Woody boot-floppies are most likely very preliminary at this point and I wouldn't expect a seamless installation. Any comments should be sent to the debian-testing list. (I haven't received anything from debian-testing for quite a while, so didn't even know that the boot-floppies had been released). I'm cc'ing debian-testing with this reply.
I agree that the dead http.us.debian.org server is a potential problem. I don't know if one server has been down for quite a while or if there have been random outages. I usually just repeat my 'apt-get' command and another server is reached. Obviously this could be a problem with a script. Bob On Mon, May 07, 2001 at 10:55:54AM -0400, Carl Fink wrote: > A server I have root on was compromised this weekend. Since we don't > know the vulnerability that was exploited, but we do know the attack > came via an account I set up, I decided to back up my home directory > and reinstall my system. > > I had been running potato, but since I was doing a scratch install I > chose to install woody, which in principle should be near stable > status. I downloaded the six floppy images from debian.org (actually > sourceforge) and began. > > The installer is as basic as ever, but there are problems beyond its > expecting the user to have memorized his/her hardware and know what > some pretty technical words mean. For one, apparently one of the > servers sharing the name "http.us.debian.org" is down. When it comes > time to install the base system, therefore, about every third > download sits idle for eternity. The timeout is set to a > ridiculously high number, something like ten minutes -- so trying to > install the base system essentially means your system will download > 0-2 files, then freeze for ten minutes, then return to the "Install > Base System" screen. > > Shouldn't a failed attempt to download a .deb file lead to a second > attempt, not an "I give up"? > > I happen to be Internet-savvy enough to figure out the problem and > manually type the kernel.org mirror's address in place of debian.org, > but a naive user will just think the installer doesn't work. > > And that isn't my big problem. The system *cannot* be made bootable, > at all. Yes, it's a big drive, and yes, I did create a small > partition at the beginning to be /boot. No dice. There appears to > be only a generic "it didn't work" message that doesn't report LILO's > specific error, meaning I have no way to figure out why it doesn't > want to work. > > Okay, I'll create a boot floppy. Well, as it turns out, no I won't. > I get the informative message that "boot floppy creation failed". > Guys, that isn't especially helpful. No, it isn't defective > floppies, unless all five that I tried just happen to be defective in > such a way that DOS format can't detect it. > > So after a long, frustrating install process I have a system that > cannot be used. Could there at least be an option to use LOADLIN? > LOADLIN works really well, and I can make that little partition at > the beginning of /dev/hda be a DOS drive. > > Pardon my venting. > -- > Carl Fink [EMAIL PROTECTED]
