Installation: Use SPACEBAR to select "Desktop Environment", not just the enter key.

June 26, 2006

Installation: Use SPACEBAR to select "Desktop Environment", not just the
Enter key.

During installation of Debian on a PC, you come to a screen that asks you to
select the packages you want to install. It appears that "Desktop
Environment" is highlighted. One might think that simply pressing the Enter
key would cause this package to be installed. WRONG! You must press the
SPACEBAR to select this item before you press the enter key. Failure to
press the spacebar will not cause any error messages. The installation
simple proceeds. Eventually it finishes, the system reboots, and you have a
working Linux system with a command line user interface. No GUI, and no
indication why not.

Before you get to the package selection screen there are a few other screens
which either:
1) require you to select one item from a list, where the default selection
is highlighted, and pressing the Enter key is all you need to do, or
2) you need to enter some text, or simply accept the text that is already
there. In any case you finish by pressing the Enter key.

When you get to the package selection screen, it appears that once again
there is a "select one item from a list", and the default selection is
highlighted. Nowhere does it say anything about pressing the spacebar.


Blah, blah, blah

I am very angry. I am elated. I have spent the better part of a month
trying, in a sporadic and inattentive manner, to get Linux installed on an
old PC. There were a number of problems, a wild goose chase or two, but this
problem with the spacebar takes the cake. But I now I have Debian installed
and running, with a GUI on two different systems.

ccp



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