Date: Mon, 5 Jun 1995 12:10:31 +0800 (CST) From: Brian Tao <taob@gate.sinica.edu.tw> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@freefall.cdrom.com> Cc: FREEBSD-HACKERS-L <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: More thoughts on the installer Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.3.91.950605115150.170E-100000@leo> In-Reply-To: <16422.802246226@freefall.cdrom.com>
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On Sat, 3 Jun 1995, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
>
> Brian, some good suggestions here, thanks!
I've got some more notes from last night's install:
> > * If you enter scrollback, forget, and start typing, nothing apparent
>
> I think "scroll lock" has always had that effect.. :-)
I noticed the same behaviour with the PCVT console driver. It's
non-intuitive to me and breaks tradition with every other scrollback
implementation I've used (comm programs, xterm, screen, etc.) Anyhow,
too late to fix for 2.0.5.
> > * The release notes is buggered near the end. The mail address reads
> > "bugs@Fr" and that's it. Speaking of which, is it capitalized
>
> Really?? It's fine in my copy. Perhaps we had some bad floppies at
> some point or MFS is truncating the uncompressed file. I'll check
> into it!
Fixed.
> > * While I was browsing help, at some point I got a "uid 0 on /: file
> > system full" on the debuggin screen. This was before I proceeded to
> > partition/disklabel/install, so it can't be talking about the HD.
>
> Fixed, I think. Please re-verify with the latest.
Couldn't reproduce this one with the latest floppy.
> > * The partition editor tells me the minimum partition size is 1
> > megabyte, but I cannot make one exactly 1 megabyte in size.
>
> Use blocks. :-)
I tried 2048 blocks, but it still complained. Making a 2049-block
partition works though. Should the wording be changed to "must be
larger than 1 megabyte", or is this a bug?
> > * What's an 'X' partition? Extended? Why would that apply within a
> > FreeBSD slice? When I tried to make lots and lots of filesystems,
> > the installer hung after I filled all eight slots on the screen.
>
> ?? Not seen this! Will check.
Still there last night. I think once you run out of partition
letters (after creating five filesystems, I think?), it starts using
"X" instead "sd0s1j" or whatever.
> > * The default shell in vty0 does not seem to have the PATH set, and no
> > usual shell utils are found (like 'ls', although I made do with
> > "echo *" in the meantime).
>
> Fixed, thanks.
Hmmm... I couldn't drop to a shell using the floppy I had.
Hitting Escape was equivalent to clicking the Cancel button. The
emergency holographic shell never materialized either, even after
seeing the debug message saying that it was active on vty4! Hitting
Alt-F3 to Alt-F12 just beeps the console.
> > * Instead of using <OK> and <Cancel> on many of the dialogs, wouldn't
> > <Set> and <Go back> (or similar) be better?
>
> It would be but I'm not modifying libdialog. :-)
Ah, I see. :)
> > * The timezone config in the post-install process seems to be
> > reversing its idea of the BIOS clock being on local or UTC. My
>
> Garrett?
Bug still there.
> > * There should be a more explicit dialog box after the post-install to
> > tell the user that everything is done and the machine can be
> > rebooted, enjoy your new FreeBSD 2.0.5 system, etc., etc. Having to
> > quit out of three or four layers of dialog boxes to reboot seems
> > sort of anti-climactic and unfulfilling to me. ;-)
>
> I'm not sure what would be fulfilling in this context, so I'll
> pass.. :-)
A nice dialog box with the 2.0R installer's welcome text
("Congratualtions on your new FreeBSD 2.0.5 system! To continue
installing new packages, press Escape....", etc.) would be
semi-fulfilling. :) Give the user the choice to either go back to
the post-install screen, or reboot immediately. Oh, there should
probably be a reminder during reboot time telling the user to remove
the floppy disk from the drive. Dunno if there's enough time to do
all of this for 2.0.5 though.
> > * During another session of fiddling, I noticed I could go into the
> > partition editor wizard mode twice. Went in the first time,
> > exitted, forgot something, then tried to go back in. I get the "Are
> > you sure" dialog, but hitting OK just returns me to the partition
> > editor. Selecting cancel gives me the "That was a wise move!"
> > comment. ;-)
>
> Weird. I'll look into it.
Didn't try this last night... I'll try again tonight with the
latest floppy. A few new items:
* In the hardware help, some of the underlining isn't aligned properly
with the text above it (off by one character). The devices table
for the GENERIC kernel isn't perfectly formatted either (some
columns are misaligned).
* The section numbers in the hardware help go 1, 2, 3, and then 4.0. :)
* The function of the Clear and Exit checkboxes in the Installation
Options dialog aren't obvious (as opposed to just clicking the OK
button). I set the Clear checkbox, but it didn't clear the options
I had just set. *shrug*
* Still no go with the disk slices. :( Deleting the pre-2.0.5 slice
and choosing "Use entire disk", doing the install and then rebooting
gives me the MS-DOS "Missing operating system" error on startup
(both with and without the boot manager). Reformatting the drive
with DOS 6.0, deleting the DOS slice and using the whole disk for
FreeBSD does work. There must be a better way of doing this...
* Hitting the down arrow while in the Netmask edit field clears the
field, but hitting Tab to move to the next field does not (as
someone else mentioned).
--
Brian ("Though this be madness, yet there is method in't") Tao
taob@gate.sinica.edu.tw <-- work ........ play --> taob@io.org
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