• 50 Posts
  • 2.44K Comments
Joined 4 years ago
cake
Cake day: November 8th, 2021

help-circle







  • Sounds reasonnable,

    Installed should be downloaded by going to grandmasnixos.com On the front page, a single click starts to download a single file, that contains everything It is a tailored rufus executable with the ISO that contains everything to make it to first desktop boot When download ends, no internet connection will be required to make it to grandmasnixos desktop

    When the file is clicked and a usb stick has been inserted beforehand, the grandmasnixos ISO is preselected, rufus autochooses the usb stick

    User only needs to press “start”

    The motherboard version is checked against a lookup table, and the user is told

    Reboot computer a press $KEY_TO_USB_BOOT and choose to boot the usb key

    Installation is a single screen that says “This will erase everything on this computer, to continue, click the checkbox below” [ ] I understand this will erase everything on my computer buttons below [ ERASE AND INSTALL GRANDMASNIXOS ] or [ CANCEL AND REBOOT] (first button only clickable if the checkbox is checked)

    (there is an “Options and settings” button somewhere, it does not have to be clicked to continue)

    No further user interaction until it boots into a working desktop

    There is no password by default, the desktop auto-logs in, no remote access is possible until a password is set, sudo works passwordless

    There should be no updating unless enabled, no telemetry, no call home of any kind, the system should be able to work offline and forever without an internet access and never nag the user.

    The desktop environment should be something occasional win10 using grandma will not get lost in

    Taskbar at bottom Desktop that you can dump files onto and start stuff by clicking those files systray on the right Large font start menu Start menu includes a single settings panels that does everything a user needs (passwords, wifi, power management, update, timezone, language, locale, host and domain name, remote desktop etc…)

    taskbar should have pinned the most important apps file browser, browser, calculator, notepad, word-like and maybe a mail client maybe a zoom? client or something equivalent but open source and usable ?

    If updating is turned on, it should be very conservative, updates hand curated by grandmasnixos, basically never uses software that hasn’t been proven rock solid for at least 6 months. Rolling back any update should be one-click-trivial

    On first boot there could be an “out of box experience” screen that allows setting up

    wifi password region/timezone/locale/language power settings host and domain name password enable updates enable remote desktop and services open easy user guide

    So total, from download to desktop it should be 8 clicks total counting press F9 during boot as a “click”








  • Cool, so we need two things, The most streamlined installer possible. “Grandma’s Universal Nix.Conf”

    The installer should be written using 4th grade simple english, no jargon

    In the top right corner there should be a language selector.

    There should be only one page of questions.

    The installer should work completely offline.

    The installer should detect all peripherals and modify the nix file accordingly.

    The second page should only be tge warning about erasing everything

    The installer should detect if a nixos installation already exist. If it does, then offer the user to repair the bootloader

    Optionally, the installer coukd detect a windows installation. Check the amount of free space left on the drive.

    In this case instead of a wipe, offer to shrink the windows partition and install nixos in the liberated space. Install a bootloader setup for dual boot. Auto mount the ntfs partition and place a shortcut to the c:\user folder on the desktop.


  • Ok, what I am hearing is Nixos but with an installer like this

    Rufus ISO to usb stick stick usb stick into computer press magical button to boot usb <-- this should be the most difficult part of the process Screen appears, least amount of text possible Ask only the important questions, on a single screen

    then one last big scary page “this will erase everything on your computer”

    Check “I understand” then press"ERASE BUTTON" (or cancel and reboots)

    then it reboots and everything your average grandmother needs right there a google button an office button and that’s pretty much it