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Re: My first d-i installation of a mips.



* Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> [031006 16:36]:
> > [/sbin/init vs /linuxrc]
> Patch pending a successfull build and boot on i386 and alpha. I don't
> want to break anything.

Ok, thanks. Then I can just ignore that when I have some more time to
look into it.

> > In the shell (that is on tty2) when beeing in the last line
> > and pressing tab or cursor up, the whole screen is blanked. 
> > (The content gets restored when switching ttys) This might be 
> > a problem with the kernel's framebuffer-console, though the sh 
> > after chrooting in a partly installed base-system does not 
> > have this problem.
> 
> From what I was told by the mips guys at the D-I Debcamp in oldenburg
> its the framebuffer.

As I fear the kernel would be hard to fix, do you think is is appropiate
to file a wishlist-bug against busybox for a workaround for this?

> > network-configuration is utterly strange
> > (It first asks for a IP, then waits long time, then
> > again asks for a IP and some more information. Only after
> > selecting configure a static network twice it has asked
> > for all information and still insists on "something has gone wrong".)
> > When I start with DEBCONF_PRIORITY=low I only have to select
> > netcfg-static once and everything works...
> 
> If something goes wrong the priority is lowered and you can try again
> with more options.

Ok, that explains the behaviour. Now my confusion is limited to the
question why anyone might think an IP-address without the dns and/or 
gateway address is of any value.

> > The installers userfriendlyness is still missing worlds compared
> > to the the old b-fs. One often does not know, where one currently
> > is, but is unexpectently asked questions so one can only guess what it
> > currently plans to do. (I hope this is not intentional). I also
> > hope things like availability of a "Install kernel" item when this
> > only triggers the already failed "install basesystem" will
> > go away.
> 
> Items will trigger all items they depend on on. Thats actually a nice
> feature.
> 
> You boot up and select "install kernel" and it ill automatically go
> through all the steps needed till it can install a kernel.

While I can agree that this is a feature, I'm not conviced it is nice.
Perhaps the permanent failure[1] of netcfg-static confused the menu, but 
it looked as if "Install the base system" and "Install kernel" were
both qualiy availabe actions. If both actions start the same way, this
violates the principle of least surprise. 

Or to say in fewer words: I think this might be convient for installing
but not friendly to new users.

> That also means you can't skip a step that half worked but said it
> failed. With boot-floppies you could ignore steps.

Ah, that is something to put in the installation manuals, once they are
written: "How do I ingore steps." Is there any easier way than editing
some status file with an uncommon editor?

Hochachtungsvoll,
	Bernhard R. Link

[1]: While it finaly configured the network properly, it never
exited without error, as it stumbled over doing things twice.



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