[Mageia-discuss] Network connection at install time

[andre999]

Len Lawrence a écrit :
> I note from the latest posts that some people have unreliable
> connections to the internet at install time.  Now in my 14 years of
> installing mandrake, mandriva, mageia the web has never been available
> during installation.  For some of those years it was dialup and in
> later installs the network adapter was probably only supported under
> windows.  However, for the last five or six installs there has been
> native support but the attempt to connect at the end of the install
> has always failed.  On booting the new system the network comes up
> fine.
>
> Is this an area worth investigating?  It does not really bother me but
> newcomers might have their confidence shaken at this point.
>
> Len

I have had similar experiences, and I know the main reason in my case.
My ISP cuts the connexion of users that have not made recent access.  
(Sometimes in the last minute, sometimes in the last 5 minutes or longer.)
I suspect that this is due to the shortage of IP adresses available.  
(My ISP still uses only IPV4 for ordinary users.)
So during installation, Internet is _never_ available, although right 
after, I quickly have access.  (Normally in less than a minute, rarely 
it takes a few minutes.)
As well, I don't have the bandwidth to do a network install, which would 
theoretically keep my connexion live.
Additionally, my ISP has a policy of arbitrarily slowing down large 
transfers (depending on network load), such as would occur with a 
network install, making network install problematic, even with an 
adequate bandwidth.
I assume that many other users will face similar restrictions by their ISP.

For newcomers, I would say that a warning to the effect that network 
install may be unreliable, due to transfer restrictions by their ISP or 
other factors, should be sufficient.
And recommend install from ISO (DVD or live CD or USB) if they have 
problems.

-- 
André