This is an interesting issue. You might use similar justification for leaving all but the essentials out of the distributed kernel. This would encourage users to learn how to recompile the kernel, and demonstrate in doing so that it's surprisingly simple.
On the other hand, new users might think, 'This kernel doesn't even support mice [or whatever]. What a crummy kernel!'. Many are liable to come to this conclusion on discovering that only serial mice are (have been just recently) supported. Since the project's maintainers have decided to compile in a fair range of support in the distributed kernel, it's quite reasonable to expect something as simple as support for a range of mice to be included. The real question is whether the default kernel should be bloated with features, or pared down. Casper Boden-Cummins. >---------- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: 14 August 1996 22:51 >To: debian-user@lists.debian.org >Cc: The recipient's address is unknown. >Subject: Re: How do I get GATEWAY2000 PS/2 mouse to work ? > >As Mark Rahner said: >> Todd, I'm sure that you're the neatest computer guy on your block, but >> I think that you missed the original poster's point. Users shouldn't >> have to recompile their kernels to get their PS/2 mice to work. Such a >> requirement is enough to keep many potential Debian users from successfully >> making the leap from MSStuff to Debian. > >I will unfortunately continue this thread with nothing but opinions. I >think that any person wanting to run Unix on their own computer should >be >able to 1) download files, 2) uncompress and untar files, 3) type 'make >config', and the least 4) make a boot floppy. They don't even have to >understand LILO. > >Making a new kernel is not that difficult. > >--gilbert >______________________________________________________________________ >Gilbert Ramirez Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] >University of Texas http://merece.uthscsa.edu/gram >Health Science Center at San Antonio University Health System > >