John on S8

[John]

John wrote:

> My comments re the install are shorter this time. OTHO, since the 
> system is technically usable;-) I have some comments there.
>
Something else I've been advocating for some years is the idea of a 
post-install checklist.

There are some things that need to be done after installation, before 
the system is properly usable.

Configuring mail is an example that's already been mentioned. but other 
examples of software that might need touching up include fetchmail, some 
kind of internet configuration (ppp, isdn etc), hdparm, probably lots more.

My recommendation is that the administrator is given a checklist; I 
prefer on the desktop where it cannot be overlooked, listing software 
that might need touching up, a link to documentation and configuration 
tools, and maybe sometimes advanced documentation: a simple mail config 
is easy, but by the time you add antispam, antivirus and other 
antimalpractice tools it's not so simple any more.

Ubuntu has gone far to alleviate one of my great greivances regarding 
Debian, the expectation that the software has to be configured as its 
installed, but it's important to ensure that the configuration that 
needs to be done is easily identified.