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<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
<!-- $Id$ -->
<sect1 condition="gtk" id="graphical">
<title>The Graphical Installer</title>
<para>
The graphical version of the installer is only available for a limited
number of architectures, including &arch-title;. The functionality of
the graphical installer is essentially the same as that of the regular
installer as it basically uses the same programs, but with a different
frontend.
</para><para>
Although the functionality is identical, the graphical installer still has
a few significant advantages. The main advantage is that it supports more
languages, namely those that use a character set that cannot be displayed
with the regular <quote>newt</quote> frontend. It also has a few usability
advantages such as the option to use a mouse, and in some cases several
questions can be displayed on a single screen.
</para><para arch="x86">
The graphical installer is available with all CD images and with the
hd-media installation method. To boot the graphical installer simply select
the relevant option from the boot menu. Expert and rescue mode for the
graphical installer can be selected from the <quote>Advanced options</quote>
menu. The previously used boot methods <userinput>installgui</userinput>,
<userinput>expertgui</userinput> and <userinput>rescuegui</userinput> can
still be used from the boot prompt which is shown after selecting the
<quote>Help</quote> option in the boot menu.
</para><para arch="x86">
There is also a graphical installer image that can be netbooted. And there
is a special <quote>mini</quote> ISO image<footnote id="gtk-miniiso">
<para>
The mini ISO image can be downloaded from a Debian mirror as described
in <xref linkend="downloading-files"/>.
Look for <filename>netboot/gtk/mini.iso</filename>.
</para>
</footnote>, which is mainly useful for testing.
</para><para arch="powerpc">
For &arch-title;, currently only an experimental <quote>mini</quote> ISO
image is available<footnote id="gtk-miniiso">
<para>
The mini ISO image can be downloaded from a Debian mirror as described
in <xref linkend="downloading-files"/>.
Look for <filename>netboot/gtk/mini.iso</filename>.
</para>
</footnote>. It should work on almost all PowerPC systems that have
an ATI graphical card, but is unlikely to work on other systems.
</para><para>
Just as with the regular installer it is possible to add boot parameters
when starting the graphical installer. One of those parameters allows to
configure the mouse for left-handed use. Others allow to select the mouse
device (e.g. for a serial mouse) and the mouse protocol. See
<xref linkend="boot-parms"/> for valid parameters<phrase arch="x86"> and
<xref linkend="boot-screen"/> for information on how to pass them</phrase>.
</para>
<note><para>
The graphical installer requires significantly more memory to run than
the regular installer: &minimum-memory-gtk;. If insufficient memory is
available, it will automatically fall back to the regular
<quote>newt</quote> frontend.
</para><para>
If the amount of memory in your system is below &minimum-memory;,
the graphical installer may fail to boot at all while booting the
regular installer would still work. Using the regular installer is
recommended for systems with little available memory.
</para></note>
<sect2 id="gtk-using">
<title>Using the graphical installer</title>
<para>
As already mentioned, the graphical installer basically works the same as
the regular installer and thus the rest of this manual can be used to guide
you through the installation process.
</para><para>
If you prefer using the keyboard over the mouse, there are two things you
need to know. To expand a collapsed list (used for example for the selection
of countries within continents), you can use the <keycap>+</keycap> and
<keycap>-</keycap> keys. For questions where more than one item can be
selected (e.g. task selection), you first need to tab to the
&BTN-CONT; button after making your selections; hitting
enter will toggle a selection, not activate &BTN-CONT;.
</para><para>
To switch to another console, you will also need to use the
<keycap>Ctrl</keycap> key, just as with the X Window System. For example,
to switch to VT2 (the first debug shell) you would use: <keycombo>
<keycap>Ctrl</keycap> <keycap>Left Alt</keycap> <keycap>F2</keycap>
</keycombo>. The graphical installer itself runs on VT5, so you can use
<keycombo> <keycap>Left Alt</keycap> <keycap>F5</keycap> </keycombo>
to switch back.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="gtk-issues">
<title>Known issues</title>
<para>
The graphical frontend to the installer is relatively new and because of
that there are some known issues. We continue to work on resolving these.
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>
Information on some screens is not yet nicely formatted into columns as it
should be.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Support for touchpads is not yet optimal.
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
Starting a shell from the graphical frontend is currently not supported.
This means that relevant options to do that (which are available when you
use the textual frontend), will not be shown in the main menu of the
installation system and in the menu for the rescue mode. You will instead
have to switch (as described above) to the shells that are available on
virtual consoles VT2 and VT3.
</para><para>
After booting the installer in rescue mode, it may be useful to start a shell
in the root partition of an already installed system. This is possible (after
you have selected the partition to be mounted as the root partition) by
switching to VT2 or VT3 and entering the following command:
<informalexample><screen>
# chroot /target
</screen></informalexample>
</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
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