attract attention from other developers, and the next logical step imho would be to create similar frontends for pkgtool and some of the system config. I don't really see Pat V. getting behind projects of this nature, but who's to say it wouldn't evolve into a whole new branch of Slackware. Look at Vector linux. It is based on slackware with it's own installer, etc. If there were enough people willing to take on a project of this magnitude, it could very well end up being it's own distro. FutureSlack v1.0. The heart and soul of slackware with all the modern eye candy. I'd try it out.

To kersten78!

Flawless....Hmmm...
That word somehow.....especially with Slackware....
Please, understand, I love Slack and so...I also admit that I came to Slack through all the distros existing, well... almost all, haven't tried solaris yet, but Flawless... bah!

Hit me! I've never been a gamer myself, but appears that my kiddo is. And since I installed (by his request ) Slackware on his box and enabled ATI 9000, he's been bugging me to make windoze games work. Here is a new challenge for me. Have never tried it on Slackware. And I hardly consider myself n00b after working with source more than 4 years. And here I am, looking, stupefied at the errors on the terminal that WINE give me, for 2 days absolutely not able to push any further. Stupid, stupid, stupid....

Yes, newbies very well may get the wrong impression from the installer, so why not make their transition from easy to install to learning how to use Slackware? Why not have an option to automatically symlink the slackware book in their home directories (or something of the sort... that was just an example)? Slack is plenty user friendly if you know the resources to read, but I think most newbies that aren't introduced to it by a friend wouldn't find most of them. A larger install disk gives the perfect opportunity to make said resources immediately accessible, without dumbing slackware down to the point of GUI config tools.

SlackerLX...LOL. Maybe flawless was a bit of an overstatement. I'm with you in that I haven't found an OS that's flawless. Windows, Mac, any linux distro I've ever tried--always some irritating factor to deal with. I guess Slack is the closest I've come to finding a flawless OS . By the way, good luck with WINE...I don't envy that task at all.

And I whole-heartedly agree with the idea of making documentation easily accessible. Someone mentioned using a sort of "dual-pane" installer, with a gui interface/descriptions along with the usual text based setup. I could see something like that working with the system configuration as well. Provide some sort of gui to at least point you in the right direction, and at the same time show the actual CLI based changes that are occuring through the gui config. That way you would have the option of using the gui interface for all the configuration while still seeing exactly what is being changed in your config files. It would be a great learning tool and also allow you to tweak whatever settings were created through the gui.

My Amigo Linux avoids the newbie any installation at all and configures X, fstab and rc.netdevices to at least get them into a GUI and offer a few html help pages that teach. Just under the surface runs nice, lean Slack with a little extra Friendliness.

I'm checking out Amigo Linux now. From what I've read on your forum, Amigo seems pretty sleek, gnashley.