Pre-release testers wanted

[ago]

Thanks for the feedback:

* Username: has been fixed

* 16GB: That depends on the free space available, it varies from 5 to 22. In future version it will be possible to override virtual disk size via parameters/extra dialog

* hpet: will investigate that

* password: it's strange it should come across

* keyboard: it may depend on the detection of the keyboard variant, but that can be changed from within ubuntu

[hamishaus]

Hi ago

Thanks for the response. I figured that some of the things you mention might been the case (disk space, and keyboard things), but I also know that sometimes the little things that people mention in passing turn out to be the key to fixing a problem!

One other suggestion, which is project related, rather than usage related. There is mention in this forum thread about the minefield builds, but I can't find any (useful) information about them, and what fixes they may contain.

Whilst I know that the minefield builds are not the official release (I believe that Beta V2 is), it would be good to know what the project has done since then, especially as it seems to be going ahead in leaps and bounds!

So, I suggest a "changelog" of what has been done in the different builds available, preferably somewhere really accessible like from the wiki, so that when the "official release" is updated, we know what has been done, and what we can look forward to.

Keep up the great work!

Hamish

[ago]

You can find more detailed info in the 2 projects that create the wubi product,

https://launchpad.net/wubi
https://launchpad.net/lupin

The minefield are in this folder http://www.cutlersoftware.com/ubuntu...evel/minefield

At the moment there are a few changes to be sorted out, then you will se new threads on this forums about new minefields. There will probably be some this w/e.

[hamishaus]

Hi again ago

Sorry to be a pain, but I did look at those sites on Launchpad, but the information on where the project is going is difficult to find and assimilate. There does not seem to be much info on open bugs and the status of them, or what fixes each minefield build has in it. I thought that a simplified version of all that might be a good thing.

Also, just to be REALLY picky, you have to know where the minefield builds are, as there is no direct link to them (that I can find,except from these forums), and the download options from the Wubi web page lead you to a different directory tree structure (http://cutlersoftware.com/ubuntusetup/wubi/downloads/) rather than the one you have indicated in the post above (http://www.cutlersoftware.com/ubuntusetup/devel/). The www. and the lack of the www might be just an oversight on someones part, but they seem seperated, and lead to different places, though both lead back to the webpage if you hit Up or Parent Directory (in Firefox) a few times.

I fully realise that this is primarily a tech project and after that comes the communications and so on. So, I will not hold it against you to get the work done first and then streamline the process of communicating it to us, especially as I know how much work it must be at the moment! Once again, I think this is an admirable project and you should all be applauded for it. I will be looking forward to the minefield builds as you mention.

Hamish

[ago]

Hi again ago

Sorry to be a pain, but I did look at those sites on Launchpad, but the information on where the project is going is difficult to find and assimilate. There does not seem to be much info on open bugs and the status of them, or what fixes each minefield build has in it. I thought that a simplified version of all that might be a good thing.

Good point we will try to mention in the bug report in what revision the bug has been fixed, and the minefields will also refer to revisions.

Also, just to be REALLY picky, you have to know where the minefield builds are, as there is no direct link to them (that I can find,except from these forums)

That's the intention. The website is intended for regular users, that mostly want something that "works". The forum are generally frequented by more advanced users, who might be willing to help and can better understand the development cycle and its problems. Therefore the minefields are only advertised on the forum.

[mwilley]

Then chek the log again there should be some errors before "Could not find host..."

Okay, I looked again, there are no obvious errors, so I pretty much guessed at what parts were important...
This part comes after all the "ERR_" messages:

find_host_folder 
wait_for_devs
log_begin_msg...waiting for devs...
[-x /sbin/usplash_write]
/sbin/usplash_write TEXT... waiting for devs...
_log_msg Begin: ...waiting for devs
echo Begin: ...waiting for devs...
udevtrigger--subsytem-match=block
udevsettle
log_end_msg...devs loaded
[-x /sbin/usplash_write]
/sbin/usplash-write SUCCESS ok
_log_msg Done.
echo done.
Done.

And a few lines down...

Begin: Fast scan
list_devices
ALLDEVICES=
check_fs /dev/hda1
dev= /dev/hda1
get-s /dev/hda1
[-n]
[ntfs=unknown]
[ntfs=swap]
return 0
ALLDEVICES=/dev/hda1
check_fs /dev/hda
dev=/dev/hda
get_fs  /dev/hda
[-n]
[unknown=unknown]

Hopefully this will help... I wish I knew what you were looking for (specifically), that would help my search so much more.

[tomcat23a]

Perhaps a suggestion for what command to do to save the /tmp/zenigata.log ? (Linux newbie here, but I think that's what you Wubi team guys need to see when ubuntu hangs?)

I think I've got my xorg.conf down cold though, so I'll give things another install later tonight. If you guys have a new minefield up, I'll give it a go then. Let us testers know what to watch out for!

Thanks again!

[ago]

Hopefully this will help... I wish I knew what you were looking for (specifically), that would help my search so much more.

The error should be below, when trying to find the host folder and trying to mount the host device.

[dannyboy79]

i am having a hell of a time trying to get edgy or dapper installed on an emachine. (have attempted both live cd's and alternate discs)
Specs
600mhz Celeron
196mb ram
intel onboard graphics
4x4x24 cd-rom on ide0
10.2gb seagate hd on ide1 (4gb NTFS Win2000, remaining ext3 formatted with gparted live cd)

if it matters i used the latest gparted livecd to shrink the NTFS parititon from 10.2 down to 4gb and I made a ext3 parition for ubuntu. (oops, forgot /swap at that time)

Issue with Live cd dapper and edgy (NOTE: puppy linux 2.14 works fine)
infamous black screen with blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner. tried the break=bottom trick but it would just freeze during booting and it would never make to the intramfs prompt. (or whatever that is)

First Issue with alt cd and boot options:
installer told me it couldn't mount partition 1 (win 2000 install) to ANY mount point no matter where I tried. I just chose not to mount it. It froze during installing the base system with about 18% complete. Had to do a hard shutdown, from that point on I can't get this far.

Second main Issue with alt cd and boot options:
during scanning cdrom and loading additional components it fails. The installer will say it failed to read files from the cd, try again or no. What's weird is that when the error pops up, the cd stops spinning, like it can't read it. The progress bar has been at different locations.

Questions:
*I am going to put in a 120gb sata parititon that will be hooked up to a pci sata card with the VIA VT6421L chipset which is where i will be installing wubi. Will this work? (NOTE:I did extensive research to make sure I got a chipset that was supported by dapper and on. according to this: http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html that chipset has been supported by libata since the middle of 2005).
*Should I run the .exe when it's stored on the sata drive or do I put the .exe on the 4gb partition with windows and run it from there?
*I have read that this takes up 16gb of space, is there a point it's going to ask me where I want to install the 16gb of files?
*What should the 120gb sata drive be formatted as, would fat32 be better than ntfs?
*Is the installer going to allow me to shrink it and make the /swap and / partitions just like the real installer or should I prepare the drive first with my gparted live cd?
*kind of off topic, how come puppy works fine but edgy live cd doesn't
*hypathetical question: why can't all distro's just use the same base to ensure maximum hardware compatibility?
*I think that Puppy is debain based, would i be able to use ubuntu's repos within a Puppy hdd install if I can't get ubuntu to work on this machine?
*Would I at least be able to install ubuntu packages (.deb) or would this just cause a dependency nightmate? thanks again.

attempted solutions: all combinations of noapic, nolapic, irqpoll, pci=irqroute that you can possibly think of
break=bottom (trick where it breaks out into the intramfs at the command line, then edit xorg.conf blah blah)
redownloaded it
verified checksum
verified cdr "media" is readble by cd-rom thru windows 2000
changed from 40wire to 80wire ide cables on both ide channels
open cdrom door and sprayed it with air to try to clean it out
changed cdrom from cable select to master



THanks for anyone's help and any answers to the many questions.

[ecology2007]

Can you edit your post with and make it more readable ?