On Sun, Sep 22, 2024 at 3:06 PM Jerome Shidel via Freedos-devel <freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > Just a couple minor differences… > > util/v8power needs to be installed with base. Many things (like cd > & networking initialization, batch file NLS and more) rely on tools > provided in v8power. > > util/pkgtools probably should be included with full install. It displays > information on what packages are installed and can identify what package > different installed files belong to. It also contains the tools used > by a couple batch files to provide such information that used to be > provided by a few long out-dated legacy programs.
What if we created a new "package group" that contained Zip, Unzip, V8Power, and Pkgtools, and included that on the LiveCD? We could call it something like "Installer" or "Pack" or some other name that makes sense for this collection of key packages to support the installer. If we do that, it would also make sense to move FDIMPLES from the "Apps" group to this new group, just to keep things organized. > util/slowdown should probably be installed with full. It is often > needed to run very old games on newer hardware. Agreed. Would it make more sense to move it to a new package group that's already recommended for LiveCD? It's not really a game, but Games seems like a "not-bad" fit, since most people will use this to run old games on fast hardware (or fast virtual machines). > apps/sqlite I think it is rarely used and should be moved to the BonusCD Since Sqlite is "An Embeddable SQL Database Engine" (from the package description) maybe this would be better for Devel, anyway. That puts it on the BonusCD and keeps things organized. > archiver/p7zip possibly LiveCD/Full install. I can see the reason for that, because p7zip supports a lot of file formats. But I'd really like to avoid the temptation to put more stuff on the LiveCD if we don't need to. I'm thinking about the kinds of files that people will actually need to use on DOS, and basically any program they download from a third party website (like a DOS games archive website, or an "abandonware" website, or ..) TO RUN ON DOS will be a zip file (not a tar file, or cab file, or ..) so I'm not 100% convinced p7zip needs to be in the LiveCD. My vote is to keep p7zip on BonusCD. Do others have strong opinions on this? > Do we really need to have both AMBHELP and HTMLHELP on the LiveCD? > > util/ambread is required for ambhelp. > I'd like to get to one Help system. We included AMB Help and HTML Help as a sort of compromise, but at some point we should go for one over the other. I think it's okay to have both for the next few test releases, but we should try to reach consensus by the end of 2024. Speaking for myself: I really like AMB Help, I think it looks really nice, feels more modern, and is easy to use. I prefer AMB Help over HTML Help, although HTML Help is "fine." I guess my preference is "60/40." But others may have stronger opinions. If we keep AMB Help on the LiveCD, we might move AMB Read to the Apps group, which puts it on LiveCD. Then it makes sense that AMB Read is installed by default, at the same time as AMB Help, even though AMB Read is not part of the Base group. Jim _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
