Vector 6.0 beta2 feedback and bug reports

[M0E-lnx]

B2 (and B1) GUI Installer Bug(s):
During installation, on the Network Configuration step, if the user fails to provide a domain the user if prompted that one is needed.  Upon entering a domain the 'Next' button does not become active (bug 1).  Going back and trying to move forward again also does not succeed in making the 'Next' button become active.  In fact, going back about 5 times and you cycle around to the root password entry again, and moving forward only allows the user to get back to the boot manager configuration with an inactive 'Next' button (bug 2).

Thanks for the report... I've got this fixed now...doing some testing.

[8Di5pd]

@M0E-lnx

I am low on CD-Rs. Is there a way I could use a USB key to install the beta?

[M0E-lnx]

Yes there is... but I dont know how to do it

[8Di5pd]

No problem. I'll check it out.

[vector]

I am low on CD-Rs. Is there a way I could use a USB key to install the beta?

Heres the quick and dirty way: first make sure the iso you are testing is at the very root of a partition so the installer can find it. Format your usb stick as fat16, then mount the iso as a loop device (mount -o loop VL-STD-xxx.iso /mnt/loop) Then copy the isolinux folder from the mounted iso to the pendrive fat partition. Change the folder name from isolinux to syslinux on the pendrive and also change the name of isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg inside the now renamed isolinux folder. Next unmount your pendrive and from a terminal do this: syslinux /dev/sda1
Now set the pc to boot from usb device and you should be good to go.

Cheers,
Vec

[GrannyGeek]

I love it!

I installed beta 2 on my 1.3 GHz desktop, which has always been very Linux-friendly. For the first time, I was able to use a CD to install! MANY THANKS to the devs for fixing the problem, and many thanks also to the forum member who noticed that the problem was tied to VIA chipsets. That is the case with this computer and when I couldn't get my home-burned VL CD to boot with previous test versions, I assumed the CDRW/DVD combo drive was getting flaky and needed to be replaced. I really couldn't afford that right now, due to the poor economy that has reduced our retirement income by hundreds a month. So I was thrilled to discover that the problem was not with the drive but with the previous ISOs.

Being the conscientious tester that I am <g>, I used the graphical installer for the first time (it's not available under the hosted installs I used on previous VL6 test versions). Now, in "real life" I wouldn't use the GUI installer, preferring the always-reliable text version, but I did want to test it. The GUI installer worked reasonably well for me. I found under "Use existing partitions" (which I did) that the "Mount Point" option was confusing. If I had been a first-time user I would have been stumped. In the "About system partitioning in Linux" (from Help??? I've forgotten), I thought it came out too decisively for having a separate /home partition. As we know, this is a controversial topic. The disadvantage of having separate / and /home partitions is that if you guess wrong on the size, you have a not-simple task ahead unless you trust a lossless partitioning program. Even with the most reliable, you really do need to do a complete hard drive backup just in case the gremlins are triumphant this time. I also think a considerably larger size should be suggested for a / partition. People need ROOM for installing additional programs and libraries.

I missed the "check media" option in the GUI installer. Is it there?

I didn't see how to add more than one user. I generally set up three users in addition to root, so I added the other two through VASM after VL was installed.

My network setup (fixed IP addresses) didn't survive a reboot. The domain name didn't change but it lost the computer's IP address. I set it up again with VASM and it has been okay ever since.

I didn't like the wallpaper at all (to the surprise of noone who has read my messages on wallpaper<g>) but that was quickly changed. My favorite wallpaper is Deluxe-Sparkles-3.png from VL 5.9 Deluxe, which I copy over to every new version of VL. My VL6 now looks beautiful.

I was thoroughly confused by the Orage Clock that is now the default in the Panel. I DON'T WANT the seconds and there is no easy way to change it in the Properties for Orage Clock. I finally did a man strftime and had to do trial and error on those immensely confusing options before I got a simple digital time with hour, minute, AM and PM--nothing more. I had tried adding the plain old clock as offered in Add New Item, but I guess the numbers are black because it didn't show up against the black of the Panel. I've finally got the Orage Clock the way I want it, but it took a lot of doing.

AbiWord Help doesn't bring up anything. I'll have to see if the path is wrong, as it was in previous versions.

I installed four printers and they printed test pages. I also installed two scanners; both appear to work fine. I was using vl-hot and it did not pick up my flash drive when I plugged it in. The drive was recognized by dmesg. I switched to hal and rebooted, and my flash drive was mounted right when I plugged it in. My USB external hard drive was also mounted and I copied multiple gigs of files between a FAT32 partition on my internal hard drive and a FAT32 partition on the external drive. Is vl-hot broken and will it be fixed before VL6 goes final?

My Sony Clie synced fine with JPilot--thanks for that. However, it took some setting up. First there are two modules that have to be modprobed (usbserial and visor) and then ttyUSB0 and ttyUSB1 have to be created and made usable by users. JPilot now requires a symlink between ttyUSB1 and /dev/pilot. Once I did all of this, I was able to sync as user. These are simple steps. For newbies it might be nice to have a script integrated with JPilot or some other way to have them happen automatically.

I've installed many programs. Scribus can't find the plugins--lots of error messages on that when Scribus is started from the command line. This was also true in beta 1. Inkscape is missing two or three dependencies. I copied them from my beta 1 partition, but they should be downloaded automatically with Inkscape from our repos, don't you think? The latest Wine from the repos wants the newer beta of XFce. I figured that was not a true dependency and didn't install the newer XFce but I haven't run Wine yet, so we shall see.

So far I haven't found any show stoppers and in fact, I'm using VL6 beta 2 as my main desktop OS. VL6 has been my main desktop OS since alpha .12 or whatever it was, so it has been quite stable all along. Now it is pretty close to being polished. Good work!
--GrannyGeek

[cdrw]

Download the Vector 6.0 rc2. Unfortunately the disc was not bootable. Recompiled it using this script:

#!/bin/bash
mkisofs -o /tmp/VL6.0-STD-B2.iso \
  -R -J -A "Vector 6.0 Install" \
  -hide-rr-moved \
  -v -d -N \
  -no-emul-boot \
  -boot-load-size 4 \
  -boot-info-table \
  -b isolinux/isolinux.bin \
  -c isolinux/isolinux.boot \
  -V "VL6.0" .

Although checksum image was right.

Installation was successful in my Acer Aspire One.
Thank you for a new installer.
By the network has not yet been connected, but I think I would succeed.

[xjy79]

Hello.  This is my first time using Vector linux in many years.  I have to say I am very impressed. 
My computer is an acer aspire one.  I have gotten used to distros having problems running either the wifi or properly rendering the screen.  Since this is supposed to be a bug report, here goes:  I utilized UNetbootin to install using a usb memory stick.  When I ran the first boot I chose the new graphic install.  For some reason it could not detect the usb stick to install from, "No Hard Drive Detected", I believe that is what it said.  So upon rebooting I chose the next option, 'Linux1", as I recall.  This brought up the traditional install screen.  This time the install went without a hitch.  Wifi was auto detected and screen resolution was set perfect.  It was just installed yesterday, so I will give it some more testing and post here again if any bugs arise.

[M0E-lnx]

Hello.  This is my first time using Vector linux in many years.  I have to say I am very impressed. 
My computer is an acer aspire one.  I have gotten used to distros having problems running either the wifi or properly rendering the screen.  Since this is supposed to be a bug report, here goes:  I utilized UNetbootin to install using a usb memory stick.  When I ran the first boot I chose the new graphic install.  For some reason it could not detect the usb stick to install from, "No Hard Drive Detected", I believe that is what it said.  So upon rebooting I chose the next option, 'Linux1", as I recall.  This brought up the traditional install screen.  This time the install went without a hitch.  Wifi was auto detected and screen resolution was set perfect.  It was just installed yesterday, so I will give it some more testing and post here again if any bugs arise.

I have been doing some testing on this department myself.
The GUI is taller has been fixed now, it should be able to install just like the text installer.

I do not of course own a AA1, so if you could test for us when Beta3 comes out, we could use your input

Thanks

[nightflier]

Installer English translation typo:
"Select your indivirual packages to install.", should be "Select your individual packages to install.

Installer, at the point where you set up root password, there is a description "About the root account". This sentence is translated to other languages, but the paragraph right below it remains presented in English.

[MikeCindi]

Made it through the installer okay (2.1) for the first time on a real machine. I didn't have problems in a VM (Virtual Box 2.0.4). The nvidia installer worked for the first time and also my sound hardware was detected and I have sound but no controls except the default volume on the taskbar. I was unable to get wifi working (using ndiswrapper) which did work previously. I'll work on that some more...

[uelsk8s]

New ISO is up, we are just trying to sort out some small installer issues before we move onto RC1
Please download and test
http://vectorlinux.osuosl.org/veclinux-6.0/iso-release/VL6.0-STD-B2.2.iso

Thanks,
Uelsk8s

[stretchedthin]

OK first machine to be tested...
Processor      : 2x Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2400  @ 1.83GHz
Memory      : 3109MB (175MB used)
Resolution      : 1024x768 pixels
OpenGL Renderer      : GeForce Go 7300/PCI/SSE2
Audio Adapter      : HDA-Intel - HDA Intel

This was a first, when using the gui I couldn't proceed as the gui installer could not detect the installation media.  I ejected and re-inserted the cd tried to search again but no luck.

So I used the text installer, but it does not detect my Ubuntu partition.  However, I was given an option to setup set up xorg.conf with touchpad info.  That I like, but it did not end up working as the synaptic driver does not seem to be installed.

I choose not to install lilo during set-up, hoping I set up the ubuntu dual boot later.  When using vasmCC to set up lilo I get an error message. LILO install error #1.

Looks like I'm going to have to go back to beta 2.1, for this machine for now.

[stretchedthin]

2nd Machine...

Processor      : Mobile Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 - M CPU 2.20GHz
Memory      : 493MB (174MB used)
Operating System      : Vector Linux 6.0 Standard Beta 1 Built on Nov-25-0
Resolution      : 1280x1024 pixels
OpenGL Renderer      : Mesa DRI Intel(R) 852GM/855GM 20061017 x86/MMX/SSE2
Audio Adapter      : ICH4 - Intel 82801DB-ICH4

Media detected fine here, (same disk).  This machine has a windows xp partition, but I can't get lilo to set it up the dual boot,  I just get a very long error message.  Had to deselect the windows partition to proceed.  After that everything went well.

[stretchedthin]

Last machine...
   2x AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+
Memory   2005MB (235MB used)
Resolution   1280x1024 pixels
OpenGL Renderer   GeForce 6150 LE/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW!
Audio Adapter   HDA-Intel - HDA NVidia
Audio Adapter   USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d

Install seems to go fine until the end of the gui install and then the installer requests I wait until final configuration is completed (or something to that effect and just stays there.)  Had to reboot, but everything finishes fine after that.