Firstly, thanks for at least asking the users. It's much appreciated!
Secondly, the wish list :-) with poss. importance (out of ten)
1) DHCP installed & enabled with barebones setup (possibly with DNS
updating) (5)
eg simple 192.168.1.0 network with IP's .10 thru to .126 available.
2) Samba with home and shared directories (/home/$user & /home/shared
perhaps) (8)
Setting Workgroup to "Workgroup" name to "Server" or "Linux" and interface
to 192.168.1.1 would be a great start. :-)
3) IP-Chains in a *very* simple ip masq setup with enough to stop incoming
PPP SMB (port 138/139) and other *very common* script-kiddy exploits (5)
4) XFree 4 with i810 video enabled or some framebuffer support for VESA
800x600 256-colour support with non-standard chipsets (pixel & Jean-Michel
Dault should have another hardware specific XFcom_i810 3.3.3 available to
them from an earlier e-mail from me :-) and XFFB_dev works fine from LM v7.0
& Redhat 6.1)
4) Clearer distinction between options ie what was [workstation/server/
/recommended/custom/expert]and simpler package selection system. (10)
Imagine choosing whether you want you machine to be Office User / Game User
/ Small Server / Office Server / Custom. The package selection screen could
then present you with a selection tree such as (in the case of Small Server)
"DHCP Server,
Apple File Sharing
Windows File Sharing,
Printer Sharing,
Internet Connection Sharing,
Fax Sharing,
Mail Server,
Backup Applications,
Small Server Applications
---------------------------
Other (Non Server Software)"
where Small Server Applications would contain NTP servers, etc not important
enough for their own category.
The "Other (Non Server Software)" section would contain all the other
package groups not suited to a "Small Server" installation.
4b) Re package selection improvment. The packages should be several layers
deep (such as Internet Clients / Mail / KMail not just read from the RPM
database structure...) and also labelled more according to purpose. For the
"Custom" install listed above, a "Select Eveything" would be nice to have
back - even if it's just for us cookers :-)
5) 586 / 686 / SMP Kernel Selection. Pentium 2/3's are common enough now.
(3)
6) An ability to MandrakeUpdate from 7.0 to 7.0 stable-cooker and 7.1 would
be nice. (3)
I'll probably think of some more things, but these are what I think make
other distributions easier to install and configure than Mandrake 7.1beta1 &
beta2. Extend and Embrace(MS TM) works both ways :-)
Craig Foster
PS Is a 486 distribution necessary? Mandrake was reknown for it's Pentium
optimisations before anyone else - why then split your efforts to take over
the market that the others are fighting for? That's what I think hinders
Microsoft - it has to code for 486, Pentium+, WinCE, WinNT, and Terminal
Server.
(486 to 386 hasn't made much of a difference as far as I could tell after
recompiling RedHat many, many moons ago)
