Package: installation-reports Debian-installer-version: 06-Aug-2004 23:18 http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/cdimage-testing/sarge_d-i/i386/rc1/sarge-i386-netinst.iso uname -a: Linux 2.4.26-1-386 (plus other stuff) Date: Aug 11, 2004, 9pm Method: Booted from CD
Machine: Toshiba Sattellite 1130 Processor: Celeron 2.2 GHz Memory: 256 MB Root Device: /dev/hda3 Root Size/partition table: Output of lspci: Base System Installation Checklist: Initial boot worked: [x] Configure network HW: [x] Config network: [x] Detect CD: [x] Load installer modules: [x] Detect hard drives: [x] Partition hard drives: [E] Create file systems: [ ] Mount partitions: [ ] Install base system: [ ] Install boot loader: [ ] Reboot: [ ] [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it Comments/Problems: I was curious to see if I could resize a vfat windows partition using the partitioning tool on the sarge RC1 installation CD. I have 1 vfat partition already set up. In the "Partition Disks" menu, I saw the sentence: "Select a partition to modify its settings (file system, mount point, etc.)". But unfortunately the word "resize" was nowhere to be found. So I selected the vfat partition and hit enter, thinking one setting (ie. that these "etc" settings might include) will be "resize partition" if I'm lucky. The next screen, also called "Partition Disks", and under "Partition Settings", Size is shown to be 6.1 GB. The word "resize" did not appear anywhere on this screen either!! So I was about to give up that it was even possible to resize the partition, but in a giddy moment of reckless abandon, I hit enter on the line that I assumed merely reported the size of the partition. Then the screen went all blue and my disk LED started thrashing madly! I was freaked out: was it erasing my Windows partition? WTF? There was no informational message like "scanning the partition, please wait". There needs to be an informational message during that minute where it paused to scan the vfat partition! After about a minute of nervous disk thrashing, then I was offered a screen saying "Before resize operation takes place, the changes have to be written to disk. You cannot undo this operation. Write the changes to disk and resize the partition?" So all of a sudden I'm about to do a partition resizing! I was relieved (that no harm was done), excited (that resizing is possible) and annoyed (that resizing wasn't mentioned at all up until that point), all at the same time. Partition resizing during installation is a HUGE feature, as it opens up the path for Windows users to add Linux to their systems without losing their current Windows install. So please mention any partition resizing capabilities prominently in the partitioning utility if it's possible whatsoever! A menu option called something like "resize this partition" or "partition resizing possibilities" is very important! Or even the word "resizable" printed beside potentially resizable partitions (when all partitions are shown in a chart) would be helpful. Also, the installation documentation here: http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/ch06s03.html#id2514217 which talks about partitioning never mentions the word "resize". I expect this documentation to at least mention which types of partition are in fact resizable: vfat? (apparently yes, I didn't actually perform it) ntfs? (I hope yes!) ext2? ext3? resierfs? This additional information may be pivotal in people deciding to install Debian whatsoever, as many people aren't ready to risk losing their current Windows install, and don't have access to commercial software like Partition Magic. Even mentioning the resizing capabilites possible with "qtparted", seen here: http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/features.en.html ...which is included on the bootable Linux utility CD "System Rescue CD", available here: http://www.sysresccd.org/ ...may lead to tons more Debian deployments. I know of one friend who would install Sarge right now if he knew that the Sarge installation CD could resize an NTFS partition during installation (or knew of a utility that could in a proven fashion). Having said this, I have not attempted to resize an NTFS partition with the latest version of qtparted (which is 0.4.4). Has anyone else? Reliably? Unreliably? After applying Windows XP service pack 2? ;) Dustin Harriman Root Shell Computer Support http://rootshell.ca
