[Oberon] Re: New Oberon users bootstrap improvement project

[muller at inf.ethz.ch]

Stefan Salewski <Salewski at physnet.uni-hamburg.de> wrote:
> I think that there is enough documentation and information
> to install ETH-Native-Oberon or BlueBottle-Oberon and start using it.

I also think so, but perhaps its organization could be improved
to "steer" complete newbies better.  Of course, many people (myself
included) read as little documentation as possible.

> At each new installation my biggest problem is again and again the 
> danger of destroying the integrity of the other two 
> operating-systems, which resides on my computer, and which I need for
> my daily work.

Unfortunately there is no way to guarantee that one operating system
won't corrupt the data of another operating system except by physically
separating and removing the storage devices.

An example is that Windows 2000 will corrupt Native Oberon 2.3.6 
partitions, since it incorrectly "recognizes" them as FAT partitions 
and tries to "fix" them.  Ironically, afterwards Windows 2000 itself 
will crash when it scans the "fixed" partition.  (This problem was 
solved in later Native Oberon releases by specially disguising the 
partitions from Windows 2000).

Also, it is not inherently safer to install Native Oberon to a FAT 
partition instead of repartitioning the disk.  It is only more 
convenient.  In fact, the FAT solution is more complicated and 
therefore more likely to contain errors.

> But this is only true for people who are willig to invest some time 
> and effords. If we want to increase the number of Oberon-Users 
> outside of ETH, than more good documentsation, accessible without a 
> running Oberon-System, is necessary. Many people prefer to print out 
> complete installation instructions before starting installation.

That was the aim with André Fischer's text:
  http://www.oberon.ethz.ch/installA.txt
(it will be updated for the new release).

For users who can easily find their way around a new system, there
is the "documentation path" I described in an earlier mail.

As an aside: I believe one should try to use the Oberon system 
itself as much as possible from the beginning.  That is the idea 
behind the Oberon-0 system used for installation.  Of course this 
is more complicated than the "Dummies" approach of a graphical 
Windows-based installation program run from CD, but it is also 
more flexible, e.g. it is possible to install a usable Oberon 
programming environment on old hardware using a single installation 
diskette.  Both approaches have their advantages.

Bluebottle also uses the "Oberon-0 approach" for installation, with 
the important difference that the boot diskette is replaced by a boot 
CD, which contains the complete system.  Therefore it can either be 
used as-is (without installation), or it can be used to install itself 
on a hard disk.

-- Pieter

--
Pieter Muller, Computer Systems Institute, ETH Zurich / MCT Lab, Zurich
Native Oberon OS: http://www.oberon.ethz.ch/native/