broken old installer?

[Ken Irving <fnkci@uaf.edu>]

I'm somewhat CD-writing-impaired, and have always installed debian systems
using outdated installers.  For a long time I used a woody net install cd,
but since mid-2005 I've been using a sarge net install cd, as recently
as a month ago, without problems.  Now I'm seeing the install fail.
Unfortunately, the first error screen indicating a problem is quickly
(~ 1 second maybe) replaced with an information-free curses page saying
that there were errors...

I found an 'installer-report-template', and I'll try to fill that out and
mail it to the indicated address, in case it might be useful.  I've tried
several variations from my usual practice, e.g., select the desktop task
where I usually don't select any, tried a different source repository,
but no joy.  I'll probably next try a different box.

I'll also try to update my installer CD, in case that might be the
problem.  One of the great aspects of debian is that I've always been
able to install any old system, but then easily and immediately update
it to the latest stable or unstable version.

On thing I haven't tried is to do the install completely off the CD,
and do the net upgrades later.

Should I not be using my trusty old installer?

-- 
Ken Irving, fnkci+debianuser@uaf.edu