Re: Towards a graphical installer?

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Mathieu Othacehe <address@hidden> skribis:

> I think switching to a DE based installer could:
>
> * Allow the user to browse for some questions or contact #guix while in
>   the installation process.
>
> * Bring better control of network connection, with a dedicated tool such
>   as NetworkManager applet.

I think the Connman-based option we currently have is pretty good
(modulo the WiFi bug we had ;-)) and has the advantage of being well
integrated, no?

> * Make easier to add accessibility support to the installer.

Really?  Text-based interfaces tend to lend themselves well to
accessibility support, I think, with things like BRLTTY.  I would think
that using a graphical DE is more challenging because one has to know
how to navigate between windows, how to query the currently-focused
window, etc., which requires a screen reader like Orca or similar, which
is not really a panacea.

I also wonder whether the extra hundreds of megabytes for “just” running
a terminal under X11 are warranted.  It would be a different story if
the installer itself were graphical.  But at any rate, I think closure
size is an issue.

Thoughts?

Ludo’.