On 2018-02-21 04:22, Fraser_Bell wrote:
On 02/20/2018 05:42 PM, Simon Lees wrote:
There are many issues at play here, As someone with a less then perfect internet connection and who's had really bad ones in the past, for me the DVD is great if I know i'm going to be setting up multiple machines, its much quicker knowing your getting atleast most of what you need installed up front, then once the machine is running and usable you can leave it over night to get anything else. Its also useful when your laptop doesn't have wifi drivers and you don't want to do the whole install connected to an ethernet cable.
As for why have the desktops on there even if there small? Its all about user experience KDE users would be pretty annoyed if they had to install icewm an environment they are unfamiliar with then figure out how to use it to get to yast in order to install the desktop they want. I've had to do this in the past and its really annoying which is why I pushed for a better alternative which atleast for the net install we have.
Having the desktop you want to use available at install time is what users expect I have heard several users say they are going to go use a different distro just because we didn't have an install medium with there desktop of choice on the DVD. (Its confusing enough for some users that we don't have an image for each desktop).
Cheers
This pretty much echoes my sentiments. I have been following and waiting to see offered solutions before speaking up.
I am an Xfce user, have been since the switch from KDE4 to Plasma5.
Some of the reasons for that are technical, moderate to severe installation problems when installing the default KDE offering, none when installing Xfce.
Also, many machines I am installing on are older, limited resources, and almost demand a smaller desktop.
I have, since then, installed openSUSE with Xfce on literally hundreds of PCs for Low Income people, Limited Income people, some with donated "cast-off" PCs, and also for several smaller, often local, Volunteer and Charity Organizations using older PCs donated from businesses when those businesses upgrade their equipment.
So, no, Xfce is not a "hardly used" desktop, and in fact is growing in user base these days for especially the latter paragraph above.
Right. I agree to all that.
My other reasons are personal preferences in what I want from a desktop.
With that said, there is the matter of choices, and as Simon points out here, I requote:
Having the desktop you want to use available at install time is what users expect I have heard several users say they are going to go use a different distro just because we didn't have an install medium with there desktop of choice on the DVD. (Its confusing enough for some users that we don't have an image for each desktop).
I really *do* like the idea of having two install disks, one with KDE/Gnome, the other with the remaining (or, most of the remaining) desktops.
Me too.
Other items that are used by small subgroups of users should be off the DVD and available in the online repos.
That would allow a single DVD again. But with two DVDs we could have a complete XFCE on the DVD, probably no restrictions.
Also, about internet connections and speeds.
Canada is hardly a third-world country, but because we are less densely populated with lots of remote and semi-remote wilderness, there are many, many Canadians who are lucky if they even have dial-up access.
Carlos' description of downloading a DVD over several days, then offline installation, is a minority here, but a relatively large one.
Right.
As for myself, I (so far) *never* have the internet connected when I am installing. I have run into far too many problems when having the online repos enabled while installing.
That aspect is getting better.
So, for me, and all those machines I am helping out with, a DVD (or two, if necessary) *absolutely must* include the Desktop choices.
And, Carlos, yes: DVDs!!!
Ok, I stand corrected :-) -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 42.2 x86_64 "Malachite" at Telcontar)