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Debian-installer-version: Debian NetInstall (same problem w/BusinessCard) Downloaded 9/19/2004 uname -a: <The result of running uname -a on a shell prompt> Didn't get that far Date: 9/19/2004 15:00 Method: <Booted from CDRom. Attempted install with both NetInstall image and BusinessCard image Machine: <Dell Dimension XPS B1000. Processor: Pentium III Memory: 256M Root Device: IDE, Root Size/partition table: Didn't get that far Output of lspci and lspci -n: Base System Installation Checklist: [O] = OK, [E] = Error (please elaborate below), [ ] = didn't try it Initial boot worked: [O] Configure network HW: [E] Config network: [E] Detect CD: [ ] Load installer modules: [ ] Detect hard drives: [ ] Partition hard drives: [ ] Create file systems: [ ] Mount partitions: [ ] Install base system: [ ] Install boot loader: [ ] Reboot: [ ] Comments/Problems: The system has a 3Com 3C905C-TX network card, which is well supported by Linux. Apparently it isn't detected or the driver module is not part of the Debian installer. I looked at the Debian Installer Manual to find a way to manually configure the card as part of the install process, but didn't see an entry for this. It may be there - but it isn't obvious from the contents. As I did not want to reach a point that I had an unusable system with no way to continue, I aborted the install at that point. This highlights what is (I believe) a serious flaw in the installation process. You do *NOT* want someone to repartition their system if it is already known that they cannot complete the installation process. It is not a serious flaw if you don't detect the hardware (other distributions detect this card, but that's still not a serious flaw in the Installer). It *IS* a serious flaw if you don't let the user know about this before he destroys what is probably a currently working system. If you don't detect any network devices on the system, you should tell us that before asking us to repartition the system. Ideally, you should allow us to tell you what network card we have and even provide a driver if you don't have it available. At the very least, we should be told *HOW* to handle this later in the process. As it is, after we reach the point that we know you can't configure the hardware, you ask us to repartition our hard drives. A user would have to have the IQ of an avocado to continue on faith that at some point we're going to fix this. You very well may have a downstream way to fix it - for the most part your installer is EXCELLENT, so I'm betting you *DO* have a way to fix it - but looking at the documentation you give us no reason to believe you do. The new installer is very good. I'm very impressed with it's handling of most hardware - even wireless NICs. The developers are definitely to be congratulated. It's not quite ready yet, though. Right now, it is possible to spend a lot of time, destroy a working system, and end up with a computer that is unusable even though it *WAS* usable before we started installation. Even a simple "We didn't detect any network hardware. Is a network card installed?" could solve this. If you can help us install it, great! If not, allow us to gracefully abort the installation before partitioning. Also, the documentation should clearly let us know how to recover from this so that we can run apt when the time comes. You're developing a good system. It's almost there. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBTg9yjeziQOokQnARAhB/AKChuqzmHiHtiC4ZuA5/L8u4op83bACfYpUW 9EgZ54hmcNJ92XobaSxexAo= =8ivI -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
