[linux-elitists] [RANT] Debian the Elitist Distribution? [was Re: RFI: Recommendation for a good Vocabulary Builder]

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Mike MacCana (mikem@cyber.com.au):

> To elaborate...
> 
> The thing is, why shouldn't it DDC probe monitors by default? Why not do
> the sensible thing out of the box in the default installer rather than
> having me run round the net to find the one installer that does LVM, DCC
> probes my monitor, and runs appropriate post-install actions for when I
> add or remove a piece of hardware?

Yeah, it's a good question.  I'm not sure about the logic, and can only
speculate; the installer's maintainers might have been thinking that
default hardware autoprobing is (generally) risky because it can lead
some some systems freezing up when poked at -- but that seems
implausible in the case of DDC information, right? 

More likely, those guys decided a long time ago that debootstrap 
(core of that installer) basically needed to be replaced with a modern
moduler installer rather than patched up.  (Which is being done.)

(It should be mentioned that Debian installers that do DCC probing
exist, e.g., Knoppix.)

> Why not do the sensible thing out of the box in the default installer
> rather than having me run round the net to find the one installer that
> does LVM, DCC probes my monitor, and runs appropriate post-install
> actions for when I add or remove a piece of hardware?

At the risk of displaying characteristic hubris, you need look only in
exactly one place -- my Debian installers page.  ;->

> Thanks for your response,

You're welcome, as always, Mike.

-- 
Cheers,            There are only 10 types of people in this world -- 
Rick Moen          those who understand binary arithmetic and those who don't.
rick@linuxmafia.com