On Mon, Jun 26, 2006 at 10:52:35AM -0700, Chuck Pergiel wrote: > June 26, 2006 > > Installation: Use SPACEBAR to select "Desktop Environment", not just the > Enter key. yup > > During installation of Debian on a PC, you come to a screen that asks you to > select the packages you want to install. It appears that "Desktop > Environment" is highlighted. One might think that simply pressing the Enter > key would cause this package to be installed. WRONG! You must press the > SPACEBAR to select this item before you press the enter key. Failure to > press the spacebar will not cause any error messages. The installation > simple proceeds. Eventually it finishes, the system reboots, and you have a > working Linux system with a command line user interface. No GUI, and no > indication why not. > This problem/feature comes up quite a lot. There is no "default" selection in the screen you are looking at which is "tasksel". Its purpose is to tailor the system with some reasonable sane defaults for various uses of a debian machine: server, desktop whatever. Tasksel follow the debian standard of using the spacebar to select an item. When you use the spacebar, an asterisk '*' appears in the box indicating that the item has been selected. In other debconf screens, there is often a default and a '*' will already be in place so that enter will execute the selection of the default. The behavior is entirely consistent, but I agree with you that it is confusing if you are not familiar with it. > Before you get to the package selection screen there are a few other screens > which either: > 1) require you to select one item from a list, where the default selection > is highlighted, and pressing the Enter key is all you need to do, or > 2) you need to enter some text, or simply accept the text that is already > there. In any case you finish by pressing the Enter key. > > When you get to the package selection screen, it appears that once again > there is a "select one item from a list", and the default selection is > highlighted. Nowhere does it say anything about pressing the spacebar. > I agree that it should be more clear. or perhaps a dialog should pop-up indicating that no selection has made and asking whether this is the desired result. I think this has been hammered many times on this list... > > Blah, blah, blah > > I am very angry. I am elated. I have spent the better part of a month > trying, in a sporadic and inattentive manner, to get Linux installed on an > old PC. There were a number of problems, a wild goose chase or two, but this > problem with the spacebar takes the cake. But I now I have Debian installed > and running, with a GUI on two different systems. > more important than any of the above... congratulations! A
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature