dapper-live test

[Chip Piller]

I tested the dapper-live-i386.iso released May 2, 2006. 

========================================
Summary:  There have been many improvements made to the liveCD 
over the last few months, thanks to all the developers for their
excellent work.   

Ubuntu 6.04 has become 6.06 LTS so that the release could gain 
additional polish and stabilization.  dapper-live is in need of
some additional polish or design changes for the boot screens and
boot process to deal with flashing text, accessibility 
functionality, check cd for defects, function key/help usability,
memory test, boot time, and kernel error messages. 
 
Please download the latest dapper-live and take a look. 

========================================
Details:

Boot Time:  
I tried the liveCD on several PC's, boot time is 3:50 on a P4-1.5
GHz machine, 4:14 on a P2-400 MHz machine, and 4:02 on an 
AMD64 3200+.  This time is measured from the initial ubuntu boot
screen until the date appears in the top right corner of the
desktop panel, without hitting any keys or providing any input.

There is a long delay on all the machines in going from "mounting
root file system" to "moving mount points"; 36 seconds on P2,
70 seconds on P4, and 59 seconds on AMD64.  During this time
there is no visual feedback at all (heartbeat) to indicate that
the system is not locked up.  Bug #34172.

Kernel Error Messages:
On all machines I tried I see several kernel error messages when
looking at dmesg output. 
hdd: command error 
ide: failed opcode
end_request: I/O error
buffer I/O error

F5 Accessibility (does not work):
On the bottom of the main boot screen is a row of function keys.
The F5 accessibility key provides selections such as blindness.  
However if you select blindness or another option and boot you 
will see that the liveCD does a normal boot without enabling
accessibility functionality.  Bug # 38521.

F4 VGA Graphics/Usability:
Pressing the F4 VGA key pops up a list of screen resolutions.  
The options do not display correctly and if one hits the escape 
key there will be some artifacts/blocks left visible on the 
screen.  The usability issue is in the way the information is 
presented, 1024x768x16, 1024x768x32, etc.  Do we expect users to 
know how to select the correct option?  Should this VGA 
selection option be displayed on the initial boot screen?  
Bug # 38524.

Memory Test:  
Why is this on the main boot screen?  If one selects this item 
the memtest program immediately starts running and will keep 
running and running without providing any useful information to 
the average user.  memtest is an expert/advanced type program 
which will scare away new users who accidentally select it on 
the main boot screen.  Memory Test needs to be moved off of the 
main boot screen to an advanced/expert sub-menu.  Bug #38523.

Check CD For Defects (does not work): 
This option is prominently displayed on the main boot screen and
it does not work.  Bug # 38522.

Persistence (confusing):
Persistence works, but is confusing and beyond the reach of
most users.  See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveCDPersistence
Bug #34169.

Lock Screen:
Hurray! The Lock Screen option was taken out of the System drop
down menu and is now on the logout option menu.  That's good
however it is still possible for an unsuspecting user to select 
Lock Screen and discover that there is no password that will 
unlock the screen.  One must know how to switch to a console 
and create the password.  Bug #30118

Boot Screen Display:
When dapper-live boots there is a quick text screen followed by 
the main graphical boot screen.  Then, when the boot process 
continues we see a popup window "Loading Linux Kernel" on top of 
the graphical boot screen, and we also see a couple of lines of 
text appear across the top of the screen "install/vmlinuz ......",
"uncompressing linux ......".  This should be cleaned up.

Function Keys/Help:
The main boot screen has a row of function keys across the bottom
with assignments such as F4 VGA.  If one presses the F1 key a 
help screen pops up with different function key assignments which
is confusing.

If I press the F6 key once I get a text kernel command line on
the graphical boot screen.  If I press F6 again I get a popup
menu where I can select between Normal and Expert.  However, I 
don't see any information in the help screens which explains this.
Bug #38526

Trashcan Icon:
Ok, had to throw this in.  Most of the new icons look great, 
however I don't like the new trashcan icon (bottom right corner
of desktop panel), I much prefer the old one.