Re: Apropos README-OVERVIEW
On Fri, Nov 19, 1999 at 03:37:41PM +0100, Massimo Dal Zotto wrote:
> > In README-OVERVIEW Enrique says that 'simple tasks' like setting root's
> > password, creating user might be performed before first reboot.
> >
> > IMHO, this is not a good thing to do. I know these are simple tasks but it
> > reminds me of my early RH installation where one does everything before
> > first reboot including selecting packages, and installing them
> > only to find out that unfortunately the system is unbootable because LILO is
> > setup wrong - either because of lack of knowledge or a hard setup which LILO
> > doesn't handle automatically.
> > I know that LILO can be set up using some boot floppy afterwards without
> > reinstalling, but this is impossible for a newbie to perform.
> >
> > Just my opinion - IMHO as little as possible should be done before the first
> > reboot.
I guess I did not make my opinion clear. Let me say that again:
I mean a situation where LILO is set up wrong, not hardware failures or
something. Since LILO installation is a critical part of every setup,
especially when you don't make a floppy as well. IF one sets up LILO wrong
for any reason (be it his/her lack of knowledge, of English, of his hardware
(the famous 1023 cyls. "feature")), he/she _HAS TO REPEAT EVERYTHING_ up to
the installation of LILO.
And if much is done _before_ the first reboot (note that reboot is the only
sure way to check if LILO was installed right) that much has to be redone.
And it is not just a hypothesis, i had such problem once.
> What does it change if the system hangs before or after performing these
> things? If the system is misconfigured or there are hardware problems it
> won't work anyway.
exactly, and the sooner you know that the particular setup won't work, the
less you will have to redo if you are forced to repeat the installation and
fix the problem.
> Personally I prefer that things are done as soon as possible so that if
> there is any problem I have most of the system already configured and
> hopefully working in some way.
you won't have even a crawling system if you misconfigure something really
critical
> Note also that the reboot is not really needed, as you can do all the rest
> of the installation by restarting the new init from chroot in the target
> root.
that's interesting, i think i'll try that myself next time.
However it is only possible to do such things if you know something about
the system. And please believe me: it is a shock for a newbie (especially
windoze-converted one) to install a boot loader - i know of lots of people
who load Linux from a floppy only because they are scared to install LILO.
regards,
Marcin
--
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Marcin Owsiany
porridge@pandora.info.bielsko.pl
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