can try to install VL7 GOLD using the grub bootloader instead of lilo?
Yes, I can try, if Grub will permit, as LILO easily accomplishes, access to the Linux ext4 partition, instead of MBR.
Can you confirm that ability, before I start over, again?
The best I tell you here is to pay attention when you are working in this section of the installer.
Hi Masta, thanks for this bit of wisdom--yes, I agree, it was MY FAULT, that the system hung, the first time through.
On the other hand, my oversight, failing to observe the installer's modification of my selection, should not take place, in a well designed environment. Bugs need to be eliminated, rather than observed, carefully.
The installer is defective. A clever person would not know this, it takes a careless slob, like me, to expose the fault, but the fault is there, and requires fixing. Software ought not function as if carrying a fragile piece of glass, incapable of resisting fracture at the sound of a hummingbird's wings, fluttering 30 meters away.
The same week that VL 7 was released, another good distro, occupying the same niche as VL on the list of most popular Linux distributions at distrowatch dot com (#31 and 32) issued an updated version.
I downloaded both the same day. I installed both. I have booted both. I have turned off both, on the same computer, on two different hard drives.
VL, #31, required 30 minutes to install from cdrom. #32 installed in 13 minutes from cdrom, on the same computer.
VL is STILL not up and running, days later.
#32 has already been installed, tested, and benchmarked.
I urge developers of VL to try #32 themselves, to confirm this observation....
I do not write this, to tout the virtues of #32, but to highlight the perceived weakness in VL. I could easily fill the page with criticisms of #32, but my point here is not how good #32 is, but how much further VL's installer has to change, to conform to even a mediocre distribution like #32.
A better installation experience, in my opinion, is coming from Ubuntu, which has, in my opinion, the best installer in the business. Among other things, that installer sets up automatic login for the user, during the installation. Another attractive feature: the installer solicits user input WHILE DOWNLOADING, thus saving time.
None of the existing Linux distros is really satisfactory, from my point of view. I cite Ubuntu, because it's installer, strikes me, as being the closest to a reasonable 21st century bit of software. I cite #32, because it provides, intelligently, VLC by default. I insert the CDROM, and 25 minutes later, I am listening to streaming audio on MP3, AAC+, or OGG. No other Linux distro offers that capability: "out of the box".
Now that I have been able to access VL 7, I must comment that the user interface is very cluttered, with icons all over the desktop, appearing out of nowhere, really disagreeable. I much prefer the uncluttered desktop of #32. What's with the change in position from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen for the menu??? That's not helpful. Again, I prefer the "open box" approach, of simple one click anywhere on desktop, to see the whole menu. It is faster, from the user perspective.
CAI ENG
