my experiences withthe new Debian installer
it's a significant improvement of the previous version however
installation process is still very expert friendly.
I highly recommend taking a look at the xandros install process. Half a
dozen steps and you have a usable system.
Issues:
If you do not have an ethernet cable plug-in during DHCP address
acquisition, retrying with a cable plugged in does not acquire an address.
Disk formatting process is still quite expert friendly. The two-step
process of allocating storage and choosing a file system followed by
choosing a file system is disconcerting the first time one encounters
it. One should just allocate storage then choose a file system is a
second step or, preferably do everything in one screen namely allocate
storage, choose file system type, choose mount point.
On the screen configure and mount partitions, it does not show the
partitions I created in the previous step. It shows the NTFS partition,
selling determined partition rather than the Linux and Linux swap
partitions I had created.
the subsequent interface flow selecting file system and mount point is
quite nice. any way of making the allocation process part of this flow?
enabling shadow passwords question is expert friendly but if there's
ever a streamlined path, just assume a yes.
the X11 install is still as (un)friendly as ever. I have been spoiled
by the likes of Xandros and Windows because they just figure out what
video card is present without requiring someone to pull the top of the
system, and intuit video card profile from either the remnants of
silkscreening or an FCC ID number. Remember, I'm using a Frankenstein
box here. My selection process for video card was minimum dust and a 15
pin connector on the back that fits a video cable. I don't believe my
junk box has a video card that was manufactured before 1997. And yes,
Windows 2000 and Xandros both properly identified the card but, bright
person that I am, I forgot to it write down.
so now I have my boot prompt, X doesn't run because I didn't even try to
get the settings right.
My overall impression is that the new installer is an improvement over
the previous one. And for that, people are to be thanked. On the
downside, there are still way too many decisions to be made. The vast
majority of them are minutia that makes a difference to a very small
segment of the population and drives everyone else crazy. Personally, I
would be happy with a 15 (give or take) step install which asks the
basic questions of network configuration(DHCP/static), partitioning disk
(how many, how much for each one, format, and mount point), which
packages would I like to start with, root password and go-don't bother
me until you are done.
for me, an install should be 15 minutes of questions and answers and
then I should hear nothing from the process or need to pay any attention
to it it is done.
Again, I think you have made a significant improvement. I know how
difficult it is to sometimes make the amount of change necessary
happened on volunteer efforts. You have done good and please don't let
my criticisms detract from that.
I'm looking forward to trying out the next beta.
---eric
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