Ayatana Ubuntu

Rethink the noninteractive Live CD default boot?

Asked by Erick Brunzell

As I found out iso-testing prior to Lucid Beta 1 the Live CD now requires user interaction to display menu options:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/539172

At first this seemed fine but having used this more and more I find it to be only annoying. Consider the following:

1) It creates confusion for those who are new to Ubuntu. I've seen this a lot at the forums.

2) We've only moved the interactive part to a later point in the boot cycle because you still must choose whether to just "run" Ubuntu or install Ubuntu, so this really did not result in a faster boot.

3) With that "move" all we've done is "remove" the options to check CD for defects, adjust boot parameters, etc. without an otherwise unnecessary reboot which only results in frustration.

4) Even after learning of the new "boot behavior" the option to press any key passes so quickly that even an unplanned phone call or some other interruption can cause me miss the opportunity, and increasing that "time out" would only increase the boot time.

I'm curious what others think about this. We can certainly plan changes for the first "point release" of Lucid and also for Maverick, and no time like the present ;^)

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candtalan (aeclist) said : 		#1

my heartfelt and experienced comments are included in the linked bug
#539172
thank you

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Stenten (stenten) said : 		#2

5) The accessibility screen where you can hit any key to enter the menu is not obvious. I certainly had no idea I could hit a key there to enter the menu until I read somewhere I could. I agree with the old behavior, but at the very least: "Press any key here to enter the LiveCD menu."

6) Troubleshooting intuitively becomes much harder without the menu coming up and "Check disc for errors" and the F1-6 keys not being present by default. On my machine, the LiveCD just boots into a blank screen. How am I supposed to know what to do from there?

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