Re: Towards a graphical installer?

[Mathieu Othacehe]

Hello Florian,

> I suppose keyboard input method (IME) support is a reason why someone
> might wish to use an Xorg-based installer.  Are there other reasons?
> What are the reasons for a real desktop environment; is the goal to
> offer a live image?  Previously I would have thought a virtual console
> is more likely to work everywhere, but kmscon has the same
> requirements as Xorg and without kmscon we’d lose i18n.

I think switching to a DE based installer could:

* Allow the user to browse for some questions or contact #guix while in
  the installation process.

* Bring better control of network connection, with a dedicated tool such
  as NetworkManager applet.

* Make easier to add accessibility support to the installer.

Regarding i18n, the current mechanism would indeed be broken. However,
switching to setxkbmap or any GNOME API should not be too hard.

Thanks,

Mathieu