Differences between revisions 70 and 71
Revision 70 as of 2006-05-10 22:35:30
Size: 5243
Editor: EddyPetrisor
Comment: working ppc image again
Revision 71 as of 2006-05-16 21:52:11
Size: 5123
Editor: ?FransPop
Comment: Daily images for i386 available; remove probably outdated links
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The last attempt to make a GUI for DebianInstaller, which was inactive for a long time but is now once again being [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/11/msg01289.html worked on], involves adding a ["GTK"] ["frontend"] to d-i. Demo images have been produced of a working installer using this new frontend. The last attempt to make a GUI for DebianInstaller, which was inactive for a long time but is now once again being [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/11/msg01289.html worked on], involves adding a ["GTK"] ["frontend"] to d-i. The current status is that support for the graphical installer is being merged into the main installer build system.
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 * [http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=486&slide=1&title=debian-installer+screenshots A typical debian installation process, performed in English]
 * [https://debian.polito.it/downloads/d-i_gtk_snapshots_nonlatin/ Some screenshots of non latin scripts]
The regular [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ daily build images] for i386 now include an option to boot the graphical installer. Available are business card and netinst CD images, a [http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/hd-media/ hd-media] image and the [http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/gtk-miniiso/ gtk-miniiso].
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If you want to give the graphical installer a try, you can download experimental images (comparable with regular daily builds) that boot up using the graphical frontend by default and install Etch:
 * '''Intel x86''': [http://people.debian.org/~fjp/d-i/gtk-miniiso/daily/i386/ mini.iso] [http://people.debian.org/~fjp/d-i/gtk-cd/debian-testing-i386-gtk-businesscard.iso businesscard CD]
For powerpc and amd64 the integration will happen really soon. In the mean time please use the links below:
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'''Note''': all images install Etch.

Installing Debian Using A GUI

The last attempt to make a GUI for DebianInstaller, which was inactive for a long time but is now once again being [http://lists.debian.org/debian-boot/2005/11/msg01289.html worked on], involves adding a ["GTK"] ["frontend"] to d-i. The current status is that support for the graphical installer is being merged into the main installer build system.

The regular [http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/ daily build images] for i386 now include an option to boot the graphical installer. Available are business card and netinst CD images, a [http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/hd-media/ hd-media] image and the [http://people.debian.org/~joeyh/d-i/images/daily/gtk-miniiso/ gtk-miniiso].

For powerpc and amd64 the integration will happen really soon. In the mean time please use the links below:

Note: all images install Etch.

The PowerPC graphical installer has been tested on Pegasos and on 32bit newworld ?PowerMacs. They should work also on IBM RS6K machines, and on 64bit machines (G5 pmac, IBM POWER), altough this later may expose 64bitness issues. Oldworld powermacs should also work using bootx, but untested. In any case, since the initrd is 18MB, i think a minimum of 64MB if not more of memory is needed.

Plans for beta 3 of DebianInstaller include merging the graphical installer into regular ISO images (see: ["?DebianInstaller/EtchBeta3Prep"]).

For an overview of open issues and things we'd like to see done, see ["DebianInstaller/GUIToDo"].

If you're interested in building by yourself a debian-installer with GUI please have a look at the ["DebianInstaller/GUIBuild"] page.

If you want to build your own udebs, have a look at ["BuildingUDebs"].

Reviews

Here is a list of articles/review about the graphical installer which appeared around the web:

Games

It would be nice for g-i to have some games to help kill time during lengthy install sessions.

Candidates for inclusion need to have a limited set of dependencies, preferable only those that are already included in g-i, use directfb for graphics, eventually using SDL, sound should be optional, and not need more input device than already detected by g-i.

This excludes c++ implemented games linked against libstdc++, or other language whose runtime is not-available in g-i, as well as all those that link with the gnome libs or other such. A preliminary list follows, out of them, icebreaker sounds like a very good candidate. It is only depending on libsdl, easy to understand, using only the mouse and not the keyboard, and not controversial in any way.

Today

  • [2005-05-11] yesterdays' powerpc daily booted; the issue was #366441
  • [2006-05-06] the powerpc daily built image from 20060505 did boot but initialising the graphical interface failed (classical G-I crash)

Trivia

It is a common misconception that the graphical installer is X11 based. It is no longer for quite some time. It is based on Direct FB and GTK.