[debian-knoppix] Open accounting and Open source

[Ean Schuessler]

I'm not sure if you have inspected the results of a Knoppix install
carefully but it is a completely different animal from the disk based
Debian installer. It offers no ability to selectively install portions
of the operating system. While this configuration is fine and well for
the adventuresome Linux beginner it is fairly impractical for any real
use in a production environment. The Knoppix install also has many
idiosyncracies that are presumably a result of its need to boot from a
read only file system and still provide a usable system. Copying Knoppix
onto a production server has, in my experience, created various odd
problems with the boot process.

The only schism I see here is one of technical goals. Knoppix is not, by
design, a Debian install system. It is a Debian derived OS that can boot
stand-alone off of a CD. That's cool, but that is not an installer.
Could it become an installer? Certainly, but not trivially. Some varient
of dpkg that could selectively mirror already installed packages to a
new system image would be just one of the necessary components.

If you, or Klaus, think that Knoppix should form the basis of a new
Debian installer then I say "awesome". However, I think you should focus
on the technical problems rather than an imagined political schism.

E

On Sun, 2003-04-27 at 18:58, Mark Constable wrote:
> My take: I would also like to contribute as well but I am not
> interested in GNOME and I quasi-resent Debians lack of installation
> efforts over the years. It blows me away that 1 man + friends can
> do what 500 developers can't... provide a focused, timely and
> coherent system that is way more usable than a stock Debian
> system. I've been using Debian for nearly 8 years (but still
> can't build a package from scratch) but I would NOT reccommend
> Debian by itself to other people but I do hand out Knoppix CDs
> to first time linux users. If it was not for Knoppix I would
> NOT be able to do this, as I would never foist a raw Debian
> system upon a linux newbie as it would be counter productive.
> 
> ** It is absolutely unreasonable to expect folks should become
> software engineers to be able to surf the web via linux. **
> 
> The fact that Klaus is not a regular Debian developer and that
> Debian have not adopted the Knoppix installation procedure,
> as is, tells me there is some kind of technical AND political
> schism between the two.
> 
> So I would like to put whatever meagre resources I can spare
> into the system I have confidence in sharing with other people
> and that happens to be Knoppix rather than Debian itself.
> 
> Klaus and friends, thank you most sincerely for your efforts.

-- 
_____________________________________________________________________
Ean Schuessler                                      ean at brainfood.com
Brainfood, Inc.                              http://www.brainfood.com