Gentoo 2007.0 GUI Installer is buggy

Message

mudrii · Post by **mudrii** » Fri May 11, 2007 9:00 am

Yup is Alpha 1 at least .
On AMD DVD on desktop after boot is a link to documentation that not exist at all so go back to minimal or just use Knoppix or any other live cd-dvd that works.
I really hope gentoo devs will take notice on all this issues and do something before releasing sub decent quality cds dvds

Kasumi_Ninja · Post by **Kasumi_Ninja** » Fri May 11, 2007 10:08 pm

Why is this topics a sticky??? Reading all these comments I decided to download the livecd myself to check it out. I am typing this from the livecd. All is working like it should, hardware gets properly detected, a link to the documentation on the desktop which is working, internet is up. The only problem I encountered thus far is poor performance in X due to using the vesa driver for my nvidia card.

I haven't tested the installer and I will not test it 'cause I have no intention of using it.

drescherjm · Post by **drescherjm** » Fri May 11, 2007 10:22 pm

I am also running from a 2007.0 livecd right now. That part worked fine but the gtk installer hangs (no progress after several minutes and no disk activity) every time when trying to install perl (which I believe is package 50 out of 116). This was from the build from cd option. This is the amd64 version on a dell latitude D820 core2 laptop. I was thinking my cd was corrupt but k3b said it was ok and it verified the md5 sum.

marstonis · Post by **marstonis** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:14 pm

Everybody who is having problems on old boxes might want to try booting with the acpi=off option. I have had so many instances of what I am reading here and the amount of times that things have just worked after doing such is quite astonishing to say the least.

Good luck!

Kasumi_Ninja · Post by **Kasumi_Ninja** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:34 am

marstonis wrote:Everybody who is having problems on old boxes might want to try booting with the acpi=off option. I have had so many instances of what I am reading here and the amount of times that things have just worked after doing such is quite astonishing to say the least.

Good luck!

Good point. I also want to add, please put all your installer related bugs here: http://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quic ... =installer Look if it's listed and if not add a bugreport. That way all installer related problems are gathered centrally which helps the devs to solve problems

Matthijs70 · Post by **Matthijs70** » Sat May 12, 2007 8:15 am

I also have an issue with Grub on a ML370R01, RAID controller is detected but it fails for grub and from there you can only exit.

BTW ... 2007.0 doesn't boot on ML270R01 at all .. you need the option ide=nodma (seems it's now forced).

drescherjm · Post by **drescherjm** » Sat May 12, 2007 2:58 pm

Well, selecting download from a stage stage3 instead of build from cd worked.

guid0 · Post by **guid0** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:56 pm

i tried the gui installer on the amd64 dvd exactly 25 times i never got it to
complete a run.

this was caused by many, many things and perhaps i should give it
another go so i can start sending bugreports...

but hey, luckily the gentoo gui installer is _optional_ and thus i reverted
to the good olde text install over ssh

furthermore, the GLI (the gui installer) is at v0.4, not at v1.0 so im not complaining.

at this moment my new dell m1210 laptop is up and running and the only
thing that seems to be not ok is a corrupted splash.xpm.gz in grub which
i will take a look at some other time.

cheers and good luck with 2007.0

guid0

rhomp2002 · Post by **rhomp2002** » Sat May 12, 2007 10:34 pm

Then I upgraded to 2007.0 and it all fell apart. I did the emerge sync and it crashed in the middle and I have not been able to emerge anything since. Everytime it does I get about 8 error messages pointing to use flags that are not working right and then everything I try to do after that crashes. I am going to take a couple of days off from Gentooing because it ended up crashing all my partitions and I have to rebuild everything else (5 distros) including Sabayon which is based on Gentoo and works wonderfully. After that maybe I will take another chance on Gentoo but I will stay away from 2007.0 for now.

wolfger · Post by **wolfger** » Sat May 12, 2007 11:18 pm

I've got to pile on to the complaints. This is a release??!? It won't partition my drive at all, although it had no problem clearing my existing partitions *immediately* and *without warning*. Trying the recommended partitioning yields the following error:
Could not create <PedFileSystemType object

Also, the keyboard driver (?) is buggy. Keys are often repeating as I type.

Going to download and try 2006.1 now, per many user recommendations. What the hell is going on here?

Genewb · Post by **Genewb** » Sun May 13, 2007 12:54 am

wolfger wrote:I've got to pile on to the complaints. This is a release??!? It won't partition my drive at all, although it had no problem clearing my existing partitions *immediately* and *without warning*. Trying the recommended partitioning yields the following error:
Could not create <PedFileSystemType object

Also, the keyboard driver (?) is buggy. Keys are often repeating as I type.

Going to download and try 2006.1 now, per many user recommendations. What the hell is going on here?

I had the PedFileSystemType thingy, but after aborting a failed unpack. Updating to the newest version of the installer solved the issue for me, maybe you could try it?

heavenscent · Post by **heavenscent** » Sun May 13, 2007 5:04 am

I decided to give the 2007.0 release a go after trying the new debian and ubuntu. I abandoned Gentoo after continuing problems rising from simple emerges but after trying the aforementioned distro's, I realised that on my machine (6 years old) gentoo outshone them both. *Sigh* During the install an error occurred that the system couldn't load the kernel, modules or initramfs! After several tries and the same problem everytime I abandoned the installer went into ubuntu chrooted to the partial gentoo install and finished the install that way. Now going all okay and working excellently and much better/faster than Debian or Ubuntu. Pity it took me a couple of days to undo what the installer had done!
Gentoo is getting some bad press at the moment (and rightly so) with the apparent problems between devs a paramount concern and which is holding up and retarding Gentoo's development. Ego is a dirty word.
The release of this absurdly buggy installer will set gentoo back. New users to Gentoo trying this out will have a bad taste in their mouth and a possibly blank hard drive. Thank goodness that my previous Gentoo education alerted me to the fact that the partitioning protocol used in the installer was a mistake waiting to happen and indeed has proved so. Pity the poor people who lost it all thanks to the Gentoo installer. Did any devs try this 2007.0 abomination out before it's release? And why is it still available to download????? Having said all this though, it is apparent to me at least, that gentoo is the best distro around... shame about the internal politics.*edit* and the completely bullshit installer.. pretty in this case didn't cut it.

Suicidal · Post by **Suicidal** » Sun May 13, 2007 6:49 am

mudrii wrote:Yup is Alpha 1 at least .
On AMD DVD on desktop after boot is a link to documentation that not exist at all so go back to minimal or just use Knoppix or any other live cd-dvd that works.
I really hope gentoo devs will take notice on all this issues and do something before releasing sub decent quality cds dvds

Doc link works fine here, the only issue I have with it is the X server seems to default to vesa which is horribly slow, editing xorg.conf to replace vesa with nv and hitting ctrl + alt + backspace to restart the desktop solves the problem here.

wolfger · Post by **wolfger** » Sun May 13, 2007 11:12 am

Genewb wrote:I had the PedFileSystemType thingy, but after aborting a failed unpack. Updating to the newest version of the installer solved the issue for me, maybe you could try it?

There's a newer version than what I downloaded yesterday morning?

superpat · Post by **superpat** » Sun May 13, 2007 11:32 am

Genewb wrote:
I had the PedFileSystemType thingy, but after aborting a failed unpack. Updating to the newest version of the installer solved the issue for me, maybe you could try it?

There's a newer version than what I downloaded yesterday morning?

There can be NO justification for this mess!

There is a big publicity puff on the gentoo website that proudly annouces 2007.0 and tells us to grab a copy

Has the later / latest version of installer now been incorporated in the X86 live cd?

WHY ARE THERE NO WARNINGS ABOUT THE PARTITIONING PROBLEM?

Patrick

genblood · Post by **genblood** » Sun May 13, 2007 1:09 pm

I've being using Gentoo for a few years now. An I got to say ...
This shouldn't have been released to the public ...

Their is too many issues that needed fixing IMHO ...

Issues with ati drivers, the gui installer, dvd hardware ...

Don't get me wrong ... I like Gentoo when it works ...
but lately the quality of new releases have dropped ...

I'll still use Gentoo ... I just have to learn how to fix it myself ...

luminoso · Post by **luminoso** » Sun May 13, 2007 3:40 pm

whyyyyy?? whyyyyy waste time and resources with GUI???

also, if 2007 was a NON-GUI, with a GOOD stage{1,2,3} everything would be a lot better! hurray!

twallace · Post by **twallace** » Sun May 13, 2007 9:13 pm

I had problems with the live CD for Gentoo 2006.0 and 2006.1. Then I realized that if I wanted an automatic install, I should go for a binary distribution like Suse (which is very good btw). If you want to really learn Linux however, you should go for the Gentoo manual install - forget the Live CD and download the minimal install CD!!.
Granted, the manual install has a pretty steep learning curve and I got discouraged many times in this last year getting to the system I wanted.
Maybe I can help you however. I put down the details of my experience, of getting from ground zero to Open Office and mplayer surround sound, on my web site http://web.supernet.com.bo/twallace/
Let me know where I could have done better. Thanks

richard.scott · Post by **richard.scott** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:16 am

luminoso wrote:whyyyyy?? whyyyyy waste time and resources with GUI???
also, if 2007 was a NON-GUI, with a GOOD stage{1,2,3} everything would be a lot better! hurray!

I have to say that I feel the same way.

I would love to see these resources/developers diverted to bring back proper support for all stages install via the command line.

The old way worked best for Gentoo and it made Gentoo unique from all the other distros!

Has anyone actually asked via a Poll if the Gentoo Users actually want an installer?

EDIT: I've setup a Poll as I'm interested to see what people think:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-559099.html

Please cast your vote!

Ateo · Post by **Ateo** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:40 pm

Tell me about it. My downloaded ISO doesn't work on 2 completely different machines.

Very sad.

Sackville · Post by **Sackville** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:04 pm

whyyyyy?? whyyyyy waste time and resources with GUI???

Why use computers at all???? Get yourself a piece of paper and a pencil!

These guys are not capable of producing a working installer! How could they produce a working system.

I tried installing that crap on a box where I installed ten different linuxes with no problem at all. With GUIs and all other programs.
That crap did not work.

Yes, it possible to install it! If you have nothing else to do.

marcus0263 · Post by **marcus0263** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:12 pm

Just finished the install and everything went smooth, actually one of the smoothest. Of course I don't waste the time with the live DVD, just did my usual Stage 1 install and it went off without a hitch.

So to sum it all up, 2007.0 release is great.

burlingk · Post by **burlingk** » Tue May 15, 2007 8:54 am

olger901 wrote:I still don't understand why they are putting so much effort in creating a GUI installer. It feels like the same reason why they removed support for stage1 and stage2. (Because beginning Linux users don't understand how to use it or are not comfortable with it.) That while Gentoo is (or aims to be) a distribution for advanced Linux users and not for beginners. Beginners should try Ubuntu and switch to Gentoo when they feel like they're ready for it and are comfortable with using the console.

My comment is that a lot of beginners will still be buying laptops with 512MB of ram, and the graphical installer dies a lot with that little ram. (When I got my laptop, 512mb was still concidered good, and my laptop is an AMD64).

MrVahn · Post by **MrVahn** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:24 am

Luckily, laptop ram is easily upgradeable nowadays.

Guys get over it. Stop using the live cd. Go for the minimal install CD. It offers more control and stability than the gui version.

Volt_Craft · Post by **Volt_Craft** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:51 am

Hi pople!!!

I've downloaded and tested the Gentoo Live-CD 2007.0 and I've saw some problems.

1-Problems with some of the of-boards video-bords, like the N-VIDIA and ATI series.
2-Grub don't boot windows some times, because it don't find it or get a cilindres error.
3-It just break down on some machines like an AMD Duron 1.2 with 256mb RAM (mother-board M810).
4-On some old machines like an K6-II 500MHZ with an HD Sansung 20gb, it may broke the HD (mother-board M530lmr).

Why the developers don't use LILO , add N-VIDIA & ATI drivers and check the hardware detection sistem?

Gentoo 2007.0 GUI Installer is buggy

I had 2006.1 working well

Is the installer on beta test now?

Gentoo Live-CD 2007.0