Re: install report for Debian 2.1 and some comments on installation profiles
On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, K. Desai wrote:
> Hi all,
> I hope this is a useful installation report, if not, I apologise in advance.
> This report is primarily about my experiences with package selection.
> [I definitely apologise for the length in advance.]
Good test reports are always long and, of course, welcome on this list.
> I am installing on a 486 with only 600 MB so I knew that I had some choices
> to make. Also, I have 64 MB of RAM installed but for some reason seem only
> able to successfully use the first 32 MB [even though all 64 pass the POST].
As someone mentioned append "mem=64m" in the lilo.conf file should work.
However, I though detecting 64 megs was no problem, perhaps it's your
systems bios.
> I chose the dial-up networking installation profile.
>
> The summary says that it takes under 600 MB. In fact, I ran out of disk
> space. While trying to salvage the install, I noticed the following things:
apt seems to do a pretty good job detecting size, and theoretically it
should take this job over one day.
> 1) There were three versions of Emacs installed [emacs19, emacs20, and xemacs]
When you install for more than one person, everyone has a preference. I'm
still an emacs19 person, but I'm ready to make the jump to emacs20. I
just never had the desire for xemacs since there are times I'll need a
text only editor (ok, I admit to using vi frequently as well). The point
being, people will complain with whatever choice we make and there isn't a
requirement to make the choice, so don't. You are bringing up the other
point, people will complain if you don't make a choice :-) I can see
getting rid of emacs19, but that's it.
> 2) There were several chess programs installed. [I didnt count how many]
I'm not sure why these are with dial-up networking. My personal opinion
is to remove them.
> 3) The sound support was by default not installed in the kernel.
This is a problem with the 2.0 kernels, sound couldn't be compiled as a
module. This is fixed in the 2.2 series, which should be in the next
debian release. Redhat does it using a commercial (OSS?) program I
believe.
> In a general note, it seems to me that these 'profiles' are the most visible
> part of the installation system [once you get beyond the usual difficulties].
> They need some work but promise to be one of the most appealing aspects of a
> Debian install. I know I always look forward to choosing a profile when I'm
> re-installing Debian. :)
There was talk of making them a package and reworking them so you could
change profiles after installing. I'm not sure what came of this, but it
could be a big boost to the debugging and general advancement of this
tool.
> I propose that Dselect should have an extra step which confirms that all
> packages in some profile are present. I envision that you can choose
> this extra option and what it will do for you is to check whether or not your
> system as currently configured lacks anything that is required for some
> type of functionality.
This is the "select" step. As things are merged into apt, hopefully this
will be more obvious or less needed. The instructions to skip this step
are just wrong in my opinion.
> In short, I think the idea of a 'fast' install, even for CD or net-based
> installs is extremely appealing. I don't like to spend hours installing lots
> of packages before making a critical discovery that obviates all the work.
> [perhaps such a profile is already available - I was unable to check. I can't
> seem to reach that profile selection screen unless I reinstall Debian.]
I'd personally like to see a way to easily add a profile via dpkg
-get-selections and make for a cookie cutter install (think large labs).
Thanks for the report,
Brandon
+--- ---+
| Brandon Mitchell bmitch@atdot.org http://bmitch.dhis.org/ ICQ 30631197 |
| Throughout history, UNIX systems have regularly been broken into, beaten, |
| brutalized, corrupted, commandeered, compromised, and illegally fscked. |
| -- UNIX System Administration Handbook |
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