John on S8

[John]

Matt Zimmerman wrote:

>On Mon, Sep 13, 2004 at 07:14:47AM +0800, John wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Matt Zimmerman wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>We've increased the timeout once already (from 2 seconds to 3 seconds), and
>>>while I agree that _when you want it_ a longer timeout would be nice, most
>>>users will never know that the grub menu exists, and a longer delay just
>>>slows down their boot process.
>>>
>>>I believe you can hold down the escape key rather than waiting for the
>>>prompt to appear.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>There is that message, but the I was dead lucky to get it first time. 
>>Second time I missed it and booted what might have been the wrong 
>>kernel, and certainly without the opportunity to add kernel parameters.
>>    
>>
>
>If for some reason grub was not booting the kernel you expect, then that
>would be a bug to be reported and fixed, rather than optimizing for the bug.
>Adding kernel parameters is also an exceptional case.
>  
>

How can it read my mind?

How do I know what it's going to boot when I install successor to the 
current kernel?

What about if successor to the current kernel doesn't boot?

>  
>
>>>Can you be more specific?
>>>      
>>>
>>When I'm booting, the Grub menu provides affirmation that it's going to
>>boot the kernel _I_ want. Most times (but not always) it's the last one I
>>booted.
>>    
>>
>
>If you want it to boot the last kernel you selected, you can set 'default
>saved' in /boot/grub/menu.lst.  Likewise if you want to change any other
>part of the way grub functions.  The defaults are chosen with a very general
>audience in mind, and I think in this case they've been fairly successful.
>  
>

I think you've gone too far in hiding what's going on. One of the great 
frustrations I have configuring Billion ADSL routers and the like is 
finding out why, when something fails it has failed.

Not too long ago, I configured a Billion for another account. The change 
didn't stick, there was no error message and the IAP concerned though 
bad thoughts about me.

However, when I want through it yet another time, taking screen shots at 
every mouse-click, and emailed the lot off the the IAP, the conclusion 
was we'd use the test account the Billion was configured for:-)

Please, don't hide stuff. Mostly, it's not important, but when it's 
needed it is really seriously needed.


>I think we've been a bit remiss in documenting goals like these on the wiki
>and elsewhere, and we're working to remedy that.  I think that once we have
>more documentation in place, choices like these will seem more justified.
>When you talked about the kind of experience that would appeal to Mrs. S.,
>that was closer to the mark.  Most users don't even need to know that grub
>exists, much less which kernel it is choosing.  Of course, that information
>is available to people like you who prefer it, but the default is aimed at
>those who don't know and/or don't care.
>
>  
>

Surely _I_ need to know when her computer won't boot. She is quite happy 
to ignore that gobbledegook.


>>>Yes, the error should be reported immediately, rather than after reading
>>>the password as well.  Please file a bug (severity minor) about that.
>>>      
>>>
>>I cannot at present easily report bugs from that system, it's not on the
>>LAN. I hope to have Wireless by week's end.
>>    
>>
>
>Let us know how it turns out; in as many cases as possible, we'd prefer to
>make this work out of the box.  What kind of card is it, and where did it go
>wrong?
>  
>

The card will be a Netcomm 11g. The prism54 driver supports it (I have 
one already running in fc 2.90). It won't work out of the box unless you 
have a utility to find the firmware and put it in the right place, right 
name. This is the card:
[root at Kinkajou root]# lspci -vvs00:0b.0
00:0b.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Intersil ISL3890 [Prism 
GT/Prism Duette] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Tekram Technology Co.,Ltd. ALLNET ALL0271 Wireless 
PCI Adapter
        Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- 
ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66Mhz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- 
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 64 (2500ns min, 7000ns max), Cache Line Size 08
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 10
        Region 0: Memory at efdfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1
                Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=0mA 
PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
                Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-

atm this is running as an AP, the Mac talks quite happily to it.

On fc 2.90 I had to create the directory. I found getting the name right 
a bit of a challenge, I don't read so well:-)


It will, of course, need to be running before I can get updates or do 
anything else Internet-related.