Public SourceMage Discussion List

[David Kowis <dkowis AT shlrm.org>]

Jeremy Blosser wrote:
<snip>
> I think having a guided menu installer that does the steps is Nice To Have,
> but the baseline should be the chroot+kernel+shell+a checklist so they
> don't forget to do things.  Yes this is how Gentoo does it, but we
> typically expect even more of our users than they do.  It's rather ironic
> to me that on the install process at least they let the user be closer to
> the system than we do.  The usual response to this is 'do a chroot
> install', but several experienced users have tried this lately and found
> it's not as workable as it should be.  morfic can tell stories of getting
> 64bit working, and it's worth noting his final approach was a new install
> image was a simple chroot that quite a few are now using.

This is one thing that I tried to do while I was still lead. Simplify
the process. Make things easier. Make it do-able. Finwally things are
happening that will realize that goal.

> 
> Yes, it's good to have both, but we need to invert the priority and get the
> basics working first.  We provide a shell on the ISO now but doing the
> installer steps manually from there doesn't really work completely.
> Between that and the simple fact that what we have now is keeping us from
> putting out ISO updates, I'm all for rolling it back to simpler for now.
> We can add the other menu bits back in later if people want them and if it
> doesn't affect the baseline installer's ability to be regenerated as
> quickly as a stable tarball can be today.
> 
> This is another place where we've been trying for a few *years* to
> accomplish something that is admittedly cool but that we aren't keeping up
> with, and it's giving us black eyes.  I've asked the guys in -cauldron to
> get us something *this month* that can be kept up-to-date with the grimoire
> release process, and this is part of what they've come back with.  If this
> is what it takes I think it's what we need to do.  It doesn't hurt that as
> a user I do *prefer* this less-guided approach, but I'm first being
> pragmatic: whatever basic thing gets us there first, we should do first.
> 
> Of course, the alternative of pushing what we have into something that
> reproducible as quickly does exist -- but only if more hands come over and
> make it happen.  I don't think we're there... the grimoire releases already
> smell like they're stalling again.  :-(
> 
> PS: BTW if we go with a more textual install we need to make sure we get
> some Zork in there.  :-)
> 
:LOOK
You are standing in a room devoid of anything except a computer desk, a
chair and a computer.
:GO TO COMPUTER
What?
:SIT
You sit on the floor
:STAND
You stand up
:SIT CHAIR
You walk over to the chair and sit in it. It squeaks a bit under your
weight as you position yourself in front of the computer.
:LOOK
A computer sits on the desk, the tower on one side, the monitor just
behind the keyboard in front of you. There's also a Source Mage Install
CD on the desk.
:USE KEYBOARD
You type on the keyboard, nothing happens.
:LOOK MONITOR
The monitor is off.
:TURN ON MONITOR
The monitor squeaks to life, and displays a blocky "CHECK CABLE"
message, that slowly bounces around the screen.
:CHECK CABLE
You follow the monitor cable from the monitor to the back of the
computer. Looks like it's hooked up.
:LOOK COMPUTER
The computer is off.
:TURN ON COMPUTER
You turn the computer on.
:LOOK
The BIOS self test is showing, you might want to wait a bit.
:WAIT
The BIOS self test completes, and you see a message: "No Boot media
found, press f1 to try again"
:USE SOURCE MAGE INSTALL CD
You don't have a Source Mage Install CD.
:GET SOURCE MAGE INSTALL CD
You pick up the Source Mage Install CD. Your fingers tingle with
anticipation.
:PUT SOURCE MAGE INSTALL CD IN COMPUTER
You look for a slot to stick the Source Mage CD, but find none.
:OPEN CD DRIVE
You push the button on the cd drive and the tray slides out.
:PUT SOURCE MAGE INSTALL CD IN TRAY
You put the Source Mage Install CD in the cd tray.
:CLOSE CD DRIVE
The cd drive slides closed with the Source Mage Install CD in it.
:PRESS F1
The computer beeps, and the text on the screen changes.
:LOOK SCREEN
You see the ISOLINUX boot screen and a welcome to Source Mage message.
:READ MESSAGE
0.9.7 by the Source Mage GNU/Linux team www.sourcemage.org
This ISO made using STABLE.

Welcome to Source Mage GNU/Linux
Copyright (C) 2000-2001 by Kyle Sallee
Copyright (C) 2002-2007 by Source Magers <www.sourcemage.org>
All Rights Reserved

Source Mage is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public
License Version 2 Please see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html for
the GNU GPL

Download Source Mage GNU/Linux and documentation from
http://www.sourcemage.org

* To install Source Mage GNU/Linux right now, just press enter. If
  you need special kernel parameters, just type install followed by
  kernel parameters, like "acpi=off" for instance.

* Remember, you can get help on IRC on irc.freenode.net, channel
  #sourcemage-cauldron or #sourcemage. If you find any bugs, please go
  to bugs.sourcemage.org and report them, we absolutely love feedback.
:PRESS ENTER
The ISOLINUX boot screen disappears and you see the familiar messages of
a kernel loading.
:WAIT
The kernel finishes loading and you see a checklist reminding you of
tasks you need to accomplish to install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive
2. Install Source Mage Tarball
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow
4. Install bootloader
5. Create /etc/fstab
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:INSTALL SOURCE MAGE
I can't install Source Mage without partitioning!
:PARTITION DRIVE
Partition which drive?
:LOOK PARTITION TABLE
/dev/hda
:PARTITION HARD DRIVE /dev/hda
You can use cfdisk, sfdisk, or fdisk to partition your hard drive.
:USE CFDISK
<CFDISK>
:LOOK
You see a checklist reminding you of tasks you need to accomplish to
install your computer
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow
4. Install bootloader
5. Create /etc/fstab
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:INSTALL SOURCE MAGE
You extract your magic tarball into the freshly partitioned drive.
:LOOK
You see a checklist reminding you of tasks you need to accomplish to
install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball - done
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow
4. Install bootloader
5. Create /etc/fstab
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:CREATE /ETC/PASSWD
Please enter your password for the root user:
:PASSWORD ZOMGLOLWTFLOLZ
Your root user password is set. Don't forget it! You see a checklist
reminding you of tasks you need to accomplish to install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball - done
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow - done
4. Install bootloader
5. Create /etc/fstab
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:INSTALL BOOTLOADER
Which bootloader?
:LOOK BOOTLOADERS
You can use grub, or lilo.
:INSTALL GRUB
Do you want to install grub to the Master Boot Record?
:YES
Grub installs to the Master Boot Record. You see a checklist reminding
you of tasks you need to accomplish to install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball - done
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow - done
4. Install bootloader - done
5. Create /etc/fstab
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:CREATE /etc/fstab
You write down your mount points in to the /etc/fstab file using your
favorite editor (vim of course). You then see a checklist reminding you
of tasks you need to accomplish to install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball - done
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow - done
4. Install bootloader - done
5. Create /etc/fstab - done
6. Set Timezone
7. Set HWclock
:SET TIMEZONE
What timezone are you in?
:I DON'T KNOW
Well look at the list of timezones, silly.
:LOOK TIMEZONE LIST
<big ol list of timezones :P>
:SET TIMEZONE
WHat timezone are you in?
:CST6CDT
You set your timezone. You see a checklist reminding you of tasks you
need to accomplish to install your computer.
:LOOK CHECKLIST
1. Partition drive - done
2. Install Source Mage Tarball - done
3. Create /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow - done
4. Install bootloader - done
5. Create /etc/fstab - done
6. Set Timezone - done
7. Set HWclock
:SET HWCLOCK
Is your hardware clock set to UTC time?
:YES
You set your hardware clock appropriately. You see a message on the
monitor, it's not a checklist....
:LOOK MESSAGE
Congratulations, you've succesfully installed Source Mage GNU/Linux onto
this computer. Reboot and take the CD out so you can enjoy your freshly
installed Linux system.
Thanks for installing Source Mage GNU/Linux
 - The Source Mage Team
:EJECT CD
For some reason, the cd won't come out, you'll have to catch it after it
power cycles, but before it starts booting.
:PRESS RESET BUTTON
The computer beeps and the BIOS self-test appears again. Now would
probably be a good time to get that CD.
:EJECT CD
You eject the cd drive. The tray opens.
:TAKE CD
You take the cd out of the cd drive. Good thing too, because the system
started to boot and the CD drive closed right after you took the disc out.
:LOOK MONITOR
Welcome to /dev/tty1 of SourceMage on Thu Feb 8  2007
Running Source Mage GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.14 on i686
SourceMage login:
You have won. Score 298/300

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