Bug#288476: nForce 2 success
Package: installation-reports
INSTALL REPORT
Debian-installer-version: 20041217
uname -a: Linux leo.ido.ath.cx 2.6.8-1-k7 #1 Thu Nov 25 04:13:37 UTC
2004 i686 GNU/Linux
Date: 20041230
Method: linux26 install from CD 1 of 2.
Machine: nForce 2
Processor: Barton 2500+
Memory: 256 MB
Root Device: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200.7 80GB HD ATA/100 8.5MS 7200
Root Size/partition table:
1 primary 4.7 ntfs
5 logic 26.2 fat32
6 logic 789.6 swap swap
7 logic 31.3 ext3 /home
8 primary 17.0 ext3 /
Output of lspci and lspci -n:
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (different
version?) (rev c1)
0000:00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 0
(rev c1)
0000:00:00.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 4
(rev c1)
0000:00:00.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 3
(rev c1)
0000:00:00.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 2
(rev c1)
0000:00:00.5 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Memory Controller 5
(rev c1)
0000:00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 ISA Bridge (rev a4)
0000:00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce2 SMBus (MCP) (rev a2)
0000:00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller
(rev a4)
0000:00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller
(rev a4)
0000:00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 USB Controller
(rev a4)
0000:00:04.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation nForce2 Ethernet
Controller (rev a1)
0000:00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 External PCI Bridge
(rev a3)
0000:00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce2 IDE (rev a2)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce2 AGP (rev c1)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV25
[GeForce4 Ti 4600] (rev a3)
0000:02:07.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq 5880 AudioPCI (rev 02)
0000:00:00.0 0600: 10de:01e0 (rev c1)
0000:00:00.1 0500: 10de:01ea (rev c1)
0000:00:00.2 0500: 10de:01ee (rev c1)
0000:00:00.3 0500: 10de:01ed (rev c1)
0000:00:00.4 0500: 10de:01ec (rev c1)
0000:00:00.5 0500: 10de:01ef (rev c1)
0000:00:01.0 0601: 10de:0060 (rev a4)
0000:00:01.1 0c05: 10de:0064 (rev a2)
0000:00:02.0 0c03: 10de:0067 (rev a4)
0000:00:02.1 0c03: 10de:0067 (rev a4)
0000:00:02.2 0c03: 10de:0068 (rev a4)
0000:00:04.0 0200: 10de:0066 (rev a1)
0000:00:08.0 0604: 10de:006c (rev a3)
0000:00:09.0 0101: 10de:0065 (rev a2)
0000:00:1e.0 0604: 10de:01e8 (rev c1)
0000:01:00.0 0300: 10de:0250 (rev a3)
0000:02:07.0 0401: 1274:5880 (rev 02)
Base System Installation Checklist:
Initial boot worked: [O]
Configure network HW: [O]
Config network: [O]
Detect CD: [O]
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: [O]
Comments/Problems:
Hi, this is my second time with d-i, after a first experience with
Debian in June. I used a 20041217 snapshot and installed with "linux26"
several times because I wanted to test a driver without taking risks and
I'm not experienced in kernel stuff.
Usability
Partitionning was not totally easy. I used the automatic partitioning
first and it generated the current partition table previously detailed
except that 10 GB were in partition 7 (then 41.3) GB instead of
partition 8 (then 7.0 GB). Starting from there I wanted to decrease
partition 7's size by 10 GB to 8's profit. If I remember right, resizing
implied deleting partitions and recreating them. Even there, if I
recreated 7 with 31.3 GB, I couldn't create a 17.0 GB 8th partition,
which seemed to be a bug. You might want to test the usability of a
simple resizing.
One problem that didn't change much since June is setting up an Internet
connection with DSL. d-i allows to setup a connection either via a
gateway, either with dial-up, not with DSL. The worst is that this is
not really clear, because a new person will wonder whether PPP allows
DSL connections (PPPoE...a subset of PPP?). Since I installed several
times, I focused on verifying if this was clear and IMHO, first-timers
are more likely to attempt to connect DSL with PPP than understand they
can't. Approximately translated, the installation says "If you have an
account at an ISP and you want to use it during the install, you can
configure the PPP service now so that a PPP connection to your access
provider can be established." I do have an account at an ISP and want to
use it during install. What tells me I can't? If you try to setup the
connexion before realizing you can't, the installer will say later,
after "Impossible to access security updates.", "You should find the
reason of this *error* later." and prints several error messages...not
really reassuring.
In general I consider the usability medium, with the lack of mouse
support, back buttons, and use of tasksel/aptitude which makes the
manual choice of packages far from easy, but that's all harder issues.
A pretty obvious optimization of a few seconds would be to allow to
cancel the attempt to discover DHCP...this is just my opinion, so I
won't say more.
The last point is about locales. I use French in Canada (fr_CA) and a
PS/2 104 keys keyboard and that doesn't work well. At the last step
before the first reboot, d-i proposes to "go back" instead of rebooting.
If you choose that and end the first part immediately after, the second
part will be in "expert" mode. Then you'll see a step "Postconfigure
language-related parameters". At this step, d-i only writes "Unsupported
locale fr_CA" quickly. Probably as a consequence, my X is configured by
default with "us" keyboard. Then, this probably causes KDE to also use
the wrong keyboard layout by default (this is pretty irritating...).
Also, KDE is set by default to use the Imperial measure system, even if
I'm in Canada. Finally, in expert mode, I can choose the papersize, and
it says that A4 is certainly the good size, even if I'm in Canada (I
wish that would be true...). Obviously in normal installs d-i will
automatically pick up the wrong size. What needs to be done to make d-i
support fr_CA?
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