Package: installation-reports
Boot method: <How did you boot the installer? CD? floppy? network?>
Image version: <Full URL to image you downloaded is best>
Date: <Date and time of the install>
I booted the installer from a CDRom that I burned after downloading the
image from the Debian site. Sorry I can't provide the full download
url because I down- loaded it about 10 days ago, to test the RC2 of the
installer.
Here are the details of the image I installed:
7e1d4e59a3cdcc5e1d4c8769aa082c6b debian-Lenny-DI-rc2-i386-netinst.iso
I installed it on new equipment on Feb 12, 2009 around 4-5 pm.
Machine: <Description of machine (eg, IBM Thinkpad R32)>
The machine is a home built desktop:
Enermax mod82 525 Watt powersupply
gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 processor,
2 gigabytes Corsair 2048-6400C4DHX R memory
250 gigabyte Western Digital sata disk
Samsung Syncmaster 940BF LCD display
XFX GS7600 nvidia video card.
Partitions: <df -Tl will do; the raw partition table is preferred>
Here is the partition table according to fdisk.
Disk /dev/sda: 250.0 GB, 250058268160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xa5caa5ca
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 365 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 366 9483 73240335 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 9484 19209 78124095 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 19210 30401 89899740 5 Extended
/dev/sda5 19210 19332 987966 82 Linux swap /
Solaris /dev/sda6 19333 19457 1004031 82 Linux
swap / Solaris /dev/sda7 19458 30401 87907648+ 83
Linux
This needs a brief explanation. I have a small installation at the
front of the disk I use as a grub host and fallback. It is debian
lenny now, just a base installation - what you get when you "unselect"
everything on the "choose software" list. I even clear "standard
system". On this installation, I select to install grub, and install
grub to the MBR too. The only other changes to this partition are to
install file-rc, mc and gpm. I edit the grub menu.lst on this partition
to allow for my "main" lenny install on sda2 (not done yet). I don't
mess around with sda1, it is just there to host the grub files, and I
never change them because I aim each boot choice at /vmlinuz which is
the link in the root directory. That way, if I change kernels in sda2
(my main install) the menu.lst in sda1 doesn't have to be changed.
So when I started the main install (sda2) I had something similar to
the first 3 partitions, plus an extended partition with a couple of
small logical partitions to use for swap, but I wanted to change the
sizes.
I selected "graphical expert" install on the installation for SDA2 (the
subject of this report). Everything went fine and when I got to the
partitioning part I deleted all the partitions except for SDA1, then
added 75 megabytes for SDA2 and did the installation confirming that I
didn't want to add a swap file.
Later, after I booted into SDA2 and got things organized a bit, I used
fdisk to add some more partitions, namely sda3 and sda4 (extended).
Also, sda5 and sda6.
The idea is that I would have one "homebase" in sda1 that I never
changed and always allows me to boot the machine. In addition, I have
a main lenny install in sda2 and another partition (sda3) in case I
want to install "squeeze" in a few months. sda5 and sda6 are to
provide minimal swap for these two installations if I feel like it. The
rest - sda7 will be for misc use, maybe to backup some stuff.
I don't know why I get so wordy, but I think the issue I'm getting to
is that it would be nice to have access to fdisk at an early stage,
just to set the disk up the way you want. If that is possible by
switching to another tty during the installation but I never thought to
check that. If I could have done that, I wouldn't have followed the
convoluted process I followed, I would have just done it and then
rebooted the install cdrom and proceeded.
That's the only criticism I have of the installation cd. I don't like
the feeling I get from the "manual" partitioning tool. You can create
either primary or logical and there is no mention of "extended", so did
it get created automatically? What happens if I alternated between
primary and logical, would they be properly named?
I'd rather use *fdisk* and install an extended partition, plus logical
partitions inside that etc. Maybe that could be an option in the
initial list of choices you get when the install cd first boots. You
could have a choice to have a root console to get the disk organized
first, then reboot back into the installation CD.
Base System Installation Checklist:
[O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it
This was my first use of the graphical tool. Yow, excellent!
Initial boot: [O]
Detect network card: [O]
Configure network: [O ]
Detect CD: [O ]
Load installer modules: [ ] I just skip over this screen.
Detect hard drives: [O ]
Partition hard drives: [O ] see comments above
Install base system: [O ]
Clock/timezone setup: [O ]
User/password setup: [O ]
Install tasks: [O ] I love debian, I cleared all the choices.
Just the basics!!! Install boot loader: [0 ] I tried it on sda1,
worked great. I didn't install grub on sda2 Overall install: [0 ]
Comments/Problems:
<Description of the install, in prose, and any thoughts, comments
and ideas you had during the initial install.>
I think the installer is a really nice tool. The only criticism I have
is that early in the install you should provide an exit to allow use of
fdisk, to get things organized before the actual installation begins.
On the other hand, it's possible to work around that issue if you like
doing things in a quirky way. I could have installed my sda1 "home
base" and used fdisk from there to get the disk organized the way I
wanted it.
It's hard to get access to fdisk somehow. I'm not really too
comfortable using it from the operating system on the disk I'm trying
to partition (isn't that dangerous?) so I would really like to use it
from the installation CD environment.
That's it. Apologies if it was wordy. If you *can* already do what I
am asking then I am a *complete idiot*. Apologies. [I just tested the
install CD again and if you execute a shell there is no fdisk
available. Could it be added?]
Overall, I think Debian is just fantastic. I have learned a lot (I
bought Martin Krafft's book, plus "Unix System Administration Handbook"
that Martin recommended on page 19. Both really excellent). I'm
almost at the stage where I can clean up my own messes. :-)
All the best to Debian and all the Debian people.
John Watts
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
--
Please make sure that the hardware-summary log file, and any other
installation logs that you think would be useful are attached to this
report. Please compress large files using gzip.
See attached "hardware.gz"
Once you have filled out this report, mail it to submit@bugs.debian.org.
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