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New SSD Install + Wizard Reuse Concept

After testing and thinking about the SSD install page again, I'd like to make the following changes:

  1. Make reform-setup-wizard a reusable setup App

  • If I decide to skip SSD installation, or don't have an SSD yet but want to add it later, it makes sense to be able to launch the wizard again from the desktop. The wizard could detect that it is launched as non-root and then disable all pages except for the SSD install. It needs to launch the SSD install process with pkexec in this case.

  • We need an GNOME design compliant icon and a .desktop file for this.

  • In a later version, the installer could offer to install to eMMC if no SSD is present, and the current system is booted from SD card, to make it very easy for people to set up a fresh new system even without SSD.

  1. Improve the SSD install script. Until then, don't show it by default.

Main issues right now:

  • After installation, it doesn't make sense to exit and start the desktop from the install medium (eMMC or SD). Users might think that this is already the installed system and make changes that will seem to disappear after the next reboot. Instead, if an SSD install was done, the wizard should lead into a mandatory reboot step. If installed from removable media, but bootloading via eMMC, the wizard should explain that:

    • after the device powers off automatically,
    • the user has to remove the boot medium ((micro)SD card)
    • and power the machine back on

  • The rsync process is very weird because it makes the progress bar jump backwards when it discovers more files. Rsync should be put in a "first scan, then copy" mode if that exists, or replaced by a tool that gives a reliable and complete estimate before and while copying, without changing the percentage during its run.

    • Alternatively or in a later version, for more performance, the installer could make a block based (and sparse) copy from the install medium and fix it up after the fact.