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Bug#229267: d-i installation report



Package: installation-reports

INSTALL REPORT

Debian-installer-version: Beta 2
uname -a: Linux nasse 2.4.23-1-686 #1 Sun Nov 30 20:51:10 EST 2003 i686 GNU/Linux
Date: 2004-01-23 20:00
Method: Booted from USB memory stick with business card
	ISO. Downloaded packages from http://ftp.se.debian.org/debian.

Machine: IBM Thinkpad R40
Processor: Mobile Pentium 4 - M 2.2GHz
Memory: 512MB
Root Device: IDE /dev/hda2
Root Size/partition table:
	/dev/hda1	512MB, swap
	/dev/hda2	7GB, /
	/dev/hda3	the rest of the disc, /misc0

Output of lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845 845 (Brookdale) Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB2 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BAM/CAM PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY
02:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller
02:02.0 Network controller: AIRONET Wireless Communications Cisco Aironet Wireless 802.11b
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801BD PRO/100 VE (MOB) Ethernet Controller (rev 83)

Base System Installation Checklist:

Initial boot worked:    [O]
Configure network HW:   [O]
Config network:         [E]
Detect CD:              [ ]
Load installer modules: [O]
Detect hard drives:     [O]
Partition hard drives:  [O]
Create file systems:    [O]
Mount partitions:       [O]
Install base system:    [O]
Install boot loader:    [O]
Reboot:                 [E]
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it

Comments/Problems:

I decided to try the memory stick installation. I downloaded the image
and wrote it onto the stick - but I forgot that they have partitions
so I wrote it directly to the disc device and ended up with a broken
partition table. But after repartitioning it, writing the image to the
first partition, running install-mbr and syslinux, everything worked.

The installer booted nicely and detected my hardware. But when it was
going to configure the network, it picked the wrong network card. I
was never asked which network card to configure because that's
considered an "expert" option. I ended up in the main menu and chose
network configuration again, and this time I was asked about which
network card to configure (because of lower debconf
priority). Unfortunately, I had made a static configuration on the
first card, so I had to switch to the console, ifconfig down the first
card and add a default route for the second. All of this would have
been much easier if the installer asked me which card to use the first
time - or simply tried all of them.

But after that, everything went on smoothly. I think the installer
should be able automatically detect which kernel to install, though. I
also think it would be better to have GRUB as the default boot loader
on x86. Together with an appropriate /etc/kernel-img.conf, which calls
update-grub automatically and disables annoying questions, it is
really much easier to use than lilo when installing new kernels.

After rebooting, lilo loaded the kernel and initrd into memory, but it
took 50 seconds! For some reason, the compact option wasn't in
/etc/lilo.conf. Normally, the absence of compact doesn't make lilo
that slow, but on this computer it apparently did. After adding the
compact option, the kernel loaded fast.

Now perhaps this doesn't concern debian-installer, but when the system
booted, cardmgr was unable to load so my PCMCIA network card was not
enabled. The problem was that cardmgr loaded the i82365 module instead
of yenta_socket, which didn't work. But even after switching to
yenta_socket, my network card wasn't enabled. I used a Netgear MA401RA
WLAN card. I had to install the sid version of pcmcia-cs, I guess the
sarge version is old and broken.

Finally, I want to say that I was very impressed with
debian-installer. It's a big improvement over the previous installer
and it's very flexible, elegant and easy to use. You're doing a great
job. What's not quite as impressing are all the horrible debconf
abuses that one encounters when installing packages, but that's not
your fault of course. Maybe it's just because my debconf priority was
set to medium for some reason.

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