Bug#511287: debian-installer: Should have a task for installing KDE or XFCE instead of Gnome

[Philip Hands]

On Fri, Jan 09, 2009 at 11:11:13AM +0100, Noel David Torres Ta??o wrote:
...
> Well, I'll left it closed, but I was thinking in how newbie users accustomed to KDE
> would install a Debian KDE computer without them being asked all the 'low' questions
> and without having to type anything when they're asked for "graphical or text-mode" install.
> 
> XFCE was not the point, but the "extra goal". I knew how to do it for myself, I was thinking in future Debian users.

Ah, that's a slightly different point.

The fact that the installer installs Gnome by default is a consequence
of the generally accepted fact that some default -- any default -- is
better than none, especially for people who have heard of neither KDE,
Gnome, XFCE or anything else.

That said, anyone that _has_ heard of KDE should find all they want to
know here:

  http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/kde3.html

on the other hand, I'd guess that Debian newbies are most likely to end up here:

  http://pkg-kde.alioth.debian.org/

which does not appear to have a direct link to the installing page.

KDE Folks,
  Might I suggest that the front page be modified to have a link somewhere
  prominent, near the top, linking to the page about how to get KDE
  installed on debian

  Also, you should note that in Lenny the default desktop can be set by adding:

    desktop=kde

  at the boot prompt (which you can get to by hitting <TAB> in the boot menu.

  Also, note that "desktop" in that case is an alias for tasksel:tasksel/desktop
  so it can also be preseeded by providing a line like:

    tasksel tasksel/desktop string kde

  in a preseed file, so you could produce custom KDE media either by tweaking the
  {sys,iso,pxe}linux.cfg files to include "desktop=kde", or by adding a preseed.cfg
  to the root of your initrd image, containing the above line.

Cheers, Phil.