hi On Fri, 2003-09-26 at 05:22, Chris Tillman wrote: > I tried the powerpc version of the installer built recently by Gaudenz > Steinlin. Since the root image was missing modprobe, I wasn't able to > get too far. But seeing a lot of errors gave me some insight into the > error handling code, and I thought I would enter my observations. There are now cdrom images on http://gluck.debian.org/cdimage/testing/netinst/powerpc/ We are working on makeing them better, but they have already some bugs fixed, that were in my images. Probably I should remove my images alltogether. > > I chose the language, which was fine, but I agree (and I think there > may already be a bug) that the Choose language should be a separate > dialog, ala boot-floppies, so people that don't read English have a > chance. If I was presented with Japanese characters on the first line > of main-menu, I surely wouldn't feel confident about choosing it -- I > wouldn't know what the result would be. Another option might be to > display all the other language translations of 'Choose a language' > around the main menu box when the first item is highlighted? Nah. File a bug if there isn't already one. I think it will be difficult to make an installer for which one doesn't even have to know what "Choose your language" means. Probably there should be a way to preselect the installer language and to build custom images for special languages. So a japanese debian based distribution can make a japanese installer for people not know any english. > > In netcfg-dhcp, the message says 'This may take some time. It > shouldn't take more than a minute or two.' However, this is presented > in a dialog box where 'Continue' needs to be selected for this > 'lengthy' process to start. I understand we shouldn't refer to the > button name directly, but how can we make the user understand that the > Continue button should be pressed to start the operation? I think a > new user could sit there looking at that message for a long time, > thinking that the operation it referred to was already in process. file a bug. IMHO this message is bogus anyway. In my experience if a dhcp server doesn't respond within the first 10 seconds, you won't get a lease. > > The Detect a keyboard and select layout step failed due to the lack of > modprobe. However, it was very difficult to figure out what was going > wrong. When the step was selected, the background would momentarily > change to blue; I could see SIGSEGV in the upper left corner and some > other words, but the main menu was quickly re-displayed. I checked > console 3, there was no message there indicating what had happened. I > repeatedly selected the menu item so I could piece together the > messages displayed as they flashed quickly by. There is no error > message after the step fails in this way. This bug is fixed, kbd-chooser was segfaulting. File a bug against main-menu if there isn't one that it should not simply return if some step segfaults. I think now it assumes that the udebs display an error message if they fail, obviously this is not true if they segfault. > > I found it odd that the Configure network via DHCP step and the > Configure static network step were separated in the main menu by the > keyboard configuration. I guess this is a result of the > Installer-Menu-Item conflict at #12. netcfg's item 14 also conflicts > with choose-mirror, as I noted back on June 6. please file a bug. > > Perhaps this is a result of the way this build was executed; but when > Configure network failed, there didn't appear to be any way to choose > a CD mirror instead. The Choose Mirror step said it was dependent on > Configure Network, and offered to take me back there. When that > happened, and I used the Go Back button to try Configure Network > again, and it failed again, Choose Mirror didn't realize that > Configure Network had just failed again, and went ahead with its > function anyway. It should have gone back to the main menu or > complained again about Configure Network. These are netboot images. They don't include cdrom-retriever. > > Another new-user trip-up might occur after executing a shell. It's not > evident how one exits from the shell; I'd suggest adding "Use the > 'exit' command to leave this shell and return to the main menu" in > the brief intro which appears at the top. file a bug. > > One last suggestion: I don't know what version this test represents, > because I didn't build it myself. Obviously a common problem. I think > it would be appropriate to add the build version right there in the > main menu title, like "This is the main menu for debian-installer, > version x.xx" file a bug
Thanks for your testing efforts! gaudenz -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
