Debian Woody Installer = Unfriendly
How do I get it installed? Last night, I managed to create the partitions I needed.
I have a multiboot environment on my desktop PC. Below is a map of my partitions in GNU/Linux style:
Primary -- /dev/hda1: Windows XP Professional (entire OS) (Boot)
Primary -- /dev/hda2: /boot (Red Hat 8 Professional)
Primary -- /dev/hda3: / (Red Hat 8 Professional)
Logical -- /dev/hda4: (Red Hat 8 Professional)
\-> /dev/hda5: swap (Red Hat 8 Professional, Debian Woody)
Primary -- /dev/hdb1: /boot (Debian Woody) (Boot)
Primary -- /dev/hdb2: / (Debian Woody)
Free -- /dev/hdb3
Both hard drives are Western Digital 100GB.
I proceeded with my Debian install. Partitioned, initialized, mounted all partitions I need. I continued. I have official install CD's from Abexia and inserted all 7 of them to get my system properly indexed. Then I followed through with the configuration of the system. I configured X, MySQL, FTP, etc., etc...
All while I was getting some stupid error because I was using a Microsoft Wireless keyboard while doing this.
After a while, my screen went black. It stayed black. It wasn't a "hey, you're in the command line" black. It wasn't a "hey, your monitor's off" black. It was more like a "hey, you have an X session starting" black. I could hear my hard drive and CD-ROM drive buzzing with activity. So I know it didn't just go dead. But the screen was still black. Eventually, all activity stopped. No hard drive noises. No more CD-ROM noises. But still black.
Did my X session default to the highest resolution I specified it may wish to use in the configuration? I think I just checked off everything, even though the highest resolution would most definitely not display on my monitor. :'( I don't want to have to install again. That took an awfully long time.
Why can't Debian installation be more automated, like a Red Hat install? I suppose it's because Red Hat just assumes a bunch of defaults and doesn't let you change anything up front while you install, but I like that, because it's quick and painless.
Grr.
Maybe I'll try installing Debian again later this week. I can't tonight. I have to put some time aside and blow away the SotOS web server to make room for a better solution. I've been getting e-mails about people trying to register on the Tiki I put up there. :( I really wish I'd had more time to play around with what I put up there. Perhaps I could've made it work.
Now it's time to get PDF-generating capabilities on my desktop PC so I can publish the rest of the Web standards for the SotOS sites. Maybe that'll get some activity flowing on the Web-devel list. :-/ Maybe.
I should start playing the lottery or something like that. Maybe I'll hit it big and will be able to devote all of my time to school and material for the SotOS. 40+ hours per week on developing the SotOS site? Wow. That truly would be a dream come true. :-D
Ah, well. Maybe some day. Until then, it's more late nights trying to juggle two lives' worth of shit to do.
Maybe I just won't install Debian. It would be one less thing for me to worry about. I hear SuSE is a good distribution to use. And now that Novell bought SuSE, we can all expect its compatibility with things and ease of use to be better and better. I'll look into it. Or perhaps Mandrake.
I also got a Debian GNU (Hurd) CD set. I don't think I'll even bother.
And of course, there's FreeBSD, which I feel I just have to get. It's any geek's must. That, and the little daemon guy is cute.
Security Level: Public
I have a multiboot environment on my desktop PC. Below is a map of my partitions in GNU/Linux style:
Primary -- /dev/hda1: Windows XP Professional (entire OS) (Boot)
Primary -- /dev/hda2: /boot (Red Hat 8 Professional)
Primary -- /dev/hda3: / (Red Hat 8 Professional)
Logical -- /dev/hda4: (Red Hat 8 Professional)
\-> /dev/hda5: swap (Red Hat 8 Professional, Debian Woody)
Primary -- /dev/hdb1: /boot (Debian Woody) (Boot)
Primary -- /dev/hdb2: / (Debian Woody)
Free -- /dev/hdb3
Both hard drives are Western Digital 100GB.
I proceeded with my Debian install. Partitioned, initialized, mounted all partitions I need. I continued. I have official install CD's from Abexia and inserted all 7 of them to get my system properly indexed. Then I followed through with the configuration of the system. I configured X, MySQL, FTP, etc., etc...
All while I was getting some stupid error because I was using a Microsoft Wireless keyboard while doing this.
After a while, my screen went black. It stayed black. It wasn't a "hey, you're in the command line" black. It wasn't a "hey, your monitor's off" black. It was more like a "hey, you have an X session starting" black. I could hear my hard drive and CD-ROM drive buzzing with activity. So I know it didn't just go dead. But the screen was still black. Eventually, all activity stopped. No hard drive noises. No more CD-ROM noises. But still black.
Did my X session default to the highest resolution I specified it may wish to use in the configuration? I think I just checked off everything, even though the highest resolution would most definitely not display on my monitor. :'( I don't want to have to install again. That took an awfully long time.
Why can't Debian installation be more automated, like a Red Hat install? I suppose it's because Red Hat just assumes a bunch of defaults and doesn't let you change anything up front while you install, but I like that, because it's quick and painless.
Grr.
Maybe I'll try installing Debian again later this week. I can't tonight. I have to put some time aside and blow away the SotOS web server to make room for a better solution. I've been getting e-mails about people trying to register on the Tiki I put up there. :( I really wish I'd had more time to play around with what I put up there. Perhaps I could've made it work.
Now it's time to get PDF-generating capabilities on my desktop PC so I can publish the rest of the Web standards for the SotOS sites. Maybe that'll get some activity flowing on the Web-devel list. :-/ Maybe.
I should start playing the lottery or something like that. Maybe I'll hit it big and will be able to devote all of my time to school and material for the SotOS. 40+ hours per week on developing the SotOS site? Wow. That truly would be a dream come true. :-D
Ah, well. Maybe some day. Until then, it's more late nights trying to juggle two lives' worth of shit to do.
Maybe I just won't install Debian. It would be one less thing for me to worry about. I hear SuSE is a good distribution to use. And now that Novell bought SuSE, we can all expect its compatibility with things and ease of use to be better and better. I'll look into it. Or perhaps Mandrake.
I also got a Debian GNU (Hurd) CD set. I don't think I'll even bother.
And of course, there's FreeBSD, which I feel I just have to get. It's any geek's must. That, and the little daemon guy is cute.
Security Level: Public