On Sun, Dec 16, 2018 at 07:08:10AM -0500, Hendrik Boom wrote:

[cut]

> > > g4sra via Dng <dng@???> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Media partitioning, formatting
> > > > Configure mountpoints
> > > > Install Bootloader
> > > > Install Kernel, Modules & Firmware
> > > > Install Shell & package management software
> > > > Configure console
> > > > Configure network
> > > > Boot
> > > >
> > > > Discuss...

[cut]

>
> I'm not sure how minimal your preinstall would be, but what I've found
> difficult in the old days was finding the right device drivers,
> figuring out which packages to install to get them, enough network
> configuration to be able to download them, and, in the *really* old
> days, guessing the monitor geometry I need to get X to work.
>
> It was annoying to have to have to figure these thing out after install
> time whem the installer had already found answers that worked for it.
>

:D

You see: in just two emails we have come from a *minimal* base
installation (a shell with a kernel, a bootloader, and a working
dpkg/apt) to a fully-functioning network server (an ssh server with
configurable keys!) and a working X config. Another three emails and
we get requests for automatic partitioning, automagic disk encryption,
remote shell during install, choice between different mirror
configurations, localisation, choice of meta-packages for typical
use-cases and.....

...and we end up with something of the same complexity of the current
debian-installer.

We keep saying we crave for minimalism. But the same concept of
*minimalism* has become quite bloated in the last 20 years :)

HND

KatolaZ

-- 
[ ~.,_  Enzo Nicosia aka KatolaZ - Devuan -- Freaknet Medialab  ]  
[     "+.  katolaz [at] freaknet.org --- katolaz [at] yahoo.it  ]
[       @)   http://kalos.mine.nu ---  Devuan GNU + Linux User  ]
[     @@)  http://maths.qmul.ac.uk/~vnicosia --  GPG: 0B5F062F  ] 
[ (@@@)  Twitter: @KatolaZ - skype: katolaz -- github: KatolaZ  ]