I do not understand what part of the message you consider a "useless rant"
or why you say that I am not being sufficiently "polite". I have always
considered the Mandrake packaging of Linux to be the best available and the
installation script especially helpful. I have also noticed that Mandrake
keeps changing the install script, probably in an attempt to make the
installation even smoother and easier.
I was always able to install previous versions of Mandrake Linux without
difficulties. I am merely reporting what I consider to be an unhelpful
change in the script. My suggestions are:
1. The expert install should be an option in the script rather than a
command line parameter, as it was before.
2. Options like which partition to install the bootloader on, and whether
or not to create a boot floppy, should be clearly visible on the screen
rather than something one has to scroll off the screen to find, or click an
advanced tab.
I did not know about the various technical ways to fix the problem once it
had occurred. I just reinstalled windows xp (I had pressing work that had
to get done) and basically lost the registry settings. I still don't know
why I could not fix things based on what I knew. I was able to get back
into linux and tried pointing the bootstrap at the right partition, but it
did not boot back into the windows partition.
----------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Buchan Milne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 3:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Cooker] Mandrake 9.1 install script is a booby-trap.
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
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> paul mccarthy wrote:
>
> [snip useless ranting]
>
> IIRC, the isolinux screens (hit F1) do tell you that you need to pass
> expert mode to get into expert mode.
>
> > When I installed 9.0 the last time, I made a boot floppy in case I
> assigned
> > the boot sequence to the wrong drive. It turned out I had, but I was
> able to
> > get into Linux with the floppy and fix things. The Mandrake 9.1
> installation
> > script without telling me, stuck the bootstrap on a drive with no OS
> and did
> > not prompt for a boot floppy. (it does, but you have to scroll off
> the page
> > to find the prompt and it is really easy to miss. I don't know if it
even
> > comes up on an ordinary install.)
> >
>
> The bootloader is installed by default if the boot drive does not seem
> to have a sane bootloader installed.
>
> > I kept waiting for the prompts from the old script and they never came.
I
> > had to run through the install three times to figure out where the
script
> > had been changed,
>
>
> Why, when INSTALL.txt on the CD tells you:
>
> "If you need to rescue your existing Mandrake Linux system, insert your
> Installation CDROM (or any relevant boot floppy), press [F1] at
> Mandrake Linux welcome screen, then type rescue at the prompt.
> "
>
> > and by then something had gone wrong with the boot
> > sequence. I could boot into Linux but not Windows. I had to reinstall
the
> > Windows partition and to get rid of the linux bootstrap, lost all the
> > settings for my Windows programs.
>
> Somehow I don't believe that. You don't say which version of Windows,
> but most of them are fixed by booting the relevant installation media
> and running the relevant tool ('fdisk /mbr' for win9x/me or 'fixmbr' for
> win2k/winxp). And in some cases the rescue mode of the Mandrake
> installation disk will do it also.
>
> If you want to pursue a fix to this problem, please don't rant, rather
> file a polite bug report at http://qa.mandrakesoft.com
>
> Regards,
> Buchan
>
> - --
> |--------------Another happy Mandrake Club member--------------|
> Buchan Milne Mechanical Engineer, Network Manager
> Cellphone * Work +27 82 472 2231 * +27 21 8828820x202
> Stellenbosch Automotive Engineering http://www.cae.co.za
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