Hi, As some of you may already know, I'm working on a graphical installer for FreeBSD 7, which was started as a Google SoC 2007 project but still continues. Usually I'd announce a new build on blogs.freebsdish.org but it's currently down and anyway maybe it's time for a wider exposure. The latest build can be found at http://ivoras.sharanet.org/stuff/freebsd7-finstall-alpha3.iso.bz2 with MD5 fingerprint of 4a11b172ed1c3030f530028a56f88ece. This is a i386 build as I don't have an amd64 development machine. Caveat! This is to be considered alpha-quality software. In particular, it still can't do any of the following things: - install on an already partitioned drive (so it's practically only usable for experimentation in VMWare and similar tools) - configure any of the more advanced features like RAID, X11 and sound - configure system locale & similar features On the other hand, here's what it *can* do currently: - it's a "live" CD environment, completely like an already installed FreeBSD system, only running from a read-only media (e.g. it's usable as a "FixIt" system) - it installs both the base system (7.0-RC1) and a pre-selected set of packages which includes X.Org 7.3, XFce desktop 4.4, Firefox and Thunderbird - supports UFS, UFS+gjournal, ZFS and Ext2 (only UFS has been well tested). - configure simple services like ssh, ntpdate, bsdstats For those who tried earlier versions, the major changes are: - several subtle bugs are fixed - implemented ZFS support with proper tuning in loader.conf - added bsdstats package in the default set I'd like to hear impressions and suggestions of potential users. Some of the obvious features (like install on a already partitioned drive) will be done in time for, or slightly after, 7.0 gets released (a rudimentary support for remote installs will also be present), some features (RAID) will almost certainly get done later. Anything other will require time and probably sponsorship. I'm also interested in possible contributions to the project. In particular, it needs many UI strings to be filled in (many of the text labels and help texts are only placeholders). Interested people should know how to use Subversion. The project is hosted on SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/finstall - Perforce was avoided to allow access to people without FreeBSD developer accounts. I'd like to thank Google for the SoC project funding, Murray Stokely who was the mentor during the SoC and many other people who have helped. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 189 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable/attachments/20080206/cb61e7d1/signature.pgp
Ivan Voras wrote:> As some of you may already know, I'm working on a graphical installer > for FreeBSD 7, which was started as a Google SoC 2007 project but still > continues.10+ years back when Jordan did first pre= X, 24x80 graphical installer, soon afer he'd finished a blind chap posted ~So how do I install ?~ Answer then: ~Get a friend do it for you, or abandon FreeBSD & use NetBSD~ NetBSD still have Ascii installer, so more attractive to some. Idea for another SOC project : An automated tool that could descramble all the glitz of [arbitrary ?] graphics tools back to something sensible / Ascii, a bit like what OCR does for printed paper. No doubt a bew grraphical installer might be nice (if X is reliable which it often is Not, & don't rely on VESA either on old hardware), but just so's we don't forget blind too, amazingly they use computers (with expensive interfaces). Also visually impaired do too, the later simply with simple text xterms with Monster fonts, rather than graphics I presume. -- Julian Stacey. BSD Unix Linux Net Consultant, Munich. http://berklix.com
Ivan Voras wrote:> Hi, > > As some of you may already know, I'm working on a graphical installer > for FreeBSD 7, which was started as a Google SoC 2007 project but still > continues. Usually I'd announce a new build on blogs.freebsdish.org but > it's currently down and anyway maybe it's time for a wider exposure. > > The latest build can be found at > http://ivoras.sharanet.org/stuff/freebsd7-finstall-alpha3.iso.bz2 with > MD5 fingerprint of 4a11b172ed1c3030f530028a56f88ece. This is a i386 > build as I don't have an amd64 development machine. > > Caveat! This is to be considered alpha-quality software. In particular, > it still can't do any of the following things: > > - install on an already partitioned drive (so it's practically only > usable for experimentation in VMWare and similar tools) > - configure any of the more advanced features like RAID, X11 and sound > - configure system locale & similar features > > On the other hand, here's what it *can* do currently: > > - it's a "live" CD environment, completely like an already installed > FreeBSD system, only running from a read-only media (e.g. it's usable as > a "FixIt" system) > - it installs both the base system (7.0-RC1) and a pre-selected set of > packages which includes X.Org 7.3, XFce desktop 4.4, Firefox and Thunderbird > - supports UFS, UFS+gjournal, ZFS and Ext2 (only UFS has been well tested). > - configure simple services like ssh, ntpdate, bsdstats > > For those who tried earlier versions, the major changes are: > - several subtle bugs are fixed > - implemented ZFS support with proper tuning in loader.conf > - added bsdstats package in the default set > > I'd like to hear impressions and suggestions of potential users. Some of > the obvious features (like install on a already partitioned drive) will > be done in time for, or slightly after, 7.0 gets released (a rudimentary > support for remote installs will also be present), some features (RAID) > will almost certainly get done later. Anything other will require time > and probably sponsorship. > > I'm also interested in possible contributions to the project. In > particular, it needs many UI strings to be filled in (many of the text > labels and help texts are only placeholders). Interested people should > know how to use Subversion. The project is hosted on SourceForge at > http://sourceforge.net/projects/finstall - Perforce was avoided to allow > access to people without FreeBSD developer accounts. > > I'd like to thank Google for the SoC project funding, Murray Stokely who > was the mentor during the SoC and many other people who have helped. >BTW is bsdstats still running/working ? The site has been partially broken for months.
On Wed, 06.02.2008 at 11:48:22 +0100, Ivan Voras wrote:> On the other hand, here's what it *can* do currently: > > - it's a "live" CD environment, completely like an already installed > FreeBSD system, only running from a read-only media (e.g. it's usable as > a "FixIt" system)This is great, and I think it's the way to go. Since I had to repair my system the last days with a 'FixIt' CD, I think this mode could get even more improvement. It would be nice, if there where some additional system repair tools available on this CD (license permitting, of course). You'd just have to make sure to still install a clean FreeBSD. This could be accomplished by using unionfs for the 'enhanced fixit overlay' or something like that. Cheers, Ulrich Spoerlein -- It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak, and remove all doubt.