[rhelv6-beta-list] My first experiences with RHEL6 beta

[Bryan J. Smith]

John Summerfield <debian at herakles.homelinux.org> wrote:
> First, I tried to install RHEL6 beta in a virtual machine
> on Windows XP. My VM software of choice is Microsoft Virtual
> PC ...

This is _very_important_ comment, as are VMware installs ...  ;)

> First, I did a text install. I was very surprised how many
> pointless questions it asked, and how many sensible ones it
> didn't ask. Like, "Do you wan swap?"

The Release Notes and Manuals cover the logic of the text v. graphical
installs.  If you have preferences, please open a Bugzilla.  The merits
will be discussed and, in many cases, were already, previously discussed.

http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6-Beta/html/Beta_Release_Notes/installer.html#id625818  

For text-only or headless systems, VNC is _highly_recommended_.  In
fact, the installer is fairly good at offering VNC if it can't start
the graphical installation.  This feature alone was very welcome by
several people I know.  ;)

http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6-Beta/html/Installation_Guide/s1-guimode-textinterface-x86.html  

> it would have been really nice to have a working network
> after installing.

See Virtual PC comment above.  ;)

Red Hat _does_ have a certification agreement and cooperation
relationship with Microsoft for Virtual PC.  However, many configurations
may not be supported.  I know I've already run into many issues on
NT 5.x (e.g., Windows XP) myself, with Virtual PC, that I do not run
into on NT 6.x (e.g., Windows Vista, Windows 7).

And those issues include running Windows under Virtual PC itself.  ;)

Also know Networking is typically a major issue with Microsoft and
VMware hypervisors.  I also find the more familiar people are with
Windows, and using Windows for virtualization, the more things I have
to teach them in how to setup their environment for Linux.

> Speaking of vi, why is the whole of vim not installed?

vim-minimal v. vim-enhanced or vim-X11 (w/vim-common) -- the first 
goes into /, the latters going into /usr.  This was discussed years
ago, and the current logic is sound to most customers I speak with.

Also, installing (and bloating) the system off-the-bat with many
things is not always the best move.  vim-minimal works, and doesn't
bring in the much, much bigger lot of software.

> Why, when I wanted to install more software, yum goes out to the
> network and downloads stuff at 30kbytes/sec (my network can
> do 1.5 mbytes/sec and better, the the speed problem's not at
> my end) when it could load of my virtual DVD at 200
> Mbytes/sec?

Then target the virtual DVD image as your YUM repository.  ;)

> A question that arose: When I booted, I added the boot
> option "vga=813" That works with a lot of Linux kernels, but
> not this one.

See your above comment ...

"My VM software of choice is Microsoft Virtual PC ..."

Repeat for VMware hypervisors as well.  ;)

> On prompting, I manged to choose one that was close, and
> went on to install using a framebuffer console.

VNC works wonders here.  Again, I've had several customers now comment
how the auto-offer of VNC really helps during installation, and easy
setup post-installation.

> If a user specifies "vga=" something, it's a good clue that
> they do not like the default behaviour. The default
> behaviour might even not work, my boss insists on using a
> nice Apple screen on his PC, and he cannot read the BIOS
> console messages, and I could not use a Linux rescue disk on
> it without replacing his screen.

Again ...

"My VM software of choice is Microsoft Virtual PC ..."

Many of these things should be addressed as the Beta progresses.
Integration with 3rd party, closed source hypervisors do not occur
overnight.

> I find the text-mode timezone choice a real pain.

Will re-iterate the recommendation of a VNC installation.  It should
be extremely easy to take advantage of, as it's running in a Windows
host virtual machine.  Just fire up the VNC client.  ;)

> And that's with Australia being near the top of the list. Some
> software that uses the same basic technique uses "hot keys"
> so users can scroll more quickly to their preferred choice.
> "B" works well for Australia, it's near the end of the As,
> and I expect Zimbabweans would really appreciate it.
> Speaking of timezone preferences, when a user chooses
> Australia/Perth, you can be pretty sure that their language
> is English (en-AU and not en-US), that we spend dollars,
> measure in metres (and notice the spelling, meters are for
> measuring), we load A4 paper into the printer (except when
> we use A3 or A5), that the 3/2/2001 is the third day of the
> second month.

This would make a great Bugzilla entry for Anaconda!  Please do
file for this enhancement!

  http://bugzilla.redhat.com  

Zoneinfo, Localization, etc... isn't addressed by the individual
projects, but it's one area where Anaconda could offer some assistance.

> Speaking of timezone preferences, when a user chooses
> Australia/Perth, you can be pretty sure that their language
> is English (en-AU and not en-US), that we spend dollars,
> measure in metres (and notice the spelling, meters are for
> measuring), we load A4 paper into the printer (except when
> we use A3 or A5), that the 3/2/2001 is the third day of the
> second month.
> It would be really nice of the Mozilla software,
> OpenOffice.org and all the other software recognised that
> without being told.

System-wide localization is one thing, and could be integrated.

Application details are another.  Although GNOME, KDE and some frameworks
could be well integrated, paper size and other localizations may require
far more logic -- and possibly still get things wrong.

I.e., the common ISO v. US paper debate is common across all regions.  ;)

> I have up on the first install and reinstalled, using the
> GUI tool this time. I swear there were sensible choices
> offered to me this time that were not offered with the
> text-mode install. I got to modify the package selection, to
> choose no swap. Oh, joy!

Again, the Release Notes and Manual covers these details.  The text
mode is really for, to be honest, Kickstarts.  VNC is a nice option
for text-only or headless boxen.

> Eventually, I found an icon on the panel that did the job.
> Just started the network. I worked so easily that I wonder
> why I had to install KDE and logon to make it work. A bare
> server install is all very well, but lots of folk
> (especially those using Z-boxes) will want to logon remotely
> immediately. Without a desktop.

VNC is the best recourse.

In an ideal world, there would be a text-GUI symbios.  But that
takes additional efforts.  I've watched Red Hat over the years
and understood why the text started to lag.

Again, the auto-offer of VNC really mitigates this, and allows
developers to focus on one, detailed install, and one minimal.

> Oh, the desktop. 800x600 is entirely unsatisfactory.

Again, Virtual PC at work here, just like VMware (this has come
up before).

Be sure to open up some Bugzilla reports or, better yet, leverage
your CRM and/or IT accounts (if you have them) for feature requests.



-- 
Bryan J  Smith             Professional, Technical Annoyance 
Linked Profile:           http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith 
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