On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 09:40:43AM +0100, Otto Moerbeek wrote:
quoted text
> On Thu, Dec 13, 2007 at 08:44:35AM +0100, Mathieu Stumpf wrote:
> > Le mercredi 12 dC)cembre 2007 C  11:22 -0800, Ted Unangst a C)crit :
> > > On 12/12/07, Mathieu Stumpf <psychoslave@gmail.com> wrote:

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> > I agree "easy to use" and sample are not the same for everyone. That's
> > why, to my mind, a good installer should provide several methods to
> > install. 
> > 
> > If you like the current way it works, you should be able to continue
> > with this system. But what if my mum, who has low computer skill, would
> > like to install a free, functional and secure system? I think the
> > software should help her to make the most accurate choices. Because I
> > think my mum too deserves a reliable operating system. :P
> > 
> 
> That's all fine, but your mum is probably not an OpenBSD developer.
> The main target audience for OpenBSD are the developers. We make what
> suits us. And we are not computer users with average or below average
> skills. That does not mean we like to make things complicated, far
> from that. We do however expect our users to have some knowledge and
> skills. 
> 
> Luckily there are a lot of people around that have similar views and
> needs as the developers.  Any other person or group liking the results
> is free to use it for whatever thay want. Maybe to make something
> that's easier to install for *their* intended audience. But that
> installer probably won't make it into the base system. 

Rather than changing the installer, or for that matter, NIC setup,
rclocal or any other config issuee, I would suggest (and someday will
work on) better documentation for what I call Novices.  Something to
bridge the gap between the generic "Mom" and the FAQ and man pages, yet
alone between "Mom" and "Absolute OpenBSD".  

My own personal philosophy with novices is to focus on CLI skills and
only use startx with a window manager to run a specific GUI app such as
a graphical web browser or to preview a postscript file prior to
printing it.  To me, OpenBSD is perfect for this as an OS for teaching
good skills.

I have a book started, working title "NoviceDoc" designed to take
someone who has not clue about computers, what a "disk" is or anything
else, through installing an free OS, to writing and printing a letter.
Its not yet at rough-draft state (e.g. written off the top of my head so
some facts [e.g. the unix history chapter] lacking references) so not
ready for distribution.  The last time I looked at the whole thing (its
written in LaTex in chapter files), I think I've covered all the
hardware topics and the what-is-unix chapter.  

Anyway, the documentation approach is what I've taken to address making
OpenBSD easier for "mom" to use.  

Doug.