Re: Graphical installer - invitation to get involved
On Sun, Dec 04, 2005 at 12:07:06AM +1100, Julien Goodwin wrote:
> These are my notes/ideas after having done a test installation using the
> graphical d-i beta. (Under a VMware install using ftp.us.debian.org as
> the mirror)
>
> I'm not subscribed to the list so please cc me on anything you'd like my
> comment on. I'm happy to test any betas etc to see how things may have
> improved.
>
> As it stands it seems to only be a graphical frontend to debconf, given
> some of the decisions taken this causes it to be less usable then the
> console version.
>
> Graphical D-I boot notes:
>
> 1. Can you use ubuntu's bootsplash or something to hide/pretty up kernel
> messages.
Well, we would need to have the bootsplash thingy patch included in the debian
kernel, and this with current policies means it should be ready to be
submitted upstream. I think it would be nice though, but needs discussing with
the kernel team, CCing there.
> 4. Would be nice to have a download speed monitor at the bottom of the
> screen for those with slow connections, also a calculated ETA.
Yeah.
> 5. A graphical partitioner is probably the biggest missing peice, I
> didn't really test how the partitioner came through, just did a "wipe
> entire disk" and it was still a pain.
Xavier Oswald is working on first doing a gparted .udeb, which will allow to
fall back to a graphical partitioner instead of plain old parted, and then
modifying it to be able to serve-as/replace partman, at least in its gross
functionality, there is still work to be done there though.
> 6. Pages with just one checkbox (eg the "write changes to disk" page
> should probably have just "Yes/No" buttons instead of the checkbox and
> go back/continue buttons (also install grub to mbr)
Yes, this is a big usability issue, i believe, and also increase the chance of
an accidental erasal of unwanted partitions.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
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