Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>> On Friday 03 April 2009, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>>> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>>>> On Friday 03 April 2009, Nikos Chantziaras wrote:
>>>>> Its installer. I would prefer something like Sabayon's installer
>>>>> (which
>>>>> is a Gentoo-based distro.)
>>>> there is no installer anymore. And that is a good thing.
>>> He asked what annoys me, and I answered truthfully :P
>>
>> yeah, but if you think about it for a moment you will see that an
>> installer is the WRONG THING and then you won't be annoyed anymore
>> but glad.
>
> I thought about it and I would still like an installer. People asked
> me "I want that too" after they see what Gentoo can do and is about.
> I could help them learn to keep their Gentoo healthy and running, but
> I am not willing to install it for them or teach them how to install
> it themselves. Too much work. So from my observational point, the
> lack of an installer just means that people who would like to try
> Gentoo just don't, because the learning curve is too steep, beginning
> right at the installation. To learn, you need a system that already
> runs so you can learn that system. Gentoo needs to be installed by
> someone who already knows. Chicken and egg.
>
> If it wasn't for the GUI installer of the 2007 live DVD (it's what I
> used to install it), I wouldn't ever have installed Gentoo. I have a
> life. And so does the majority of other people. I learned Gentoo
> (and I think I learned it quite well) even while I used the GUI
> installer. And I believe even that I learned Gentoo the right way. I
> am proof that an installer doesn't only produce clueless Gentoo users.
>
>
I made my first install from the 2008.0 Minimal CD, which was all fun
and good, but later on a laptop when I was completely unaware of
initramfs, a LiveCD was my only way to actually manage to install
Gentoo. I can see how a completely "Wizard-like" installer would go
against a lot of what this distro seems to have centered as a primary
focus, but it certainly could act as a way to influence more to use it.
Then again, being something of a "developer' distro", where one will
usually compile every package they install, it may have by that single
mechanism lost a lot of those who would otherwise use it. Granted, it's
a feature of Gentoo I rather like.
