Bits from the Debian CD team
Frans Pop
the release of Lenny by implementing some late improvements of the CD and
DVD images available for Lenny.
With the addition of a tasksel task for the LXDE desktop environment [1],
Lenny will support the installation of four desktop environments:
- GNOME
- KDE
- LXDE
- Xfce
The following changes in the generation of CD, DVD and Blu-ray images have
been implemented to improve support for the selection and installation of
these different desktop environments.
Xfce CD replaced by 'light desktop environments' CD
---------------------------------------------------
This CD supports the installation of either the Xfce or the LXDE desktop
environment. The image is named "xfce+lxde"; see for example [2].
For i386 and amd64 the boot menu of this CD will offer a choice between
the two desktop environments. For other architectures the CD will install
the Xfce desktop environment by default, but users can choose to install
LXDE by passing the 'desktop=lxde' boot parameter.
All four desktop environments installable from first DVD
--------------------------------------------------------
The contents of the first DVD image have been adjusted so that all four
desktop environments can be installed using only the first DVD (i.e.
without using a network mirror or scanning additional DVDs).
Selection of desktop environment from boot menu for i386 and amd64
------------------------------------------------------------------
For i386 and amd64 images it is now possible to select which desktop
environment to install from the boot menu. The default desktop
environment is still GNOME, but an alternative desktop environment can
be selected from the "Advanced options" menu.
The following images for i386 and amd64 support this option:
- businesscard CD
- network install (netinst) CD
- DVD
- Blu-ray
- multi-arch i386/amd64/powerpc network install CD
- multi-arch i386/amd64 DVD
Note that the regular CD image does *not* support this option.
For architectures other than i386 and amd64 an alternative desktop
environment can be selected by passing the 'desktop=<...>' boot
parameter.
Composition of multi-architecture DVD changed
---------------------------------------------
Unfortunately it was only possible to support the installation of all four
desktop environments by dropping support for the powerpc architecture
from the multi-arch DVD. (The multi-arch CD still does support powerpc.)
As before the multi-arch DVD includes source packages besides the binary
packages for i386 and amd64, so it remains suitable for giving away at
e.g. trade shows or conventions.
Overview of available CD/DVD/Blu-ray images for Lenny
-----------------------------------------------------
Architecture-specific images:
* businesscard CD
* network install (netinst) CD
* full CD (650MB) images, users can now choose between:
- standard CD set, which will by default install GNOME
- special KDE CD
- special light desktop environments CD (LXDE + Xfce)
* DVD set
* Blu-ray image (only as jigdo files for i386, amd64 and source)
Multi-architecture images:
* alpha/hppa/ia64 network install CD
* i386/amd64/powerpc network install CD
* i386/amd64 DVD; also includes source packages
All these variants are now available when using images from daily and
weekly builds [3].
Cheers,
Frans Pop
[1] http://lxde.org/
[2] http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/i386/iso-cd/
[3] http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/