NetBSD's sysinst: A Deep Dive into the Installer
This article details the author's experience with NetBSD 10.1's installer, sysinst. Multiple installations were conducted in VMs and on real hardware, covering standard VGA and serial console installations, and exploring advanced partitioning features including software RAID and LVM. The article meticulously documents each step, offering a critical evaluation of sysinst's strengths and weaknesses. While praising the hotkey system and post-installation configuration options, the author points out shortcomings in network autoconfiguration and encountered significant problems with advanced partitioning and software RAID setup, such as read-only disk issues. Overall, the author finds sysinst to have many good design choices but also areas needing improvement, particularly regarding GPT support and clearer user guidance. The author's journey highlights both the intriguing aspects of NetBSD and the challenges encountered during its installation.
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