notes from a RedHat 6.2 install...

[jkenner@mindspring.com]

I recently did a RH 6.2 install, and wrote down stuff about it while I did it and as I changed it afterwards... here's what I found. For the most part, I like this install, and have decided to keep it, so even though for the most part I am only reporting problems here, I do like it..

BEST PART:
RedHat was able to run *all* of my old binaries that I checked without reconfiguration simply because I specified the right packages during install - an option Stormix never gave me. sudo even runs, although the old version of sudo has not a clue what to do with the new-style (up to 128 char?) passwords, so its not very useful as such.

RedHat's X setup asks me about my video card, and then selects the SVGA server anyways. Someone brought something up about the X consortium recommending SVGA instead of S3V as the server to install, so maybe this behavior is kosher, but nevertheless, there ought to be an option to select between the two. The RedHat installer also placed the binary for the S3 server (NOT S3V) in the /usr/X11R6/bin directory. At least the SVGA server doesnt hang or display garbage (except on the first screen, very briefly) like the SVGA server installed by Stormix did. I guess S3V support in 3.3.6, while still only marginal, is better than it was in 3.3.5

Oh yeah, why isnt there a symlink from X11 to X11R6 on any distributions anymore?

Even though I specified a three button mouse, and all three buttons worked correctly, I noticed "emulate 3 buttons" was selected anyways. While probably not a cause for concern, this makes it impossible for me to signal to the OS that I have pressed both outer buttons at once, as this signal is grabbed and garbled. With "emulate 3 buttons" on, when I press the outer two buttons, the computer thinks I have instead pressed the ONLY BUTTON I HAVENT ACTUALLY TOUCHED. Ironic, isnt it?

Who the hell wants a two button mouse? Two button mice suck. When you can get a three button mouse for only $3 (at that electronics shop mentioned during the RNi presentation.), theres just no excuse for someone using X11 to be doing so with a mouse that doesnt have all its buttons. (Makes me a bit curious what the hell people using YellowDog have to go thru. Personally, I'd just put a serial mouse on one of the Mac's serial ports and call it good!)

Also weird is that between steps in the install, if I didnt somehow indicate that a person was there, for example, by moving the mouse, the install would pause and hang between steps. I could walk up to the machine, budge the mouse, and it would get chugging along again. I'm not sure if this is intentional (to read comments) or not.

The X server's installation apparently reloads the font when switching back to text mode. If you have changed anything with SVGATextMode (which I *did* install from rpms!), its quite likely your display is now unusable.. the default 16 pixel height fonts just dont fit when the hardware is expecting an 8 pixel high font. (you see only tops of letters). I "fixed" this by starting up in 80x50...

The default MANPATH isnt inclusive of /usr/X11R6's manpages... so the man command wont work correctly for X program's man pages! I wonder how many of you out there arent able to read all of your man pages because of this little screwup? There might even be a fix for it, who knows. I cant say I have ever successfully contacted ftp.redhat.com.

The l. command, an alias to ls, isnt properly configured. As it is currently, it only lists dotfiles starting with a letter. The regexp [a-zA-Z] ought to be replaced with [0-z].

While this was also a problem with Slackware 3.0 and almost every other install, I loathe the effects. Why must /etc/issue be overwritten with every boot? If the file is to be dynamically generated, why even have a file? I always comment that part of the startup out.

RedHat partitions drives WEIRD. After you make the first partition, it insists that the next partition be numbered 5... I couldnt figure out how to override this forced use of extended partitions, so I rebooted, and partitioned from the old install.

The installer formats your partitions, and ONLY THEN does it check if your install will fit on them. I was 8 megs short. I went back and unselected a few things, then came forward again, and was forced to endure another reformat (OK, its faster with "check bad blocks" off). This behavior seems odd at best, mildly destructive at worst.