Bug#288902: Slight install glitch, some suggestions
Package: installation-reports
Debian-installer-version:
http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/rc2/sarge-i386-netinst.iso
uname -a: Linux mofo 2.4.27-1-386 #1 Wed Dec 1 19:43:08 JST 2004 i686
GNU/Linux
Date: Jan 1 2004
Method: <How did you install? What did you boot off? If network
install, from where? Proxied?>
Boot from cd.
Network install: ftp://ftp.us.debian.org, ftp://debian.uchicago.edu
no proxy
Machine: Penguin Computing
Processor: Dual 600MHz Pentium III
Memory: 1GB RAM
Root Device: SCSI sdb
Root Size/partition table:
l# sfdisk -l /dev/sdb
Disk /dev/sdb: 2213 cylinders, 255 heads, 63 sectors/track
Units = cylinders of 8225280 bytes, blocks of 1024 bytes, counting from
0
Device Boot Start End #cyls #blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 0+ 5 6- 48163+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb2 6 491 486 3903795 83 Linux
/dev/sdb3 492 540 49 393592+ 82 Linux swap
/dev/sdb4 541 2212 1672 13430340 f W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sdb5 541+ 1634 1094- 8787523+ 83 Linux
/dev/sdb6 1635+ 2212 578- 4642753+ 83 Linux
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb2 3.7G 107M 3.4G 4% /
tmpfs 443M 0 443M 0% /dev/shm
/dev/sdb1 45M 9.3M 33M 23% /boot
/dev/sdc2 17G 14G 2.5G 85% /home
/dev/sdb5 8.3G 1.3G 6.6G 17% /usr
/dev/sdb6 4.4G 397M 3.8G 10% /var
/dev/sda2 1012M 783M 178M 82% /mnt/sda2
/dev/sda6 4.0G 3.1G 724M 82% /mnt/sda2/usr
/dev/sda7 1012M 456M 505M 48% /mnt/sda2/var
Output of lspci and lspci -n:
# lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host
bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP
bridge (rev 03)
0000:00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
0000:00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev
01)
0000:00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev
01)
0000:00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
0000:00:10.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7892B U160/m (rev 02)
0000:00:12.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97]
(rev 07)
0000:00:14.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro
100] (rev 08)
0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400
AGP (rev 04)
# lspci -n
0000:00:00.0 0600: 8086:7190 (rev 03)
0000:00:01.0 0604: 8086:7191 (rev 03)
0000:00:07.0 0601: 8086:7110 (rev 02)
0000:00:07.1 0101: 8086:7111 (rev 01)
0000:00:07.2 0c03: 8086:7112 (rev 01)
0000:00:07.3 0680: 8086:7113 (rev 02)
0000:00:10.0 0100: 9005:0081 (rev 02)
0000:00:12.0 0401: 1274:1371 (rev 07)
0000:00:14.0 0200: 8086:1229 (rev 08)
0000:01:00.0 0300: 102b:0525 (rev 04)
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
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:
Network configured manually.
Hard drive partitioned manually.
Boot loader installed to floppy.
After reboot (?), I believe in base-config where you choose
what kind of system you want, I mistakenly pressed the
return key instead of the space bar when trying to mark
X windows desktop system, and then got nothing installed.
So, wound up using apt-get to install x-window-manager and
gnome manually. Somewhere in there a do-over question would
have been really helpful, I only now feel like I can remember
base-config (or is it tasksel) that I would need to type
to recover from this error.
And it's _easy_ to make the
mistake of not pressing space to mark the item. Maybe at
the very beginning of the install the user could get,
by default, a little training in
pressing the space bar to mark things and using the tab button
to move around. Yup, I think a little "Do you want me to show
you how to use this installation program [Y,n]:" at the
beginning would be a good thing. Nobody reads the instructions
even when they're on the screen at the bottom when you need them.
(Face it, we all feel clever when we're working with
a program and get stuck, and then solve our problem
by actually reading the instructions at the bottom of the
screen.)
The tuitorial can force the user to learn to use the tab key,
the space bar, and the return key just by requiring their use.
(One page with instructional text, user must un-mark a check box, mark
another, tab to an appropriate "button" and press enter to proceed.)
For an enhancement, the installer could optionally
start by testing hardware. Using memtest and badblocks.
(I prefer badblocks -w -p2 out of paranoia.)
Nothing like flakey hardware to make working with a system
hell and I make a practice to run those programs on a
questionable system before spending any other time on it.
Does not seem to work with OptoRite (www.optorite.com)
CD/RW Model No: CW 5201 in place of CD reader above.
I've not gotten this ATPI cd drive/burner to work with Linux
yet, could be it won't. It's hung my box before
(using RH 7.2), I forget whether it hangs on mount or
trying to read a mounted cd.
Installer did not detect smp or install smp kernel.
BTW, I like the OpenBSD install, which finishes by telling
you to read the "afterboot" man page, which bootstraps
your head. IHMO, a similar Debian page should tell
users to use aptitude. It took me an IRC session
to find that I couldn't use dpkg -l to see what packages
were available for installation.
Good work on the installer overall. Much easier than my previous
(2?) debian installations.
Regards,
Karl <kop@meme.com>
Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
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