Trying to install current from a memory stick and then a DVD and got a new and strange installer.

[Adrian Chadd]

.. wait, the install-off-USB doesn't default to a read-only boot?



Adrian

On 25 July 2011 08:11, Claude Buisson <clbuisson at orange.fr> wrote:
> On 07/24/2011 23:33, Nathan Whitehorn wrote:
>>
>> On 07/24/11 16:29, eculp wrote:
>>>
>>> I have been hearing about a new installer but I obviously have not
>>> payed enough attention, I am afraid. I started running freebsd at 2.0
>>> and never really had a problem with understanding the installation
>>> program.  There is always a first time, I guess.
>>>
>>> ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/201105/
>>>
>>> When booting I seem to get a screen that makes me remember installer
>>> screens of the 1980s.  (They were not exactly intuitive.)
>>>
>>> I somehow got the idea that the new installer was graphic.  Maybe
>>> something like PCBsd that is not bad at all.  I use it on all our
>>> employees computers.  Actually, after seeing this, I would love to
>>> have the old installer back.  Is their an option for that?
>>>
>>> Does this new ASCII installer have a "how to" with a bit of
>>> information on the flow of the installation.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>
>> Can you please describe what you didn't like about it, and what you
>> would prefer be changed? "Reminiscent of the 1980s" is not really
>> helpful, especially given that the new installer in fact looks very much
>> like sysinstall, which you seemed to like.
>> -Nathan
>
> Recently I installed a system from the "official" memory stick May snapshot
> (FreeBSD-9.0-CURRENT-201105-amd64-memstick.img). here are a few remarks:
>
> - the 1st thing I need to do is to configure the keyboard, as I am not in
> the
> US. This is needed for an install, but also for using it as a live system.
> And
> the keyboard configuration dialog is only a part of the installation
> procedure.
>
> - the partition tool is too simple/rudimentary, compared to the old
> sysinstall
> dialog. I always want to have a total control of the partitions e.g. to have
> a
> proper alignement. So one must use the shell escape or the live system,
> which is
> a regression.
>
> - extracting the tarballs lead to (cryptic) errors: I discovered the hard
> way
> that I needed to execute a newfs.
>
> - I followed a succession of screens asking me to do the usual configuration
> steps (hostname, clock, network - IPv4 only ?? -, users) and at the end I
> get
> back a screen asking me if a wanted to do the steps I had done just
> before...
>
> - booting the installed system, I found that the hostname disappeared, the
> keyboard was not configured, nor the network, and so on
>
> - during the whole process the screen was scrambled by the occurence of a
> number
> of LORs displayed on top of the dialogs/messages of the installer.
>
> - the file system of the installer/live system seems to be too small,
> leading to
> a number of "system full" messages as soon a few files are written to it.
>
> So the sole value added of the installer was the extraction of the
> tarballs..
>
> It seems that (on a memory stick which is writable) that every aborted
> attempt
> to do a configuration step leaves a "trace" in some files used by the
> installer,
> which is able to show it (e.g. the hostname) at the following attempts, but
> without garantee that it will effectively be used.
>
> (On the other hand, the advantage of the memory stick is that the system on
> it
> can be configured at will)
>
> Referring to a thread I found recently a propos the documentation on the
> install
> media, I also want to say that a proper installer must be able to do its
> work
> without any Internet connectivity. There exist systems which are not
> connected,
> and networks without any communication with the Internet.
>
> Claude Buisson
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