ubuntu 9.04 Installer Partitioning Problem

[OldeFoxx]

Binary package hint: ubiquity

I filed a bug report on this a few days ago, but apparently it is not in the system yet. Or maybe it has been turned down altogether. I need to report additional details related to it. I tried to work around the original problem, but my method failed at the final step. So unable to install Ubuntu.

In summary, here is what was reported. First install of Ubuntu was uneventful. Used new 320 GB hard drive with small NTFS partition, elected to manually partiton the rest, split it into three large partitions as Ext3 and three small partitions as Swap. That's seven partitions in all. Set up then went about as well as could be expected.

Attempt at second install on next partition bombed. Now displayed drive length is so long that the Forward box is off the screen to the right. Can't get to it. No scroll bar for whole screen, and mouse pointer just goes to the very edge of the right side. Finally tried Alt+F today, and got pass this point. Was able to use Alt+F on following screens to keep going, until it reached the Ready to Install screen. Then nothing worked to make it keep going. Could not get pass this point. Tried backing up and coming up again, but always the same problem. Used every Alt+letter key combination except Alt+Q (Quit) and Alt+B (Back). Also included different combinations of Alt and Ctrl, even Shift, but it all failed.

The other related problem reported was that partitioner only showed one drive, displayed twice, when I actually had two hard drives installed. I disconnected one drive temporarily today, and the partitioner is still showing the one drive, twice. Now what if I put in a second drive just for Ubuntu, and it keeps hitting on my first drive? This is not a good thing. Or if I attached an external drive and expected to install Ubuntu on it. What would happen then?

Also had reported the fact that for either of the automatic partitioning choices, you can choose to have two systems installed side by side, or opt to use the whole disk for Ubuntu. With four large partitons (1 NTFS, 1 Ext3 in previous install, 2 Ext3 waiting to be installed into, one assigned swap partition, and 2 yet to be assigned), what was "side by side" going to translate into in my case? I could not risk finding out, not with all the work done thus far. Second choice, of just wiping off the whole disk and using it from scratch was not acceptable eiher.

What I really wanted was the option to designate the 3rd Partition (2nd Ext3 partition) to be the target of my second install, and the 2nd Swap partition to be paired with it. This was not offered as a choice. I could do it manually, but that is where this bug prevented me from getting pass the Ready to Install screen. And if others don't see a Forward button, just a Quit and Back button, are they going to be able to figure out that it is a problem with the software, and that you can use Alt+F to get pass that point (until you get to a point where that does not work either).

Maybe this is not a big bug if you are starting from scratch and have little on your hard drive to preserve, but it gets to be a big problem real fast if you want to do much more than that. I'm ready to move to Ubuntu as my primary OS, but am now prevented from doing so. I don't know if I can find a workaround for this bug or not.

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better, and I apologize for the delay in responding to this bug.

Your report is difficult to process because it reads more like a letter than a bug report. Could you instead provide numbered steps to recreate the problem? Something like:

1. Create a drive with 7 partitions: 1 NTFS, etc. etc.
2. Try to install Ubuntu on partition X.
3. etc.

This will enable the developers to pinpoint your problem. Thanks in advance.

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

Strikes me I am being asked to provide a comic book version of this event, as the textbook history book version requires too much reading.

First, the partitioner in 9.10 and 10.04, as well as earlier versions of Ubuntu, behave somewhat better, so this is almost ancient history. I still use 9.04 myself, because it works better for me, but then I've dealt with partitioner many times, so it is sort of old hat at this point.

Second, the order and sequence of partitions created is not significant, nor their size. The problem is how the partitioner tries to give you choice as to what method to follow when installing the
OS. I've always just gone to the manual method with the partitioner, because as I said, there is no real distinction of what is going to happen, or what happens if you already have more than one OS on the hard drive.

 Now for anyone that has the same problems, you can do two things: (1) get gparted.iso and download and burn it to CD. Boot up with it, and set up your hard drive the way you want. (2) boot the LiveCD, get to where the partitoner comes up, and always pick the third choice, which is manual mode. From there, if you understand what partitioning is all about sufficiently, you can get it done the way you planned.

And if you cannot follow this, then I guess you might be better off with one of the other two choices presented. So what else is there to say?

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

Your reply did not re-state what the problem is. Could you please provide numbered steps to reproduce the problem so that someone else can see the problem?

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

Naw, I think I will decline that particular request. I explain in detail,
you want specific steps. If I try to do it by the numbers, how can I be sure you won't feel that there are a few steps missing, or maybe I had too many steps? If you know all the ways to install Ubuntu,
you have 90 percent of the steps already. If you use what you know with what I described, you either find concurrence or some reason not to agree with me. Seems like a wasted effort on my part. I have a similar dispute going with someone else. He wants
me to do this and do that, and give him the results. It involves a
program that is available to anyone, so I said get it yourself and
see what happens. He did. Now he knows. And better than if I just kept trying to tell him or show him. Saves me from having to revisit the same issue as well.

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

I just can't understand your bug description, it's rambling and seems to touch on multiple issues. But it's your choice if you don't want to provide the requested information, this bug can remain Incomplete until it expires.

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

Hey, I just reported a bug. Happens that the LiveCD installer has other limitations related to the Partitioner, which I mentioned, but all that took place months ago. So not really my problem any more.

Lot of people comment they cannot follow what I write. Others say the look for my posts because of my attack on things. You seem to be a member of the first group, which is the larger of the two.

See, here is the thing: I do something, there has to be a reason for it. If it doesn't go well, I try to state something related and decide what to do next. I am describing a process I went through, but you just want the steps themselves. Alright, try this:

(1) Boot the 9.04 LiveCD. Pick Install
(2) Answer the leading questions about language and all. Screen is like zoomed in. buttons on bottom out of sight. Used Ctrl+F to advance page
(3) Wait for Partitioner to come up. Looks strange, like being zoomed in on choices. Cannot see extent of colored lines either left or right. See no legend to indicate which hard drive, which partition, or if looking at same drive twice or seeing two drives.
(4) All page advances until last require Ctrl+F, as buttons are below bottom of screen. This did not work for last page. Tried other combinations with Ctrl, no help. Later guess was that Ctrl+I might have worked, because last button labeled Install rather than Forward.
(5) As included in bug, would have been more useful if I knew exactly what choices (1) and (2) would do on a multi-OS or multi-disk system. Or have other choices if such complexity were to present itself.

Another problem not included is that you cannot always conclude that /dev/sda is going to be the boot drive or that it involve the 1st partition. Advanced gives you option to change, but it is not able to solve this on its own.

I think that will have to suffice.

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

Thanks for clarifying. It sounds like your primary problem is that the installer is too "zoomed in" and bleeds off the edge of the screen. Is this correct? If so, do you have the same problem on the 10.04 CD?

Regarding your second issue, you will have to file a separate report for that because we have a one-report, one-issue policy here.

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

That would probably suffice as a description of the problem, except that it was continuous, page after page, and no way to change it. As I indicated, this was the one version where this problem occurred, and it happened continuously. It was not full zoom either,
because the height of the shown area of the hard disk did not increase that much. The width went way out. Full screen height as well, because nothing shown above or below. No slide bars to adjust position of display either.

My reaction was that the code was set to run on a really large monitor, and everything positioned to look good in relation to
everything else at that scale. it was locked at this size, and on a smaller monitor, less shown as a result.

Suggestions about doing this or trying that do not appeal to me. This goes back too far, and I have my hands full will other projects, most of which won't get enough time from me anyway.

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

Do you have a particularly small monitor or anything? What's your native resolution?

[OldeFoxx (oldefoxx)]

Oh yeah! That could be it! It's only a Acer 22" widescreen with 1680 by something resolution. It's got to be smaller than many out there, right?

David, I would like to be more helpful, it is getting hard to do. My vision isn't that good, and even with the larger monitor, I often try to work at 1024x768 setting. The wide screen just gives me more horizontal space to spread text or whatever over, but I don't have resolution control when running the installer. In fact, with some PC video circuits, the install process scrambles the image, and I have to try again and request the less demanding VGA mode. I mean I have great success with Ubuntu and LiveCD, but when something doesn't go as expected, I try to get word back, with some details.

It seems a shame that the whole process takes so long, because with nothing back from that side for ages, I can't just jump back into a situation that I got pass somehow, when it was the focus of my attention. But lots of things like that come along, and I can't recall every bit of each one.

So if you want, just let it go and don't worry about it. I seem to be the only one that ever had a problem with it anyway. Of course a lot of people just would not bother to start with, but I tried

[David Tombs (dgtombs)]

OK, I'll close this bug with your permission. I'm sorry that it took so long to get to your report. Please remember that 99% of the people here are volunteers, including me. In the future, it would probably help to make your reports as short and to the point as possible so that an overworked volunteer can process it quickly. Thanks!