The first beta installer for Debian 8 "Jessie" is now available

The Debian Installer team[1] is pleased to announce the first beta
release of the installer for Debian 8 "Jessie".

Important changes in this release of the installer
==================================================

* Gnome installation images have been fixed (#756774): they will now
really install Gnome (instead of Xfce). They should offer the best
experience as far as accessibility is concerned.
* A major parted release was merged lately, and many related components
needed an update accordingly. If you experience any troubles during
the partitioning step, please make sure to include /var/log/syslog
(as usual) but also /var/log/partman in your installation report.
* A major release of syslinux also appeared, with incompatible changes.
It has consequences on various aspects, including PXE setups (see
Ron's analysis in #757920), and theming. The artwork part will be
dealt with in a later installer release.
* The default init system on Linux is now systemd.


Other changes in this release of the installer
==============================================

* cdebconf: Resize banner when window width and banner width don't
match (#745359).
* debian-installer:
- Deal with incompatible changes in syslinux.
- Drop some parted_server functions (due to parted changes).
* kfreebsd-9: replaced with kfreebsd-10.
* linux: updated to 3.14.15.
* preseed: Re-enable keyboard question on file preseed (#696857).


Hardware support changes
========================

* debian-installer:
- Add support for mipsel/loongson-3.
- Add support for QNAP HS-210.
- Add support for D-Link DNS-320.
- Add some dtb files for armhf and armel/kirkwood.
- Drop support for armhf/efikamx (no longer supported upstream).
* linux:
- [armhf] Add MMC and NIC modules for BeagleBone Black to udebs
(#754491).
- [armhf] Add virtio-modules udeb.
- [armhf] Enable BRCMFMAC, BRCMFMAC_SDIO as modules (#734430).
- [armhf] Backport sunxi AHCI and GMAC drivers from v3.15-rc1.
- [armhf] Enable more Allwinner/sunxi drivers (#745972).
- [mips*] Add few new udebs and use standard udebs configuration
when possible.
- [mips,mipsel] Remove the sb1a-bcm91480b flavour.
- [mipsel/loongson3] Add support for Loongson 3 LS3A RS780E 1-way
boards.
- [mips,mipsel] Enable initramfs for all flavours, but keep the disk
related drivers built-in for now.
- [mips/octeon] Backport from upstream PCIe2 support and interface
mode detection for Octeon.
- [mips,mipsel/4kc-malta] Fix bug which can cause incorrect system
call restarts (fix hang on boot).
- [x86] udeb: Add hyperv-keyboard to hyperv-modules.
- udeb: Add sdhci-acpi to mmc-modules (#747284).
- udeb: Add mtip32xx, nvme to sata-modules.
- udeb: Update sound-modules (#743319).
- Include virtio_mmio in virtio-modules udeb when available.
* u-boot:
- Add support for some CuBox and Cubieboard targets.
- Drop support for powerpc.


Known bugs in this release
==========================

* Firmware handling: udev no longer reports missing firmware
(#725714), and patches for the kernel need polishing before we are
able to restore support for loading missing firmware.
* GNU/kFreeBSD installation images suffer from various important bugs
(#757985, #757986, #757987, #757988). Porters could surely use some
helping hands to bring the installer back into shape!

See the errata[2] for details and a full list of known issues.


Feedback for this release
=========================

We need your help to find bugs and further improve the installer,
so please try it. Installer CDs, other media and everything else you
will need are available at our web site[3].


Thanks
======

The Debian Installer team thanks everybody who has contributed to this
release.

1. http://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Team
2. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/errata
3. http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer

--
Cyril Brulebois
on behalf of the Debian Installer Team

  Debian Installer 8.0 Beta 1 released