Re: working on text mode

[Jeremy Katz <katzj redhat com>]

On Friday, January 23 2009, Bruno Wolff III said:
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 13:31:37 -0500,
>   Chris Lumens <clumens redhat com> wrote:
> > - If the graphical installer doesn't work, the fix is not to have a
> >   completely different path to go down.  The fix is to fix graphical
> >   installs.  Having said this, we still do have work arounds possible.
> >   You can always add xdriver=vesa as a boot parameter if the normal driver
> >   for your card doesn't work under X.  My latest patch to the list makes
> >   it more obvious that you can do this.
> 
> I have had times when both the vesa and ati drivers were both broken for
> my hardware. (I think this is currently the case in rawhide, though I need
> to retest vesa again to make sure.)

And people also have times when the kernel doesn't work.  Maybe we
should ship a BSD kernel too.

Yes, I'm exaggerating a little, but the answer is not go "text mode",
the answer is *FIX THE XDRIVER*.  Maintaining multiple user interfaces
especially when one of them is crippled by its very nature (yes, I'm
referring to text mode again) is just not sane or reasonable.
 
> > - I have removed many of the more complicated parts of the UI, turning
> >   text mode into the truly minimal install experience that a lot of
> >   people have asked for.  You get a package set that's small but still
> >   able to install updates and new packages.  You get the initial
> >   partitioning screen (choose your disks and handwaving layout) but not
> >   the second screen.
> 
> Is this going to support encrypted partitions, LVM and software raid?
> If it did than getting to where I can run yum update using a VT is going
> to be good enough. If not, it doesn't help when my graphics card / LCD
> display combo isn't working.

No.  Use the graphical mode.  If that fails, please file bugs against X.
And there's VNC and kickstart as fallbacks.

Jeremy