Subject: bug#60002: installer console garbled on 1984.is VPS

From: Attila Lendvai <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2022 11:31:05 +0000

when trying to install 1.4.0 RC2 to a VPS on the hosting site called 1984.is, then there are two issues, as obesvable on the attached images:

1) part of the output is missing right from the start with the "graphical" installer

2) when i try to use the console based install, then right after getting a prompt the text output gets garbled, and remains so.

the obvious guess is that both are an issue with the rendering of the browser based console, but the admins of the supervisor say they have never seen this behavior from the countless other linux install images, and all browsers i tried behave the same:

$ chromium --version
Chromium 108.0.5359.94 

$ firefox --version
Mozilla Firefox 100.0.2

$ icecat --version
GNU IceCat 91.11.0esr

which suggests that it should be something peculiar with the Guix install image.

maybe someone has seen something like this before? or maybe the guest side drivers are not completely up to date, or misbehave?

bird's eye view: i cannot send CTRL+ALT+Fn to the VPS. there's no DHCP configured, therefore the graphical install doesn't get an upstream, and i can't switch to another console to configure the network manually.

with the console based install i can configure an upstream, but editing the Guix config file with such a garbled console felt hopeless.

maybe the installer could be extended with something to start a temporary shell to configure te network, without the need to switch virtual consoles?

HTH,

-- 
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” (cf. ignore-ance with nescience)
	— Socrates (c. 470–399 BC, tried and executed)
Corollary: Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.