Bug#375178: Unsuccessful install of testing i386
Package: installation-reports
Boot method: Booted from CD
Image version: June 23 2006, image downloaded with jigdo using
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/etch_di_beta2/i386/jigdo-cd/debian-testing-i386-binary-1.jigdo, from http://sluglug.ucsc.edu/debian/
Date: June 23, 2006
Machine: IBM ThinkPad, it's not clear what the model number is though,
I don't see it on the case, it's a couple years old and a bit of a brick
Processor: unknown
Memory: unknown
Partitions: installation fails so I can't run df
Output of lspci and lspci -n: installation fails
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O]
My network hardware is a Lucent Wavelan 802.11b pcmcia card (now
called Orinoco). The config didn't prompt for ESSID until I went
through the dhcp configuration and did "go back" and configured the
wireless network.
Detect CD: [O]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives: [O]
Partition hard drives: [O]
The first time I ran the install there was a choice to partition
automatically with the LVM, which I did. The second time I ran the
install there was not. I couldn't figure out how to get that choice
again.
Create file systems: [O]
Mount partitions: [O]
Install base system: [O]
Install boot loader: [O]
Right after installing the boot loader the install appeared to hang.
The console on alt-f4 was spewing lots of seemingly repeated messages,
include a usage message for the sort command.
Reboot: [ ]
Comments/Problems:
It sure has gotten harder since 1999 when I did my first Debian
install to figure out what to download, to download it (jigdo has "5
easy steps", but I just want to download something and install it),
and to get through the install. I'm not even sure I downloaded and
tried to install the right thing; I wanted to install a minimal
"testing" from a CD that would have most/all of what I needed since I
anticipated having to go through the install three or four times and
didn't want to download lots of stuff over the net each time, but it's
really not clear from your site whether debian-testing-i386-binary-1
is what I wanted. Your site is really a twisty maze with 50% of the
information I need one page, 70% on another, and the other 20%
somewhere I can't find, in fact all the pages are hard to find and
even harder to find again which is frustrating. I tried installing
from this CD twice before giving up and throwing it away.
Thankfully your feedback process here is easy enough but once again I
had a heck of a time re-finding the page that said how to do it. It
says something about a "Debian Installer" though and all I've got is
an iso downloaded with jigdo. Maybe you all know what you're talking
about and what if any relation the iso has to "Debian Installer", but
I sure couldn't figure it out, and I don't have time to read every
page at your site to try to figure it out.
Maybe all the distributions are like that now though; trying to install
Gentoo is no picnic either. Linux will never be mainstream if I can't
recommend it to my friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Even Ubuntu
didn't cut it on the ThinkPad -- it didn't get things set up right
to suspend, among other things. But I digress.
It would be great to have a cookbook, easily acessible from your home
page, with quick recipes for installing various
versions/architectures.
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